Roof & Ceiling

Updates on the work to replace the aisle roofs and the ceiling plaster in the nave.

Aisle Roofs - the lead was stolen from the aisle roofs in July 2019. A temporary cover was immediately installed and this has been checked and modified several times since. - The PCC took a couple of years to decide how to replace the lead (obviously the pandemic delayed things) and decided on turncoated steel. Approval from both the Diocese and Cherwell District Council was applied for and given. No work to an historic building can be carried out without a bat survey.  A 'bat certificate' is needed before any work can commence.  The bat surveys had to be over two seasons and the last survey has just been completed.  We are confident of having the 'bat certificate' shortly.  In the meantime our preferred contractor is no longer available and original quotes are now out of date and so we are obtaining new ones, and this is now what's holding things up - we simply can't find contractors who want or need the work enough to give us quotes.  It has to be a contractor with the right qualifications to work on a Grade II* listed property.  We are hoping to fund the work through donations and grant making charities and trusts, and we plan to apply for these as soon as we have quotes.  In the meantime, there is water ingress which, thankfully, hasn't done too much damage, apart from an area on the north side of the north aisle where plaster is now coming away. (Updated February 2024)

Nave Ceiling Plaster - The ceiling plaster in the nave started falling during 2020.  There was speculation that this was because the lead was missing on the roof.  Close inspection by the architect and an engineer refuted this: the plaster is just old - about 150 years old.  The plaster started falling in larger chunks and these fell to the floor smashing into smaller fragments.  Thankfully no-one was injured but the insurance company would not insure the building if it remained open in such a state.  The Bishop gave permission to close the church whilst a solution was found.  Whilst we were getting permissions and deliberating about the roofs and getting bat reports, there was only so much we could do about the ceiling.  The simple and cheap solution was to install netting to catch the plaster, until such time as we could replace the plaster.  Permission from the Diocese was received and eventually an ecologist's advice was received which was to leave gaps around the edge of the netting for the bats to fly through. And then we waited for contractors to be able to start.  In the end the netting went up in a very few days.  It's not pretty but it meant the church could open in June 2022. We will be getting new quotes and applying for grants at the same time as we apply for grants for the roof and money already donated will go towards both projects.  We can't use our funds for just one project, because then we wouldn't have any match funding left for the other project.  Hopefully it won't be too long until the plaster is replaced. However, as with the roof, obtaining quotes from conservation contractors is a real dilemma.  They don't seem to want the work because there's a lot of work around. (Updated February 2024)