St John the Evangelist Church, Northington

Graveyard Wall Restoration Project

The Graveyard Wall and the Lychgate of the current church of St John the Evangelist in Northington are listed Grade 2, in their own right. The wall is unique in that it is the only wall in the world that is capped with flint moulds and each section has clay fired windows; the shape of which has been adopted as the church logo. The wall and gate were completed in 1890. Over the last 130 years both have suffered the ravages of time. The Wall on the East side was rebuilt some 30 years ago although this does now need some maintenance. The South and North walls require maintenance and new capping. The West wall has suffered subsidence and requires to be rebuilt completely. Lastly, the Lychgate roof requires restoration and some maintenance to the upper structure.

As a unique structure there are a number of technical challenges the principle one being the expansion and binding joints between the capping moulds and wall. It is likely that there will be a trial period to ensure joints are appropriate and robust for the foreseeable decades.

It is envisaged that this project will be costly, technically difficult and time consuming.

It is planned to start the Lychgate work in 2025 and move to completing the wall restoration by 2030