Kate Andrewhas taken on supporting three churches in the Dudley area in the delivery phaseof their building conservation projects, all with major grants from the HeritageLottery Fund.
St Thomas & St Luke (Top Church)
Top Church is now in the very final stages ofreporting on a 275,000 project to provide safe access to the roof andfunctioning rain water disposal. Thegrant from the Heritage Lottery Fund was complemented by awards from sevenother Trusts and foundations plus lots of volunteer time.
The churchwill use the heritage research to support the 200th anniversary celebrationsthis summer.
Althoughwater tight, the church is still on the At-risk register and the remarkablepainted East window is one of the 100 most significant at-risk churchtreasures. We are meeting HLF toexplore the best way to approach the next stage of work.
St Johns, Brockmoor
Like TopChurch, St Johns Brockmoor has been on the At-risk register for manyyears. Some damage was all too obvious; peelingpaint, falls of plaster and failures of sections of the electrical system.A 280,000 project got underway in January ofthis year to deal with the long term effects of water ingress through broken gutters,blocked downpipes, open joins in the parapet copings and failed pointing.The revealed invisible damage has been severerot in timber soaked by the water ingress, re-used slates on the two aislerooves full of holes and a lot more failed plaster. The circular windows in theeast and west gables also proved to be badly damaged and the turret bellsupport and mechanism in a dangerous condition.
Buildingwork is due to finish in mid May and the contractor will be back on site forsome traditional skills demonstrations, for a public event with heritagedisplays on Black County Day, 14th July.
The teamwere part of a group of ten volunteers from Dudley churches who enjoyed abehind the scenes tour to Dudley Archives, now all have Archives reader ticketsand have had an introduction to how to access the newspapers, databases andoriginal records held at the Archives.
St Edmund King & Martyr (Bottom Church)
St EdmundsKing and Martyr has also been on the at-risk register for many years, with avery obvious hole in the porch ceiling caused by a failure of the drainage fromthe tower roof. Scaffolding startedgoing up just after Easter and work on the 280,000 project will repair thetower roof and rainwater goods and fit a new kitchen and toilets. A separate project to create a much needed accessramp for those with mobility impairments is planned to happen once theconservation work is complete.
The teamfrom St Edmunds were part of the Dudley Archives training visit and willshortly be starting their heritage programme with events planned for BlackCountry Day and Heritage Open Days in September.
