For several years, we have been monitoring movement in the chapel and library areas of the church building. This area is on clay (with a large oak tree nearby) and the drying out in summer and the rehydration during the winter has caused cracks to open and close. We have been able to cope with this until the exceptionally dry summer of 2022, when we started to suffer serious movement and cracking.
This more recent movement has caused the area to become unsafe and we have had to remove all contents and prevent access to the area.
We are now using our ‘Reading Room’ as a chapel, which has been widely appreciated as a small worship space.
The library has been decommissioned with a subset of books being stored elsewhere in the church and in the Vicarage.
Sadly, church insurance does not cover subsidence and so we will be reliant on grant funding and the generosity of our congregation and local community to fund the demolition and rebuild of the damaged area.
The area that has suffered subsidence is shaded in the plan below. Luckily, we believe the rest of the church space to be unaffected.
The following photos show the extent of the damage:
Damage of the wall between the library and chapel
Damage to the library floor. (See how the wall has moved away from the floor).
Water damage on the chapel wall.
A loose brick from the movement.
The library ceiling moving away from the main church.
The chapel window from outside.
The view from the main part of the church.
We have setup a Big Build Steering Group who will be working towards our vision for our church building and seeing the project through to completion.
This area of the website will be updated with our progress over the coming months.