The Collapse
At
the beginning of the last century the church was deemed to be in poor shape and
major restoration work was put in hand. This included buttressing of the south
wall, removal of plasterwork and underpinning of the chancel.
This
latter work did not prove entirely successful as shortly afterwards the entire
chancel collapsed into the river below taking with it the stained glass east
window and the old furniture including a 3 tier pulpit. When the chancel was
rebuilt the following year it was shorter and included a modest foundation
retaining wall.
The
‘awful sight’ that greeted
the
churchwarden in 1906!
Major works
In
1997 the architect drew attention to a number of cracks in the walls at the
east end of the church. As a consequence a number of investigations were
undertaken in conjunction with English Heritage.
However
matters came to a head in Spring 2001 when it was appreciated that, as a result
of the heavy rainfall, high river levels and flow rates experienced in Autumn
2000, significant movement in the retaining wall had occurred. This called for
major civil engineering works. The original retaining wall was encased by a
much enlarged version which was anchored, by means of underground stainless
steel rods, to two large concrete blocks set deep into the ground at the west
end of the church. The total costs have yet to be finalised but will be in
excess of a quarter of a million pounds.