All Church Towers are high and difficult to maintain. A simple leak through the roof can go unnoticed for years and cause untold damage to the building structure. Essential roof repairs at St Albans Church Macclesfield were undertaken to address this very problem.
A roof repair to a Pugin Tower however has to be done with great care and thought to preserve what the great man designed.
St Albans Church Macclesfield is such a Tower. Built in 1840 from a Pugin design the top of the Tower boasts a fine lead pyramid roof. Around the unusual perimeter are laid large flagstones in a castellated pattern.
Over the years water has managed to seep through the joints of the flags and rotted the support timbers holding up the heavy lead roof. Internal access to the roof was also precarious via a 30 foot ancient timber ladder. Therefore the access inside the Tower had to be brought up to modern day standards.
Our first job was to take down the Tower walls and expose the rotting beam ends. Our specialist timber conservators managed to replace the timber whilst secreting hidden extra stainless steel supports inside. The benefits are that we achieved a modern structural support without losing the character of the timber structure.
Once the supports were complete the Tower walls were built back up, new timbers introduced into the pyramid paneling and new lead gutters laid with new outlets and rainwater goods. The icing on the cake was to replace the Belgian batten rolled lead covering.
In times gone by maintenance workers would walk freely around the top of the Tower to clear gutters, but today’s health and safety standards dictate that we need to reduce all known risks, therefore we fitted a bespoke fall arrest system around the perimeter of the roof and a new cage ladder inside.
After the roof was finished, the Tower benefited from various new stone indents, carvings and re pointing.
The Essential roof repairs at St Albans Church Macclesfield have helped to preserve the integrity of this Perpendicular styled Tower for future generations.
“Lloyd and Smith’s pure craftmanship restored this precious and fragile monument. It forms a focus for remembrance services, and will do for a long time into the future.”
Jubb and Jubb – Chartered Surveyors, Historic Environment AdvisorsTo say that this has been a challenging year would be an understatement. Half way through our work at St Alkmund’s Church Whitchurch, the coronavirus struck and we had to lock down the same as most businesses. Leaving the Church fully scaffolded and no work taking place during this period is not what we would […]
MoreDue to our ever increasing order book of Ecclesiastical masonry work, we are in the market for a skilled Banker and Fixer Mason’s looking for varied and interesting projects.Our work shop is based in Oldham Manchester and our contracts cover all areas of Lancashire and South West Yorkshire.For the right person we can offer very […]
More