Crumbling cathedral held together by tape
By Jonathan Petre, Religion Correspondent
(Filed: 04/10/2006)
Canterbury Cathedral in Kent is falling apart at the seams, with chunks of masonry dropping off its walls and a fifth of its internal marble pillars held together by duct tape.
An art student paints in the cloisters, but trustees say parts of the building may have to be closed to visitors for safety reasons. Canterbury Cathedral is the seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Head of England's Protestant church - the Church of England (Anglicanism) - and of the worldwide Anglican Communion.
The extent of the building's disrepair was revealed yesterday at the launch of a global campaign to raise £50 million over five years for urgent and long-term renovation and conservation.
The cathedral, the mother church of worldwide Anglicanism which was founded in 597 by St Augustine, was the scene of the murder of Thomas Becket in 1170 and has survived extensive bombing of the city during the Second World War.
But Allan Willett, the chairman of the trustees, says it is now facing its biggest challenge — serious corrosion and pollution.
"Despite its 900 turbulent years, it is the next few years that represent this cathedral's time of greatest danger," he said.
The picture postcard image of the cathedral belied its true state, he added, and if nothing was done, parts of it might soon have to be closed to visitors for safety reasons.
John Burton, the surveyor of the fabric, said that the stonework was now deteriorating too fast for the cathedral's regular maintenance and conservation programme, which cost £1 million annually, to keep up.
The cathedral was at a "critical point in history" and if action was not taken "deterioration will turn into dereliction", he said.
"We don't like to admit that we have had to tie bits of the columns together because we are proud of the building, but we do," he said.
Masons had to "sweep" the exterior walls to remove chunks of wall that were threatening to fall off, and pieces of stone had become dislodged from the towers and fallen on to the roof, he added.
Pollution takes its toll on the 500-year-old carvings and statues
Heather Newton, the head of stone conservation, said that 20 per cent of the hundreds of 12th century Purbeck marble pillars that line the interior walls of the cathedral were bound with tape to prevent them crumbling. She added that a number of crockets, the decorative ends of the pinnacles on some of the towers, had been blown off in storms.
The first priority for the cathedral will be the huge task of tackling the roof, where the support beams are beginning to rot and the lead has become so thin that rain is leaking through a growing number of holes.
An estimated £2 million is needed for the West Tower for urgent work on the buttresses to prevent falling masonry, and a further £5 million for the Bell Harry Tower, where 500-year-old carvings are wearing away.
The re-leading of the nave roof and repairs to the stonework around the clerestory windows and tracery will require £6.5 million worth of work, while an additional £3 million is earmarked for the quire, presbytery and Trinity Chapel.
Another £8 million will be spent on the archives and library, the medieval stained glass, including the 12th century oculus window, and other work.
The authorities also want to secure the cathedral's music and enhance its visitor facilities.
The cathedral hopes that it can appeal to Anglicans and wealthy benefactors worldwide, and is to open offices in North America and Asia.
The dean, the Very Rev Robert Willis, said that all avenues of fundraising would be considered, though suggestions that the cathedral could sell the Archbishop of Canterbury's house or collaborate with wealthy Muslims might not best serve the local community.
telegraph.co.uk
*******************************************************
Canterbury Cathedral
Canterbury Cathedral is one of the oldest and most famous Christian structures in England. It is the Cathedral of the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, the Primate of All England and religious leader of the Church of England. As well as being the mother church of the Diocese of Canterbury (east Kent) it is the focus for the Anglican Communion. The formal title is the Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Christ at Canterbury.
HISTORY
Augustine
The Cathedral's first Archbishop was St. Augustine, previously abbot of St. Andrew's Benedictine Abbey in Rome, sent to England by Pope Gregory the Great, arriving in AD 597.
St. Bede the Venerable (The Ecclesiastical History of the English People) records how the Cathedral was founded by St.Augustine, the first Archbishop. Archaeological investigations under the Nave floor in 1993 revealed the remains of this first Saxon Cathedral which had been built across a former Roman road by way of foundations. This church was dedicated to St. Saviour.
Augustine also directed the foundation of a Benedictine Abbey of Ss. Peter and Paul to be built outside the city walls. This was later rededicated to St. Augustine himself and was for many centuries the burial place of the successive archbishops. The remains are in the care of English Heritage and form part of the World Heritage Site along with the ancient Church of St. Martin, which appears to contain Roman work, although this is disputed.
The main subsequent phases of building are listed below (year ranges are the periods during which the relevant office was held):
View from the north west circa 1890-1900.
Later Saxon and Viking
Norman
By Jonathan Petre, Religion Correspondent
(Filed: 04/10/2006)
Canterbury Cathedral in Kent is falling apart at the seams, with chunks of masonry dropping off its walls and a fifth of its internal marble pillars held together by duct tape.
An art student paints in the cloisters, but trustees say parts of the building may have to be closed to visitors for safety reasons. Canterbury Cathedral is the seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Head of England's Protestant church - the Church of England (Anglicanism) - and of the worldwide Anglican Communion.
The extent of the building's disrepair was revealed yesterday at the launch of a global campaign to raise £50 million over five years for urgent and long-term renovation and conservation.
The cathedral, the mother church of worldwide Anglicanism which was founded in 597 by St Augustine, was the scene of the murder of Thomas Becket in 1170 and has survived extensive bombing of the city during the Second World War.
But Allan Willett, the chairman of the trustees, says it is now facing its biggest challenge — serious corrosion and pollution.
"Despite its 900 turbulent years, it is the next few years that represent this cathedral's time of greatest danger," he said.
The picture postcard image of the cathedral belied its true state, he added, and if nothing was done, parts of it might soon have to be closed to visitors for safety reasons.
John Burton, the surveyor of the fabric, said that the stonework was now deteriorating too fast for the cathedral's regular maintenance and conservation programme, which cost £1 million annually, to keep up.
The cathedral was at a "critical point in history" and if action was not taken "deterioration will turn into dereliction", he said.
"We don't like to admit that we have had to tie bits of the columns together because we are proud of the building, but we do," he said.
Masons had to "sweep" the exterior walls to remove chunks of wall that were threatening to fall off, and pieces of stone had become dislodged from the towers and fallen on to the roof, he added.
Pollution takes its toll on the 500-year-old carvings and statues
Heather Newton, the head of stone conservation, said that 20 per cent of the hundreds of 12th century Purbeck marble pillars that line the interior walls of the cathedral were bound with tape to prevent them crumbling. She added that a number of crockets, the decorative ends of the pinnacles on some of the towers, had been blown off in storms.
The first priority for the cathedral will be the huge task of tackling the roof, where the support beams are beginning to rot and the lead has become so thin that rain is leaking through a growing number of holes.
An estimated £2 million is needed for the West Tower for urgent work on the buttresses to prevent falling masonry, and a further £5 million for the Bell Harry Tower, where 500-year-old carvings are wearing away.
The re-leading of the nave roof and repairs to the stonework around the clerestory windows and tracery will require £6.5 million worth of work, while an additional £3 million is earmarked for the quire, presbytery and Trinity Chapel.
Another £8 million will be spent on the archives and library, the medieval stained glass, including the 12th century oculus window, and other work.
The authorities also want to secure the cathedral's music and enhance its visitor facilities.
The cathedral hopes that it can appeal to Anglicans and wealthy benefactors worldwide, and is to open offices in North America and Asia.
The dean, the Very Rev Robert Willis, said that all avenues of fundraising would be considered, though suggestions that the cathedral could sell the Archbishop of Canterbury's house or collaborate with wealthy Muslims might not best serve the local community.
telegraph.co.uk
*******************************************************
Canterbury Cathedral
Canterbury Cathedral is one of the oldest and most famous Christian structures in England. It is the Cathedral of the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, the Primate of All England and religious leader of the Church of England. As well as being the mother church of the Diocese of Canterbury (east Kent) it is the focus for the Anglican Communion. The formal title is the Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Christ at Canterbury.
HISTORY
Augustine
The Cathedral's first Archbishop was St. Augustine, previously abbot of St. Andrew's Benedictine Abbey in Rome, sent to England by Pope Gregory the Great, arriving in AD 597.
St. Bede the Venerable (The Ecclesiastical History of the English People) records how the Cathedral was founded by St.Augustine, the first Archbishop. Archaeological investigations under the Nave floor in 1993 revealed the remains of this first Saxon Cathedral which had been built across a former Roman road by way of foundations. This church was dedicated to St. Saviour.
Augustine also directed the foundation of a Benedictine Abbey of Ss. Peter and Paul to be built outside the city walls. This was later rededicated to St. Augustine himself and was for many centuries the burial place of the successive archbishops. The remains are in the care of English Heritage and form part of the World Heritage Site along with the ancient Church of St. Martin, which appears to contain Roman work, although this is disputed.
The main subsequent phases of building are listed below (year ranges are the periods during which the relevant office was held):
View from the north west circa 1890-1900.
Later Saxon and Viking
- Second building on same axis added by Archbishop Cuthbert (740-760) as a baptistry and dedicated to St. John the Baptist.
- The Cathedral community was reorganised as Benedictine Abbey during the reforms of Abp. St. Dunstan. St. Dunstan was buried on the south side of the High Altar.
Norman
- St. Anselm greatly extended the Quire to the east to give sufficient space for the monks of the greatly revived monastery. The crypt of this church survives as the largest of its kind in England.
Last edited:
