Project Title: St Andrew’s Church
Location: Winterborne Tomson
Wood Species: ENGLISH OAK
Project Description
Dating from the Norman period St Andrew’s has a C15th barrel-vaulted roof and C18th box pews, screen and west gallery (incorporating parts of the medieval screen and rood loft).
The church was declared redundant and passed into the ownership of The Church Conservation Trust. Inspections identified ongoing deterioration in a number of the timber elements and conservation work
was commissioned on the basis of these.
The roof bosses were dismantled working area by area. Wax was carefully removed from the surface and consolidation of extremely friable timber undertaken. Following this work the bosses were refixed to the 1930s backing boards and were repositioned using stainless steel fixings.
The wallplate and ribs of the ceiling had been previously repaired using a filler which had turned orange. Other areas were severely decayed and one portion was missing. A new section of plate was pieced in at the east end. It forms a compromise between the lines of the adjacent sections of plate (no longer in line with one another due to structural movement). Friable areas of the timber were consolidated and fills undertaken using a number of materials depending on their size, depth and location. A thin layer of limewash was applied to the wallplates to help blend in the beetle-affected areas (which had a darker colour) with the existing silvery finish of the original surface.
Structural repairs to the west gallery involved jacking and the insertion of a new stainless steel beam cased in oak behind the existing gallery beam as the beam had dropped significantly in the last twenty years. Some careful piecings in were formed to the most severely decayed section of the gallery beam in order to provide support to the uprights of the gallery front. Friable areas of timber were consolidated.
The door was removed for repair. Piecings in were agreed on the bench, carefully undercut to minimise the risk of moisture entering the new joints.
BUILDING OWNER: THE CHURCHES CONSERVATION TRUST
ARCHITECT: PHILIP HUGHES ASSOCIATES
BUILDER/MAIN CONTRACTOR: A.E. GRIFFIN & SONS
CONSERVATION COMPANY: HUMPHRIES & JONES LTD
Judges’ Comments:
“A masterful piece of work.”
