Progress Report on the Repairs - 20th September 2008
Many of you who visit Ramsgate will have noticed that the Nave and Aisles of St George’s Church have been enveloped in plastic sheeting!
The scaffolding took a month to erect and the work of restoration is well underway. Repairs have been carried out to the roof trusses, and the new lead gutters to the Nave are now complete.
The new slate has already been quarried at the Penrhyn Quarry Bethesda Nr Bangor. The lower slates are over 3 feet long!
The stone replacements have been ordered from the Bath Stone quarry and the masonry repair work will start in October. The good news is that the condition of the great trusses to the Nave roof was better than we feared. This means that we can now afford to re-slate the Aisle roofs as well - these had to be provisionally omitted because of the high cost of the tenders received.
We are already looking towards a Phase 3 as although the current work will make the Church safe and watertight, there will still be further lower level stonework and interior work to do. Also at this stage we are not sure whether we can afford to carry out the much needed repairs to the Vestry roofs.
With best wishes,
John Chater
St George the Martyr Church, Ramsgate
Scaffolding from the North
Scaffolding from the East
Nave Rooof stripped
Stripping old slates