BCD Special Report on
Historic Churches
19
th annual edition
33
Deterioration
The belfry consists of a structural timber
frame with a decorative arrangement of
braces, constructed mainly of softwood with
oak sole plates. The tower is square in plan
with the members in all four sides of the
timber frame arranged in the same way. In
the centre of each side is a full height panel
of louvres constructed with oak shingles. The
timber frame is in-filled with render panels.
The belfry was identified as being a
particular matter for concern during the
quinquennial inspection of the church in 2007,
which was the first inspection of St Andrews
undertaken by the author. It was apparent
that the frame had been repaired several
times in the recent past and an oak ‘skirting’
board had been added to the outer face of
the sole plates on the south and west sides.
Some of the repairs had involved the use of
ferrous bolts and nail fixings, which were
showing signs of considerable rusting and
deterioration. In addition, some of the timber
members, mainly posts, had areas that had
been cut back and re-faced. These repairs had
seemingly been carried out to deal with the
advancing effects of wet rot in the timbers.
The inspection of the belfry timbers was
limited because it was not possible to get
sufficiently close to them externally. Access
was available up the tower internally, but
here the timbers of the frame appeared to be
acceptably sound and dry. From the inside it
was also possible to observe that most of the
original render panels had been replaced in
the recent past. The few surviving original
panels were formed with riven oak laths, but
the replacement panels had been formed
by the removal of the original oak laths and
replaced with galvanised expanded metal
lathing on softwood battens backed with
reinforced bituminous roofing felt and finished
externally with a hard cement-based render.
One of these replacement panels had fallen
out and was found lying on ground. When
inspected it was clear that the expanded
metal lathing had rusted and failed.
In March 2008, Verity and Beverley
was provided with the opportunity to
inspect the belfry timbers from the outside
using a cherrypicker. The parochial church
council (PCC) had arranged for the hire of
the machine to clear gutters by Forrester
Access under a scheme promoted by the
Diocese of Gloucester called GutterClear.
This inspection indicated that wet rot in the
lower sections of the frame on the south and
west sides was fairly well advanced and that
this had clearly been accelerated by the use
of cement render for the panels. It could be
seen that the render panels had shrunk away
from the timber frames, allowing an easy
passage for the entry and trapping of water
in the resulting voids. The use of cement
render was preventing the drying out that
would have been achieved with the original
lime-based render. With the prevailing wind
from the southwest, the south and west sides
of the frame were those most affected.
Assembling the
restoration team
In May 2008, Carpenter Oak & Woodland,
a locally based specialist in the repair and
restoration of historic timber structures,
was consulted regarding repair methods.
Separation between the frame and the cement-rendered panels provided an easy route for driving rain to enter
the structure causing timber to decay and the metal lath to rust
The belfry jacked up to allow new and repaired
timbers to be swung in
A new frame member being finished on site by Peter Mellish of Ward & Co to match the original profile
