Tower Restoration

Work started at the beginning of August 2007 on a £150,000 project to restore and stabilise the 15th century church tower. Grants and other funding had provided £110,000, leaving us £45,000 to raise. Additional work to the tower parapet was found to be necessary in the early stages of the work, and subsequently further unexpected work to the walls around the belfry openings, and to the buttresses has been found. So our target increased by £20,000, and some of the later, less urgent stages of the work have been deferred.

Work was completed on 14 December and the scaffolding removed from the tower in time for Christmas.

The main contractor for the stonework was Matthias Garn from Bugthorpe. His recent work has included stonework at the churches in Kirby Grindalythe and Pocklington. Before that he was engaged for three years working on the rebuilding of the bombed Frauenkirke in Dresden - by comparison with that task our project is relatively straightforward! Read more about our team of stone masons in the article from the Malton and Pickering Mercury of 21 November.

The pictures below give some idea of the progress of the work. Nos 2-7 were taken on 12 September 2007 and Nos 9-14 on 17 October. The final four pictures taken immediately after the completion of the work give some idea of the extent of the renewed stone work.

The scaffolding up the tower almost complete in early August 2007	New stones awaiting carving and fitting
This old stone removed form the parapet was originally a column within the ancient church - note the traces of wall painting remaining	Settlement of the tracery of the West Window will be repaired as part of the restoration
Stone removal on the west face of the tower reveals a large cavity behind..	And another one..
The top of the tower - the poor state of the tower roof is evident - this will be rebuilt. The parapet wall has been rebuilt on three sides and is covered to allow the lime mortar to go off. The fourth side awaits rebuilding	The rebuilt parapet exposed for the camera. showing the quality of the new work

The scale of the scaffolding structure is immense - we aim to complete all the high level work so that in future only a much smaller - and cheaper - scaffold is required.	A bulging section of wall adjacent to the east belfry opening has been cut out and awaits rebuilding. Similar work was needed adjacent to each of the 4 belfry openings
One of the problem buttresses - nothing behind the facing stone to key it into the tower!	The rebuilt east parapet wall
Top of the tower. Refurbished roof timbers await refixing of original slates. Parapets completely refurbished.	A new stone is inserted to tie the SW buttress to the tower. The name of the sponsor can be seen on the top of the stone. All new stones carry a sponsor's name