Expecting the unexpected

Holding true throughout conservation work at St Michael’s Church, Burwell

In 2010 we carried out extensive conservation to St Michael's Church - inside and out.

The church now looks incredible, but the project was not without its trials - subsiding slabs and soggy soil under the west end of the nave was just the start of a series of unfortunate events...

 

A wholly holey holy Nave

Once we cleaned the walls of algae and freshly limewashed them, and the font and hatchment was carefully conserved - there was only the exterior drainage to complete. However, upon starting, we discovered several large holes in the nave wall.

They were mainly related to the old heating system and boiler, but damp conditions had washed out some of the core of the wall and some areas were in danger of collapsing. We had to start work on propping and rebuilding the wall immediately.

Through this frenzy of work came an exciting discovery - evidence of very early alterations to the church, previously hidden by high ground levels.

We found:

• Clear remains of a former doorway into the chancel
• Remains of another, narrow, doorway at the east end of the nave wall, which could have led to the rood stair or a crypt
• Responds, or what is probably the lower part of an archway, sitting further along the nave - as there are no wall footings here, there could not have been a floor running through it, where did it lead to?

We are not entirely sure how to interpret our findings yet, but we have recorded them and are awaiting specialist reports. We will keep you posted!

Run Rabbit Run

Finally, just as we were putting the last touches to pews and panelling, which had been dismantled to repair the wall, the contractor’s foot went through the nave aisle floor. After taking up a few tiles to investigate we found the area underneath riddled with tunnels from burrowing rabbits. Back to work we went........

St Michael’s is also part of the Archway Project, which aims to encourage arts and other activities in our churches around the Louth area of Lincolnshire.

Project team

CCT Conservation Manager: Dawn Whitton
Architect: Helen Weatherall at Marshall Sisson
Contractor: Charles Payne
Conservators: Skillington Workshop and Sally Woodcock.

Find out how you can contribute to work like this in the future

Visit this church