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 was completed in February 2024.   We are constantly inspecting the temporary covers.

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. 

Current situation (February 2025) The obstacle to proceeding on both the roof and the ceiling is in both finding the right 'heritage' contractor who wants to undertake the work (it can't be a 'normal' contractor) and then once we have the quotes, finding funding to do the work. This will all take even more time. In the meantime we are applying for a 'church at risk' status which should help with achieving grants.