Halo has been specially designed to fit and preserve the heritage aesthetic whilst heating people comfortably, affordably, and efficiently. Halo offers zero light radiant heating in the form of an elegant chandelier with optional integrated lighting. Halo: Registered UK Design No. 6321585 Sustainable radiant heating proven to significantly reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions in the transition to Net Zero by 2030. “The radiant heaters, which we now use entirely and have done throughout the winter period for our Sunday morning worship services, is only about £10 for an hour and a half to two hours on a Sunday morning. It is so low that it’s a no-brainer if I may say that we should use the radiant heaters.” - Andrew Wood, St. Matthew’s The Church of England Environment Programme commissioned Tobit Curteis Associates and Inspired Efficiency to carry out a Performance Review of Halo at St Matthew’s in Bristol. Findings include: * Halo shows significant savings over gas heating despite higher electricity prices. Figures from St Matthew’s installation, as per independent performance evaluation. Dependent upon the property age/type, insulation levels and levels of airflow present, the number of heaters required and running times will vary. Based on renewable electricity tariff Herschel Heritage Range St Michael’s Halo Video Testimonial St Michael’s, Aynho, share the results of their Halo installation. SCAN TO WATCH Church of All Saints, Martock 7.8kW Halo installed in Lady chapel Reduction in CO2 Emissions 100% Reduction in Energy Bills* 50% Reduction in Energy Usage 85% 30mins Time To Warm Up ‘The Halo system appears to be a suitable addition to the range of decarbonised heating solutions for churches to consider.’ ‘Significant energy, carbon and cost savings were noted.’ ‘The congregation of St Matthew’s Church were unanimously positive regarding the visual appearance of the units.’ ‘With careful positioning, the chandelier design can provide comfort heating for people in the church while limiting the conservation risk to sensitive artefacts and monuments.’ Halo forms part of the Herschel Heritage Range, which includes column, ceiling and wall mounted heaters, as well as under pew heating solutions. Optional bespoke colours and decorative designs are available. Control options include InfraSense, our revolutionary new patented control technology. Halo can form part of a whole church heating solution or provide a modular solution to work alongside existing heating systems. For further information and assistance, visit: www.herschel-infrared.co.uk/heritage Contact our Heritage Team: 0117 3253850 heritage@herschel-infrared.com
BCD SPECIAL REPORT ON HISTORIC CHURCHES 32nd ANNUAL EDITION 1 CONTENTS THE BUILDING CONSERVATION DIRECTORY SPECIAL REPORT ON HISTORIC CHURCHES 32nd annual edition ISBN 978 1 912747 25 2 PUBLISHED BY Cathedral Communications Limited High Street, Tisbury, Wiltshire SP3 6HA Tel 01747 871717 Email admin@buildingconservation.com www.buildingconservation.com EDITOR Jonathan Taylor PUBLICATIONS MANAGER Joanna Collie EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Emma Heard PUBLIC RELATIONS Elizabeth Coyle-Camp PRODUCTION & ADMINISTRATION Lynn Green Lydia Porter ADVERTISING Nicholas Rainsford Carla Winchcombe TYPESETTING xendo PRINTING Micropress Printers Ltd The many companies and specialist groups advertising in this Building Conservation Directory Special Report have been invited to participate on the basis of their established involvement in the field of building conservation and the suitability of some of their products and services for ecclesiastical buildings work. Some of the participants also supply products and services to other areas of the building market which have no application in the building conservation field. The inclusion of any company or individual in this publication should not necessarily be regarded as either a recommendation or an endorsement by the publishers. Although every effort has been made to ensure that information in this book is correct at the time of printing, responsibility for errors or omissions cannot be accepted by the publishers or any of the contributors. © Copyright 2026 Cathedral Communications Limited All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recordings, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of Cathedral Communications Limited. COVER ILLUSTRATION Notre-Dame Cathedral, Paris, with cleaned masonry at clerestory level (Photo: Jonathan Taylor) £7.50 3 NEWS REVIEW 7 TIN TABERNACLES AND THEIR INTERIORS Michael Hill-King 13 RISING FROM THE ASHES The cleaning and restoration of Notre-Dame, Paris Jonathan Taylor and Joanna Collie 17 NORTHERN IRELAND’S TREASURED CHURCH HERITAGE Sarah Crossland 23 CLIMATE CHANGE VULNERABILITY ANALYSIS Morwenna Slade 28 DOUGLAS STRACHAN Rona Moody 33 CLOSING THE SKILLS GAP Amy Styles, Aaron Morrison and Gordon Muir 38 PUGIN IN COLOUR Ana Logreira 44 USEFUL CONTACTS 46 PRODUCTS & SERVICES 52 SPECIALIST SUPPLIERS INDEX
Working nationally as Principal and Specialist Contractors, our projects span across the public, private, commercial, ecclesiastical and transport sectors. With our knowledge and expertise, clients can depend on our talented team to deliver outstanding work with a professional approach. Protecting Our Heritage, Crafting Our Future • Principal Contracting • Consultancy • Conservation • Facade Cleaning & Restoration • New Build Masonry • Alteration and Intervention • Special Works & Term Maintenance • Internal Finishes • Hard Landscaping • Overseas Projects ABOUT US... OUR SERVICES... stonewest-ltd 020 8684 6646 info@stonewest.co.uk www.stonewest.co.uk St Paul's Cathedral North Transept Equal Access Project
BCD SPECIAL REPORT ON HISTORIC CHURCHES 32nd ANNUAL EDITION 3 NEW PUBLISHER FOR HISTORIC CHURCHES Cathedral Communications’ publications, including Historic Churches, are being taken on by a new publishing house, Euromedia Associates from January 2026. This family-owned company, which has been established for 35 years, will offer exactly the same services to the conservation sector as Cathedral Communications has in the past, but with a larger team backed up by broader resources. The Euromedia team will be joined by Carla Winchcombe and Nick Rainsford from Cathedral. Executive editor and director of Cathedral Communications Jonathan Taylor will also work with Euromedia on all heritage sector publications, not least as editor of Historic Churches, The Building Conservation Directory and the website www.buildingconservation.com. Sadly, we will be saying goodbye to Lynn Green, Joanna Collie and Emma Heard. Xendo, the typesetting team responsible for the design of all of Cathedral’s publications since its inception in 1993, is also stepping back. Jonathan Taylor says ‘we would like to thank everyone who has helped make our publications so successful, including our colleagues in Cathedral, at Xendo and in the wider heritage sector, our customers and all the many people who have written for us over 35 years, as well as our new colleagues at Euromedia Associates Limited.’ All Cathedral’s good work is set to continue under the new ownership, ensuring the success of Cathedral’s publications and services in the longterm, and providing opportunities for the development of new heritage sector publications and digital resources THE NATIONAL CHURCHES SURVEY 2025 A survey published by the National Churches Trust found that of an estimated 38,500 churches, chapels and meeting houses in the UK, almost two thousand of them are struggling to survive. 1 in 20 – the number of churches that say they will ‘definitely’ or ‘probably’ not be used as a place of worship in five years’ time 1 in 10 – the number of churches requiring urgent repairs to roofs and guttering/drains in the next 12 months. When a similar survey was carried out in 2010, 7% of churches surveyed required urgent works compared to 10% today. In the same period the proportion of churches considered to be in good condition has fallen from 70% to 61%. Writing in the foreword Sir Philip Rutnam points out that ‘churches are not passive relics of the past; they are active, living places, powered by volunteers and sustained by communities who depend on them.’ Most offer essential services to their local communities above and beyond their religious roles: 76% of churches host community groups and 85% would expand community support if they had more resources 56% are involved in food distribution such as foodbanks, with 37% offering weekly food distribution 34% provide support for people struggling with anxiety, depression or isolation 49% host youth groups, a third of which meet weekly. The report concludes by calling for a national response; ‘without intervention, the risks are stark. If churches close, the impacts will multiply: a loss of heritage, a loss of social care, and a loss of spaces for solace and belonging. It would signal not only neglect of our cultural inheritance, but also a failure to care for communities at their most vulnerable.’ The Building Conservation Directory SPECIAL REPORT Magazine 30th Edition The Building Conservation Directory SPECIAL REPORT Magazine 29th Edition historic churches THE CONSERVATION AND REPAIR OF ECCLESIASTICAL BUILDINGS in the future. Although Cathedral Communications Limited will cease to operate as a company in early 2026, the name Cathedral Communications will live on as an imprint of Euromedia Associates, bringing together new and existing heritage sector publications, website and publishing services. Contact details will also remain unchanged, as the Cathedral team will continue to work from the same office in Tisbury, Wiltshire for the foreseeable future. It’s business as usual. NEWS REVIEW Copies of the survey can be downloaded from the National Churches Trust website at www.nationalchurchestrust.org/survey.
4 BCD SPECIAL REPORT ON HISTORIC CHURCHES 32nd ANNUAL EDITION NEWS REVIEW GOING SOLAR York Minster’s 184-panel solar installation saves nearly £20,000 in electricity costs and offsets eight tonnes of CO2 emissions annually, contributing towards the Church of England’s target to reach net-zero operation by 2030. (Photo: SolarEdge) The use of photovoltaic slates in a continuous plane on the south-facing slopes is particularly unobtrusive (Photo: Mark Candlish, GB-Sol) Exposing electricity-generating devices to the elements on the rooftops of historic buildings comes with obvious risks, particularly now that extreme weather events are becoming more frequent. Fortunately, fires caused by solar installations on roofs remain rare, but as specialist engineer Jim Glockling pointed out in the 2025 edition of The Building Conservation Directory, ‘even small statistical risks become important when the object at risk is irreplaceable’ (see www.buildingconservation.com/books/ bcd2025/46/). His article does not rule out the installation of rooftop solar panels on historic building, but it does provide detailed guidance on mitigating risk. At York Minster a rooftop solar system completed in 2025 was carefully designed in close consultation with insurers EIG to reduce fire risk. Power optimisers were provided for each panel which are designed by the manufacturers, Solar Edge, to continuously monitor for abnormal heat build-up at the connector level – an early indication of potential faults. If excessive heat is detected, the system can automatically prevent an electrical arc from forming. In addition, the installation includes an over-ride for fire-fighters which is wired into the building’s fire alarm system. This allows the entire solar array to be shut down quickly – either manually or automatically – giving fire crews control of the system during an emergency and ensuring the roof can be accessed safely, without risk from high DC voltage. Solar panels work best where hidden from view on low pitched roofs behind parapet walls. However, steeply pitched roofs without parapets can be highly visible from the ground, and here solar panels can present an alien element, disrupting the uniform sweep of materials from one end to the other. One alternative is to replace all the slates with solar slates, so that the roof still reads as a continuous entity, uninterrupted by panels. Fortunately, manufacturers are getting better at replicating the appearance of traditional slates. Where a building is listed, the replacement of historic materials with modern ones is likely to meet some opposition, but the change can be justified in some circumstances. Where re-roofing is required (usually as a result of nail fatigue) it is common to find that a high proportion of the older slates and tiles cannot be reused, and it is normal practice to combine all the original material on one slope with new materials on the other. Given the traditional east-west orientation, many churches have south-facing slopes which would be ideal for PV slates, and if the loss of original fabric is unavoidable due to the age of the fixings, the change may be considered reversible.
BCD SPECIAL REPORT ON HISTORIC CHURCHES 32nd ANNUAL EDITION 5 NEWS REVIEW LEAD HSE LEAD REVIEW SPARKS ALARM ACROSS ROOFING AND HERITAGE SECTORS UNDERFLOOR HEATING AT ST PAUL’S, COVENT GARDEN A fine example of cast lead ornament on the hopper of a church in Wiltshire: the skills required to conserve and repair work like this are already in short supply, and further restrictions could be catastrophic. A review by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has set off alarm bells across the UK construction industry. Proposals announced in June 2025 would tighten limits on workplace lead exposure, threatening the repair and conservation of historic leadwork. However it is not clear how we can reduce exposure to lead without harming historic buildings. Currently, under the Control of Lead at Work (CLAW) Regulations 2002, workers handling lead are subject to annual blood tests to monitor the amount of lead in the bloodstream, with those exceeding existing thresholds suspended from work. In 2024, over 5,000 workers across Great Britain were under medical surveillance, with 11 cases leading to suspension due to excessive blood-lead levels. HSE is now reviewing these limits with the intention of cutting them significantly. Presently, the suspension level stands at 60 µg/dl (60 micrograms per decilitre, or 0.6 milligrams of lead per litre of blood) for most people and 30 µg/dl for women of child-bearing capacity. The proposals would reduce that threshold to just 30 µg/ dl by October 2026, followed by a further tightening to 15 µg/dl by Taking experienced craftspeople out of work would make the existing skill shortages even more acute and would deter people from taking up the craft. While the health and safety of our craftspeople must always take priority, solutions are required that meet the needs of both our heritage and the people who work on them. Improved workplace practices may be part of the solution, but working on site can be challenging and both the Lead Contractors Association and Icon (the Institute for Conservation) are concerned that the higher standards proposed may not be achievable. October 2028 for most employees. For women in their child-bearing years, the levels fall to 10 and 5 µg/dl respectively. The problem is not limited to the bloodstream: lead accumulates in our bones and may be released slowly back into the bloodstream long after workplace exposure has stopped, so craftspeople with the most experience are often the most at risk. The new limits would therefore make legal compliance far more challenging for older and more experienced contractors in particular. The implications are particularly severe for the conservation of historic places of worship. Many have shallowsloped roofs covered with lead, while others have slated or tiled roofs which rely on complex lead details to keep out water, particularly at abutments. Finials and weathervanes are also often sheathed in lead, and embellished with finely turned mouldings. Ornate lead hoppers and downpipes can also be found in some of our oldest churches and cathedrals, but are now extremely rare elsewhere. And lead cames are an integral part of stained glass windows and leaded lights. Lead roofing is already under threat from lead theft and skill shortages. A new approach to underfloor heating has been developed which requires minimal intervention to timber flooring. A recent installation in St Paul’s, Covent Garden, London (designed by Inigo Jones and Grade I listed) was achieved without any significant changes to the historic fabric. It is estimated that as many as one in four churches could benefit from this approach. In the quest for low-carbon heating, the use of underfloor heating installations combined with heat pumps is increasingly common. This is because heat pumps (whether groundsource or air-source) produce hot water at a temperature that is too low for conventional radiator systems, but is ideal for underfloor heating due to the much larger surface area that is warmed. Underfloor heating also has the benefit of heating the entire congregation, rather than just those members who are close to the radiator. Where the surface is of clay tiles or stone paving laid on an earth floor, the installation of underfloor heating involves not only the removal and relaying of the surfaces, but also extensive alterations to the subfloor to ensure that the ground does not conduct the heat away. However, in roughly a quarter of all places of worship, the floors beneath the pews consists of timber floorboards on joists with a void below, as at St Paul’s Covent Garden. These are ideal for a system first developed in Canada which uses finned convectors heated by warm water. At St Paul’s, the contractor fitted a reflective breathable membrane loosely over and between the joists so that it could support a thick insulation blanket between the joists. The pipework for the heating system was then suspended between the joists on plastic tubing, and finally louvered aluminium fins were clipped on to the pipework to radiate heat and to warm the air around them. The reflective membrane helped direct heat upwards, while allowing the substrate to breathe. The top where it lapped over the joists had to be painted black so that it could not be seen through the floorboards afterwards. The historic floorboards were numbered so they could be relayed in the same position without alteration, and the whole installation was completed in just ten days. Engineers from Ultra-Fin installing an underfloor heating system between the joists at St Paul’s, Covent Garden.
6 BCD SPECIAL REPORT ON HISTORIC CHURCHES 32nd ANNUAL EDITION NEWS REVIEW END OF THE ROAD FOR THE LISTED PLACES OF WORSHIP GRANT SCHEME For places of worship in the UK that are listed buildings, VAT recovery on works of conservation and repairs is set to end in March 2026. The Listed Places of Worship (LPoW) Grant Scheme has been a vital financial lifeline for historic religious buildings since its inception in 2001. It has allowed listed churches and other places of worship to recover the 20% VAT levied on eligible repair and maintenance works, helping congregations and communities to do so much more work with their hard-pressed funds. Since 2012, the scheme has been largely stable, with a maximum funding envelope of up to £42 million and actual expenditure averaging just over £29.7 million per year across the decade to 2023/24. That stability came to an abrupt end in January 2025, when Heritage Minister Chris Bryant announced that the scheme would be renewed for only one year, until March 2026. Meanwhile, the overall budget was reduced to £23 million and a new cap of £25,000 was placed on the amount any individual place of worship can claim in a single year. It has since been confirmed that there will be no replacement for the LPoW Grant Scheme, meaning that all listed places of worship throughout the UK will bear the full 20% VAT cost on repairs from 1 April 2026. For England, the blow has been softened by the announcement of a £92 million four year Places of Worship Renewal Fund, administered by Historic England. However, spread across four-years, this amounts to just £23 million annually – no more than the reduced LPoW Grant Scheme budget, and a real-terms cut given inflation. The implications for the conservation of historic places of worship in England are serious. As the National Churches Trust has pointed out, the new fund operates as a competitive capital grant rather than an automatic VAT reclaim. The new application process will be burdensome for churches, almost all of which rely entirely on volunteers, with no paid staff to navigate the competitive funding rounds. It also places larger, better-resourced congregations at an advantage over smaller rural parishes, which are often responsible for some of the most architecturally significant buildings. Because the UK government sees heritage as a devolved matter, no support is being offered for places of worship in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. At a time when many places of worship are already struggling to survive, it is hoped that further funding announcements will be made by the devolved assemblies and their statutory heritage bodies. MAINTAINING SCOTLAND’S CHURCHES PROJECT The SPAB’s highly successful training scheme for church maintenance training is to be expanded in Scotland for three years thanks to an annual £14,000 grant from Historic Environment Scotland. This will enable the SPAB to run six events per year across Scotland under its Maintaining Scotland’s Churches Project, and will support additional collaborative sessions with partner organisations. This project offers practical training to those responsible for caring for church buildings. It is open to churches of all denominations including the Church of Scotland in particular, which has the highest number of churches at risk. Croscombe, Somerset: small parish churches lack the resources to compete for grants and benefitted enormously from the simplicity of the LPoW Grant Scheme.
BCD SPECIAL REPORT ON HISTORIC CHURCHES 32nd ANNUAL EDITION 7 TIN TABERNACLES AND THEIR INTERIORS Michael Hill-King IN FRONTIER lands, prefabricated corrugated iron buildings enabled rapid erection of homes, schools and churches with little requirement for skill or capital investment. Colonisation of New South Wales and gold prospecting in California in particular benefited from this novel form of construction. Often painted green, tin tabernacles are kit-built churches with characteristic corrugated iron walls and roofs. They were built from the 1850s to the 1920s, with a peak build rate in the 1880s. Of many thousands erected, there are a few hundred at most remaining in England, of which 19 are listed buildings and a few more are locally listed. Many of the surviving buildings are in poor condition and uncounted examples have been lost, begging the question; what are we losing? Neither designed by architects nor crafted in an artisan’s yard, tin tabernacles are manufactured buildings. They are not traditional or airtight modern constructions. Factory conversion and cutting of timbers became cheaper, faster and lower-skilled in the 19th century, and the development of galvanised corrugated wrought iron in the 1840s provided a lightweight cladding that required fewer timber supports, due to the rigidity of the metal profile. Pre-fabricated churches and other single-storey buildings began to be supplied from factories in kit form with corrugated iron roofs and walls fixed to timber frames which bear the structural and applied loads. Generally, the churches were lined with tongueand-groove softwood internally and often embellished externally with bell turrets and occasionally brattishing. Most featured wraparound corners as a practical weatherproofing detail that exploited the material’s characteristics and softened the architectural form. IDENTIFICATION AND DIFFERENTIATION The study on which this article is based included Anglican, Baptist, Brethren, Methodist and Spiritualist places of worship. With about a fifth of the tin tabernacles in England visited, the study should be regarded as exploratory rather than definitive. The focus in this article is on their interiors, and a selection of Anglican examples are used to illustrate the details and provenance of the liturgical and architectural elements that frame the space for worship. Preliminary research found more than 200 extant buildings across England and a similar number that have been lost. These data were mapped to serve as a resource for research. Externally, there are relatively minor differences between tin tabernacles and other corrugated iron-clad buildings, in particular, reading rooms and school rooms. The photomontage opposite shows buildings from Berkshire, Cumbria, Dorset, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Kent and Wiltshire, illustrating the similarities between places of worship and other buildings. Legal measures against nonconformists were abolished in 1828, eight years before the Metropolitan Churches Fund began building new urban Church of England churches. Although perceived as socially inferior, nonconformists were unrestricted by Known locations of corrugated iron churches, chapels and meeting halls in England – hundreds more have been lost
8 BCD SPECIAL REPORT ON HISTORIC CHURCHES 32nd ANNUAL EDITION parish structures and could build where they wanted. There was competition, especially in areas recently urbanised, between the home mission of the Church of England and the missions, crusades and revivals amongst the disparate groups of nonconformists. In rural areas, daughter churches were erected to reduce time walking to parish churches, and wayside chapels were placed by sympathetic landowners. All of them took advantage of low build costs, and while many were intended as temporary structures often for resale, others were intended as permanent buildings. VICTORIAN DESIGNS Churches can be considered as either a house for God or a house for God’s people, each with its own archetypal layout: the former a tworoom (medieval) plan; the latter an ‘auditory’ (post-Restoration) plan which, strictly speaking, doesn’t have a nave. Generally, the former suited Catholics and Anglicans, the latter nonconformists. These liturgically-led archetypes connect function, architecture and ornamentation. The ecclesiologists accepted corrugated iron on their own terms, so many tin tabernacles have an exuberance of gothic detailing, while nonconformists’ churches and chapels tend to be plain and shed-like, except for cross-shaped windows along either side, often with gothic hoods. The function of the windows was to allow light and air to enter the space, usually with the lower panes obscured to preclude external distractions. The interior walls were usually lined with matchboard (typically 150 mm wide interlocking boards of pine), often with decorative beaded edges. Later in the 19th century, oil and gas lamps became common and harmoniums were often introduced to accompany hymn singing. These features are not unique to tin tabernacles; an early photo of Sway Baptist (see next page) shows all these items and a warming stove, although its walls are of brick not iron. Items such as offertory boxes, hymn boards and benches frequently survive. Doors are typically framed, ledged and boarded, often with chevron designs created between adjacent panels. The majority of doors are square headed, but a significant proportion are pointed gothic and up to 2.5 m high. Despite being architecturally simple, many liturgical tin tabernacles have an altar step (predella), and nonconformist churches and chapels frequently had biblical texts in gothic lettering affixed to the walls. Glastonbury chairs, reading desks and hymn boards are common fittings. Benches tend to be simple in form, without elaborately A rich variety of corrugated iron buildings survives. The three in the left column are all Anglican churches and chapels, while those in the middle are all Methodist, some still in use as places of worship. Those on the right illustrate some of the many other uses of corrugated iron which include village halls (top right), reading rooms (middle right) and stores – in this case by the military (bottom right). (All photos: Michael King)
BCD SPECIAL REPORT ON HISTORIC CHURCHES 32nd ANNUAL EDITION 9 carved ends or poppyheads, and many of the fittings and furnishings found in larger Victorian churches are missing, from rood screens to ambries. TRADE CATALOGUES Like many other types of Victorian portable building, tin tabernacles were sold through trade catalogues. Manufacturers included Boulton and Paul, Croggon, Frederick Braby, Isaac Dixon, Samuel Hemming, William Cooper and Tupper & Co. They advertised ‘iron churches’ alongside many other pre-fabricated buildings for delivery to the nearest railway station. The similarities between the catalogues of different manufacturers are remarkable in terms of designs and the range of products. They sourced the corrugated wrought iron (later steel), light fittings and ecclesiastical items from specialists such as Ash & Lacy, and Gardiner & Sons, who also supplied lamps, pulpits, altar rails, and ironmongery and tools. These trade catalogues tended to show the exterior and structural details of the churches; William Cooper’s 1903 catalogue, for example, has an illustration resembling the tin tabernacle at Deepcut, Surrey. The same catalogue, on later pages, shows a range of altars, lecterns, pulpits, rostrums (for nonconformists) and seating options, to cater for both nave and mission, church and chapel. SURVIVING ECCLESIASTICAL INTERIORS The sketch below shows the synthesised interior of a typical Anglican mission church with the more frequently observed Victorian trade catalogue items placed in context. Of those tin tabernacles so far recorded, tripartite windows are present in a fifth, while around half have gothic window forms. Typically, the side windows are divided into four lights with a central mullion and raised transom forming a cross, which is important liturgically and can be considered part of the interior scheme. The glass in the lower lights is often obscured and in almost all examples the smaller lights above are hinged at the bottom and open inwards, sometimes within frames to form hopper vents. Solid or glazed hopper side panels prevented rain ingress and draughts, helping to preserve the interior. Almost all stoves have been lost, although their ghosts remain in the form of blanked metalwork to the roof, occasionally walls and stone hearths to the floor. The longer (post 2005) list descriptions for the 19 listed tin tabernacles reveal some of the reasons why they were proposed for designation, and on site recording and statistical analysis suggest that other reasons were The brick-built interior of Sway Baptist Church shows typical features of a tin tabernacle, including a warming stove, gas and oil lights, and matchboarding. The tin tabernacle in Deepcut, Surrey Illustration showing the synthesised interior of a typical Anglican mission church with the more frequently observed Victorian trade catalogue items placed in context. (R Taylor, 2003) A page from William Cooper’s 1903 catalogue offering everything for the construction and furnishing of tin tabernacles worldwide
10 BCD SPECIAL REPORT ON HISTORIC CHURCHES 32nd ANNUAL EDITION also at play. Listings favour architectural detailing such as westerly axial porches or decorated bargeboards, hopper windows (which are often gothic headed), and examples where the mullion and transom form a cross and the lower glazing is obscured. Listed examples also tend to have fine interiors in good condition, although the vast majority of surviving tin tabernacles have lost theirs. A change to non-religious use such as village halls or nurseries tend to result in the active loss of liturgical fittings, while passive loss occurs where a building is used solely for storage, particularly through decay. Generally it is the tin tabernacles that continue to be used for their original purpose that have the best-preserved interiors. These include several have been physically relocated, such as Brokerswood, Edithmead and Shepperdine, which are all Grade II-listed. The interior of Bramdean, Hampshire remains largely unaltered due to its rural location and continuous worship. It is off-grid and still illuminated by candles for services. The heavily varnished matchboarding, benches and dais are original, but the Glastonbury chair and harmonium are from elsewhere. The hinges to the hopper windows are visible. The provenance of the altar and lectern are unknown. Use of a scissor truss creates a greater sense of space despite the building being only 4.7 m wide. There is a striking resemblance between the east ends of the unlisted Littlebury Green, Essex with that of listed Bedmond, Hertfordshire, both around 6 m wide. Their plan form is explicitly medieval two-room. Both have gothic nave windows opening inwards hopperstyle below A-frame roofs with iron hangers and cranked ties, and each has a gothic chancel arch with surrounding biblical texts. Possibly the most northern tin tabernacle in England that is still used for worship is Newton-by-the-Sea, Northumberland. Under an octagonal east window, a narrow chancel echoing Littlebury Green and Bedmond is unnoticed externally due to a vestry and storage room to either side, accessed via four-panel doors. Inside, the chancel is separated from the scissor-trussed nave by two steps and an altar rail on spindles with a side-hinged door, and distinguished by a round-headed chancel arch. Hopper windows to the nave are not four-part cross design, but rather tripartite to both the fixed and inward opening parts. These architectural differences from other tin tabernacles may be due to a different manufacturer. Other ecclesiastical elements such as the open benches, lectern and prayer desk are similar to other places, but the pews have hinged backrests so they can be switched to face the back of the church for secular events. Listed in 2024, the tiny tin tabernacle at Edithmead, Somerset with its unusual central lantern roof, has matchboarded walls but the replacement windows are not hopper design. A small platform supports the altar which is accompanied by a Glastonbury chair, a prayer desk (both likely to be original), a credence and a lectern (which appear to be more recent). The hinged full-width altar rail, supported on iron stands, separates the liturgical nave from the chancel. According to a newspaper article in the church, the original harmonium was lost, and simple open benches now fill the nave, which is entered through excellent examples of Victorian lozenge chevron doors. Another museum exhibit is at Avoncroft Museum of Historic Buildings. Relocated from Bringsty, Herefordshire, this excellent example has matchboarded walls pierced by cross-design hopper windows under a scissor-truss roof. The tripartite east window illuminates the sanctuary, which is separated from the nave by a two-part oak communion rail with decorative metal stands at the edge of a full-width dais. To the liturgical south is an alcove for housing Largely unaltered, Bramdean is still off-grid and illuminated by candles for services, due to its rural location and continuous worship. Bedmond is around 6 m wide with gothic nave windows opening inwards, hopper-style below A-frame roofs with iron hangers and cranked ties. Edithmead, Somerset, listed in 2024, showing its unusual central lantern roof (above) and Victorian lozenge chevron doors (below). One of the reversible pews at Newton-by-the-Sea, Northumberland, which allow the congregation face eastwards for worship or westwards for secular events
BCD SPECIAL REPORT ON HISTORIC CHURCHES 32nd ANNUAL EDITION 11 a single manual 54-key pipe organ with a gothically decorated casing. While the pulpit and lectern appear newer, the Glastonbury chair is period. Vestiges of old electrics are evident. In Buckinghamshire, the Chiltern Open Air Museum reconstructed the steeply roofed church from Henton, Oxfordshire. Its scissor trusses are braced with iron brackets that emulate corbels, and span a space that is only 3.8 m wide. The west door is a fine example of Victorian design with opposing upper and lower boarding chevrons forming a lozenge. Exceptionally, one door has an escutcheon from the manufacturer, Boulton and Paul. With a similarly steep roof, the unlisted church at Alhampton, Wiltshire has many interior details typical of tin tabernacles. Again, with cross-design hopper windows and scissor trusses, the walls are painted white, giving a bright feel to the small space. The altar, below a tripartite window, sits on a full-width dais with a simple two-part altar rail to its edge, the gap being somewhat narrower than the length of the altar table. Individual chairs and liturgical furniture are more recent additions. Gothic-headed framed doors with diagonal planks provide access to the porch, nave and vestry, all good examples of Victorian design. Despite their radical form and construction, the interiors of tin tabernacles were generally typical of their time and have much in common with other Victorian churches and chapels. The contribution of interiors to significance has been understated. There is much work to be continued to identify, catalogue, record and evaluate the wealth of ecclesiastical, social and technological history that is bound up in these buildings. Further reading Carron, J, Tin tabernacles and other corrugated iron buildings in Scotland, Amenta Publications, 2017 Carron, J, Abandoned tin tabernacles, houses and huts, Amenta Publications, 2023 Induni, L, www.buildingconservation. com/articles/tin-tabernacles/ tin-tabernacles, 2002 Smith, I, Tin tabernacles: Corrugated iron mission halls, churches & chapels of Britain, Camrose Organisation, 2004 Smith, I, Tin tabernacles postcard album, Camrose Press, 2011 MICHAEL KING has had a keen amateur interest in old buildings for several decades, playing a role in saving some. He recently completed his MSc in Building Conservation at the Weald & Downland Living Museum and is continuing research into tin tabernacles. Contact michael@hill-king.com Bringsty east end.jpg Relocated from Henton, Oxfordshire, this steeply roofed church has been reconstructed at the Chiltern Open Air Museum. The painted white walls in this unlisted church at Alhampton, Wiltshire, give a bright feel to the small space. The interior of Bringsty tin tabernacle, Herefordshire which was relocated to the Avoncroft open air museum and carefully restored
12 BCD SPECIAL REPORT ON HISTORIC CHURCHES 32nd ANNUAL EDITION To discuss a potential project, please get in touch info@paye.net 020 8857 9111 paye.net Pre-Construction Advice and Surveys Principle Contractor Conservation Specialist Sub-Contractor Small Works Stonework & Restoration From specialist consultancy to the complete delivery of complex conservation and restoration projects encompassing the full envelope of a building, across every masonry type. Additional services include hard landscaping, monuments, memorials and more. We provide a tailored service to private clients, architects, trusts and bodies. MANUFACTURERS OF SAND CAST LEAD Proudly supplying sand cast lead to Notre Dame Paris, King’s Chapel & Woburn Abbey SPECIALIST, TRADITIONAL INSTALLERS OF LEAD SHEETS AND ALL HARD METALS www.sandcastlead-conservation.co.uk You can find our lead on many historical buildings both in the UK and Europe. We are able to recycle your existing lead retaining the history and heritage of the building. Unit S7C Wharf Way, Glen Parva, Leicester LE2 9TF 0116 2436505 sales@sandcastlead-conservation.co.uk Highly Experienced Craftsmen Bespoke Made to Measure • Lead Roofing • Stainless Steel Roofing • Copper Roofing Our installation team are experts in residential and heritage projects. They have experience installing both rolled lead (BS:EN12588) and sand cast lead, ranging from restoration and repair of churches and other historical buildings. • Ornamental Lead Work • Slating and Tiling • Associated Goods
BCD SPECIAL REPORT ON HISTORIC CHURCHES 32nd ANNUAL EDITION 13 RISING FROM THE ASHES The cleaning and restoration of Notre-Dame, Paris A faithful replica of Viollet le Duc’s spire emerges from the scaffolding (All photos: Jonathan Taylor) ON THE evening of 15 April 2019, flames consumed the roof of Notre-Dame de Paris, one of the great masterpieces of Gothic architecture. The fire, almost certainly ignited by an electrical fault during ongoing renovation work, spread with terrifying speed from the scaffolding surrounding the spire through the medieval timber framework of the roof. Within two hours the 96-metre spire, rebuilt in the 19th century by architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, had collapsed in a shower of sparks and molten lead, crashing through the stone vault of the transept below. Twothirds of the lead roof was destroyed. President Emmanuel Macron almost immediately pledged to restore the cathedral to its former glory within five years. Incredibly, that promise was kept. Notre-Dame reopened on 7 December 2024 after a restoration effort involving more than 2,000 skilled craftspeople and expenditure of around 840 million euros raised from 340,000 donors in over 150 countries. STABILISATION AND CLEANING The first two years after the fire were devoted to careful survey and analysis, a massive cleanup operation to remove tons of debris, and emergency works to safeguard what had survived. Enormous timber props were erected to brace the surviving walls which had lost the structural integrity provided by the roof against the flying buttresses. Inside the building, the lead particulates left by the melting of four hundred tons of roof covering had coated every surface in toxic residue and had penetrated into every crack and crevice. Specialist teams wearing full PPE (including hazmat suits and micro-filtered respirators) removed tons of lead-contaminated debris and dust. Once the structure was deemed safe, the complex work began of reinstating what had been lost and consolidating and cleaning what had been damaged. The stone predominantly used to construct the building was the pale Lutetian limestone which had been quarried locally. The stone was relatively porous and had been affected by centuries of wind, rain and weathering, pollution, exploitation by natural organisms, and now the fire. As well as the effects of heat and surface contamination by the various chemical residues, the soft porous limestone had also been exposed to saturating conditions from the fire hoses, mobilising salts and exposing the masonry to the risk of salt crystallisation damage as the masonry dried out, as well as rust expansion from hidden metal cramps. Cleaning was necessary to remove the contaminants and to help identify areas that needed repair, as well as being needed aesthetically essential. Cleaning methods had to be carefully selected to minimise further loss of historic fabric, but also to suit the brief set by the president and those funding the restoration. For the broad areas of plain masonry with little exposure to soot staining, the primary technique was micro-abrasives
14 BCD SPECIAL REPORT ON HISTORIC CHURCHES 32nd ANNUAL EDITION under low pressure to carefully remove the layers of dirt, with steam cleaning to remove lichens and other organisms that had colonised the masonry. The air-abrasive process relies on the skill of the operator to clean the dirt layers from the stone without damaging the substrate itself. However, in this case the client’s demand was for a level of clean that was significantly greater than would usually be acceptable from a conservation perspective alone. The aim was to blend old work with new masonry, but without leaving tell-tale abrasive marks. The key here was control: restorers adjusted the pressure and particle size according to the surface being cleaned. In the interior where masonry surfaces were heavily contaminated, a latex-based cleaning system was found to be highly effective at removing surface deposits of soot and dirt. The technique involves applying a latex paste to the stonework; after a few days it can be peeled off, bringing accumulated dust and dirt with it. The process was developed in the 1990s and was used in the UK at St Paul’s Cathedral, as outlined by David Odgers in the 2003 edition of Historic Churches. The proprietary cleaning system used then 20 major cathedral sculptural schemes across France, including those of Paris, Chartres, Bourges, and Poitiers, have been restored using laser cleaning in combination with other methods. Where new stone was required to repair damaged vaults and walls, the original Lutetian limestone used to build Notre-Dame had been quarried from beneath the city and, since these quarries are no longer active, replacement stone was excavated from the Oise region in northern France and cut in the Parisian suburb of Gennevilliers. The combined result of the various cleaning processes is particularly obvious in the interior of Notre-Dame. Philippe Villeneuve, the chief architect of French national historic monuments, is quoted as saying that, once completed, the cathedral would be ‘luminous’, and the interior certainly now glows with a clarity it has not had for centuries, a brightness that has surprised even those who worked within it throughout the restoration. Whether this luminosity is seen as a triumph of conservation or a loss of layered historical patina is a debate that will run for generations. What is beyond dispute is that there is a limited New and original stonework blend seamlessly together in the cleaned and repaired pinnacle (right), contrasting with uncleaned fabric lower down the facade (left) was Arte Mundit which, controversially, contained the chelating agent EDTA and ammonia. At Notre-Dame the active ingredients have not been disclosed. Where contamination had penetrated more deeply into the porous limestone, poultices were applied – custom mixes of kaolin and fine clay with mild cleaning agents designed to draw contaminants out of the stone by capillary action as the poultice dries. This method was particularly effective on deeply ingrained soot and smoke staining, where surface cleaning alone could not reach the full depth of the deposit. For the most intricate and delicate elements such as the carved capitals and sculptural decoration, laser cleaning was used. This works by directing short pulses of light at a contaminated surface; the energy is absorbed by the darker soiling material and converts it to vapour or fine particles, while the lighter, cleaner stone beneath reflects the beam and is largely unaffected. The technique had already been used on French cathedrals for three decades – the first laser cleaning on French monuments was carried out between 1993 and 1995 on the south portal of the western façade of Amiens Cathedral, and since then some
BCD SPECIAL REPORT ON HISTORIC CHURCHES 32nd ANNUAL EDITION 15 number of times that you can clean a building to this degree without causing significant harm to its form and fabric. THE ROOF For the reconstruction of the roof timbers, the decision was taken to follow the medieval joinery method closely, using the original materials and techniques. Craftspeople trained on the Guédelon project, where a medieval castle is being built using 13th-century methods, were brought in to advise, and the carpentry firms which specialise in the use of hand tools for the conversion of the timbers were contracted to make the timber work and not rely on electric saws. Viollet-le-Duc’s timber-framed flêche, which formed the central spire of the cathedral, was completed in February 2024 and the last trusses were installed a month later. The spire is now adorned with elaborate leadwork, which will be discussed in a further article in the next edition of Historic Churches, and a gilded copper rooster. The original rooster survived the fire but was too badly damaged to be reused, and is now on display in the cathedral below as a symbol of what was lost. FIRE PROTECTION Perhaps the most significant change to Notre-Dame is a comprehensive new fire protection system with over 300 fire detection points, including thermal cameras and an air suction and analysis system in constant operation. Any outbreak detected by at least two sensor pipes will automatically trigger a water misting system. This can reduce temperatures dramatically within a minute, with minimal water damage because of the relatively low volume of water. A new network of dry risers has also been installed which is designed to deliver three times the volume of water of the previous system. Other safeguards included fire compartmentation. Fire barriers introduced at key points now divide the roof into three separate spaces, so a fire can no longer spread quickly through the roof timbers from one end to the other. The thickness of the wooden boarding which separates the trusses from the lead roofing has also been increased by 15 mm, increasing the time it takes for a fire to spread from one side to the other by up to 15 minutes. The result is a cathedral that appears as it always has – ancient, soaring, and sublime – but is now better protected and better understood than at any moment in its 860-year history. However, the unique circumstances surrounding the project gave those financing the restoration a degree of control over the restoration that was unprecedented, determining both the timescale and the philosophical approach. Some would argue that the whole building looks new and that it is no longer possible to tell original from modern. For others, the new work is simply a continuation of the old, preserving its significance. AUTHORS: this article was researched and prepared by the Cathedral Communications editorial team, Jonathan Taylor and Joanna Collie Meticulously cleaned stonework in the nave glows with light, reflecting the aims of the architect that the work would be ‘luminous’ The opportunity was taken to replace plain glazing in the clerestory windows with modern glass to an abstract design
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BCD SPECIAL REPORT ON HISTORIC CHURCHES 32nd ANNUAL EDITION 17 NORTHERN IRELAND’S TREASURED CHURCH HERITAGE Sarah Crossland NORTHERN IRELAND is home to a remarkable range of ecclesiastical heritage, from medieval monastic ruins and early Christian sites to grand cathedrals, parish churches and modest rural chapels. These buildings reflect centuries of religious practice, artistic expression and community life, offering insight into both local history and wider cultural shifts. Some churches boast striking architectural features – gothic arches, timber roofs and intricately carved stonework – while others are celebrated for their stained glass, memorials and craftsmanship, revealing the stories of generations of congregations. The diversity of styles and periods makes Northern Ireland’s churches an extraordinary resource for historians, architects and visitors alike. Beyond their aesthetic and historical significance, these churches have long been centres of community and identity. Today, many continue to serve as places of worship while also acting as cultural landmarks, venues for music and art, and destinations for heritage tourism. TREASURE IRELAND Treasure Ireland was launched by the National Churches Trust in 2020. We received support from The National Lottery Heritage Fund for the Treasure Ireland project, made possible thanks to National Lottery players, and further support came from the Pilgrim Trust and Historic Environment Division at the Department for Communities. Treasure Ireland was conceived as a three-year project dedicated specifically to churches in Northern Ireland, recognising the region’s remarkable concentration of historic places of worship and the particular challenges they face in terms of funding, maintenance and visibility. The programme also builds on the charity’s core work to strengthen support for church heritage across the UK. It has been guided and supported by a steering group of Ballintoy, a church on the north Antrim coastline with a big view (Photo: Laura McIlveen, NCT) Travelling side by side through Northern Ireland’s landscapes, pausing at churches, holy wells and sacred sites, visitors rediscover the rhythm of slow travel and foster a deeper connection with place, turning the simple path between churches into an experience of community and discovery.
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