No work was carried out on site in Easter week, but restoration of the nave roof heritage rainwater hoppers and casting of the new downpipes were completed in the specialist Sand Cast Lead Conservation workshops.
Work restarted on site with a vengeance on Monday 25 April. The ridge tiles on the porch were removed and rebedded – so you can no longer see the sky through a gap from inside! Then the south aisle heritage rainwater hoppers and their new downpipes were lifted and fixed in place. On Tuesday Shaun and Alex installed the other two on the north side and finished by clearing all their materials and equipment from site.
Simultaneously, stone masons Matt and Will worked on the nave parapet and pointed the flashings at the tower to the nave roof and at the east nave wall to the chancel roof to cover the resin glue used for the first fix. A visit by the architect on Monday afternoon checked that all the parapet upstands can be capped with stones, new and old, that provide continuous drip grooves. Enough existing capping stones from which damaged parts could be cut off were identified to complete these cappings.
On Tuesday Matt and Will brought the two ashlars for the north side nave parapet. The old stone came out in lots of pieces. They also brought and fitted a new block for the south side.
On Tuesday they were accompanied by the sound of mowing and strimming of the churchyard. By Thursday afternoon, the stonework was in place and nicely pointed and the pointing on the tower parapet was completed.
Sweeping down the vast quantities of stone flakes and debris from the nave, chancel and both aisle roofs and gutters was the final job, leaving the church worker-free for a funeral on Friday.
The architect’s inspection of the roof will take place next Thursday morning, after which the scaffolding can be taken down. This will fully reveal the new stonework and restored rainwater goods. After that the lower level iron gutters will be adjusted and sealed. Finally there will be some pointing to carry out on parts of the badly eroded south aisle wall where a leaking gutter has helped masonry bees to cause some havoc.
GHP
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