Just when it was all going according to plan...

Uplift Construction Update 13th June

Work on the church has now reached the 11 week mark.  Most of the stripping out of the Victorian work at ground level in the nave is now complete, though archaeological recording continues. The ground has been levelled and the hardcore base for the ramp and walkways has been prepared, together with the shuttering, ready for the limecrete to be poured prior to tiling. It is good to feel that we are starting to put the church back together again. The electrical subcontractors T&C are busy laying cables. Next week external works will begin, digging a trench to provide a new sewer connection and a new incoming water supply, replacing the old lead wate main. These works mean that we will have to temporarily close off the west gate and the path around the west end of the church. This will be for a couple of weeks.

Our main concern at the moment is the cracking at the base of one of the medieval pillars on the north east side. This was concealed by the Victorian pews and it seems the old pew raft was acting as a massive wooden brace holding together a failed repair job on the pillar. You can see in the photos how the stone is being pushed apart and outwards. It is not clear yet what is causing this movement but we need to do a full repair job. This means taking the weight of the arches off the column in order to remove, investigate and then replace the stone at the foot of the column. As you can imagine that is going to be quite an operation! Plans are being drawn up by the structural engineer and it will add cost and probably delay to the overall project. However, it needs to be done properly.