Rerendering of the Chancel
We have now completed the rendering and limewashing of the chancel and much of the crossing wall, and hope you will agree the result is truly impressive.
Probably not since pre-reformation days has the chancel looked like this. At last the external render has been reinstated to the rubble flint and field stone walling, and in doing so protects the wall and facilitates it to dry out much more quickly than if merely pointed. This in turn means that dampness is held away from internal fixtures, and in particular timber beams and fittings – preventing decay. The internal environment also becomes much drier and will therefore feel much less cold than we have become accustomed to.
Furthermore the limewashing of the external stonework staves off decay from lichens and micro-biological growth that leach acids and over time damages the stone, leading to endless stone repairs. Needless to say very little medieval external clunch stonework survives as a result of this neglect; and what’s worse is that we can no longer obtain local clunch anymore.
As I have said before this may seem a radical intervention, but I feel this is an imperative in order for our rural medieval churches to have a viable future.
