Early on the morning of Sunday, January 2011, our neighbour Mr Henry Young was milking his cows when he noticed that they were unsettled. He looked across to the church & spotted lights. He immediately realised that in fact the church was on fire and called the emergency services. It is because of Mr Young and his cows that we still have a church - the fire was put out within 30 minutes of his call and although the building sustained considerable smoke damage the only parts of the church that were actually destroyed by fire were the pulpit and an adjacent pew.

It took around 15 weeks to complete the restoration work on St Thomas a Becket and the church reopened to the public in early June. This account has been produced to give you a summary of the work that was done.

The West Door

The fire brigade had to force entry through the West Door because the building was securely locked when they arrived. You can still see the slight dents where they used some kind of ramming device but in fact they did remarkably little damage to the door. The conservators have treated the door with linseed oil, which is why it now looks much darker than the North Door. There was some smoke damage to the stone arch above the door and this has been given what is known as a sacrificial coat of limewash. This will give the stonework a little more protection from the elements.

 

The Pew Platform

The fire started under the wooden pew platform in front of the pulpit. The new floorboards indicate the extent of the damage. Although these boards would have changed colour to blend in with the rest of the pew platform over time, it was decided to give them a slight stain to speed up the process.

The Pews

The pews you can see immediately in front of the site of the pulpit are ones we have temporarily relocated from elsewhere in the church. In early July a long pew from the rear of the church was taken away, to he reconfigured to match the pew that was destroyed in the fire and installed as its replacement. A new pew front is being crafted to exactly match the one lost in the fire.

The Walls & Ceiling Beams

The walls and woodwork were blackened by smoke deposits throughout the church. After trials on the Chancel walls, latex with added cleaners was painted onto every inch and left to dry. When peeled away the latex brought the smoke particles away with it. Once the cleaning was over the decorators limewashed the walls and waxed the wooden beams in the Chancel. In the kitchen area where the walls are no longer plastered with lime plaster a clay based paint was used. Limewash is a notoriously difficult medium. The decorators applied up to six coats of pure limewash and then many areas were given another coat of casein limewash to try and achieve a more consistent finish.

The Wall Memorials

A specialist conservator was brought in to clean each memorial by hand. This was done using a variety of techniques, depending on the damage done by the fire and the age & composition of the memorial.

One of the problems Emma Norris & her team encountered was additional staining caused during the weeks after the fire when the church was empty and unheated: condensation formed on the walls and dripped down onto several of the memorials, bringing with it soot deposits. One brass memorial in the Chancel was particularly badly affected and so had to be polished. It now looks far brighter than the others. These days polishing brass in churches is frowned upon so you will not see much shiny brass in this church. The thin brass memorials have been lacquered to protect them from further oxidisation.

The marble memorials were waxed and hand-polished after cleaning to protect the stone. The conservator, after discussions with our Rector, decided to retouch the paint to the carved lettering on several of the marble memorials. If you stand in the Nave and look up at the walls supported by pillars it is now possible to read the inscriptions of the memorials installed there for the first time in many, many years. This reversible restoration work has been documented so that future conservators know exactly what was done and when. As part of their investigations the conservators also found evidence of the original brightly coloured painting on the two memorials on the North Wall of the Nave and the effigy in the Side Chapel.

 

The Columns

On the south side of the Nave the main pillars are surrounded by slender Purbeck marble columns. These were cleaned with latex and then waxed to bring out their colour and to protect them. Regular buffing will give them further protection and a lovely sheen. Purbeck 'marble' is in fact a fossiliferous limestone quarried in the Isle of Purbeck, a peninsula in south-east Dorset, England.

 

The Tiles

This church has Victorian as well as Mediaeval tiles in the Chancel area. These were all cleaned using the same latex method used on the walls. When the fire-damaged carpet was removed from beneath the altar more Victorian tiles were revealed. It was decided not to replace this carpet because as you will see the tiles suffered under the carpet

underlay and the conservators didn't want to risk further damage. Over the coming years this efflorescence will gradually disappear as the tiles are carefully cleaned every six months or so.

 

The Organ

The organ only sustained smoke damage in the fire. Most of the 800-900 pipes had to he removed for cleaning and the front pipes will need to be repainted later in the year. It is hoped that the organ will be back in working order by early August.

 

The Windows

The only window that was damaged by the heat of the fire was the small skylight immediately above the pulpit area. The heat cracked the glass. However all the windows needed cleaning to remove smoke particles and this was done by hand using 'Vulpex' Conservation Soap, non-ionic surfactant, and de-ionised water. The Parish is now considering having all the windows cleaned on the outside.

 

What Caused the Fire?

The fire was probably caused by an electrical fault. The church has now been rewired to the highest standards and the old panel heaters that you can see attached to the backs of the pews in the Nave have been disconnected. The Parish has consulted with Acanthus Clews on how best to heat the building during the colder months in a way that will care for the fabric of the building and its occupants!

 

Did we encounter problems?

The whole project went remarkably smoothly. Perhaps the biggest challenge for the contractors was getting a really good finish on the limewashed walls. Limewash needs time to settle and so the condition of the walls will be reviewed over the coming months as the building dries out. It is likely that we will see a gradual improvement within just a few week.

Who Did the Work?
Our insurer, Ecclesiastical Insurance Group, recognised immediately that the repairs and restoration had to be undertaken by professionals. They helped the Parish put together a very experienced team of conservators:

Acanthus Clews, Architects
Andrew Salter, senior principal architect at Acanthus Clews, has extensive experience in the field of historic church restoration and oversaw the work done here in St Thomas a Becket. His knowledge has proved invaluable.

St Blaise, Principal Contractor
St Blaise is the country's best known building conservation firm. It is exceptional because of the many traditional trades employed directly in-house. It has a fully equipped conservation workshop, joinery shop, and stonemason's yard, in its premises.

Continuity
This Southampton based company specialises in damage management and has cleaned many listed buildings following fire damage.

Griffiths
Geoff Griffiths restored our organ only six years ago so knows it well. Based in Southsea, he travels all over the country to clean, tune and restore church organs.

 

Humphries & Jones

St Blaise called in this Somerset based company to clean the precious memorials, monuments and brasses. Humphries & Jones specialises in the conservation and repair of sculpture, historic buildings, monuments and architectural works of art.

 

 

Sunrise Stained Glass

This Southsea company has been caring for our stained glass for many years. It is one of the country's leading specialists in the restoration and conservation of traditional stained, leaded and etched glass windows.

 

A time capsule was found in the eaves during the cleaning process. This has been documented, added to and returned to the eaves, to be found by the next generation of craftsmen and women whose skills we hope will keep this church in good condition in the future.

 

Rededication 31st July 2011

 

 

 Bishop Christopher rededicated the church on this day. Only the organ needs a little more additional work, and plans are in hand for the construction and installation of a new pulpit.

Warblington Church

Prayer of Blessing and Rededication

 

Almighty God our Heavenly Father, we praise you for the life and witness of your church in this place, throughout the generations, and remember that we are stewards of all that you have given us.

 

We give you thanks for preserving this historic building as a place of worship and welcome to our community, and we entrust its future into your care.

 

In particular, we celebrate the completed work of restoration and thank you for all those who have made it possible. We thank you for the skills and professionalism of those who planned and carried out the work so diligently; for their wisdom, enthusiasm, care and hard work.

 

We thank you for all who have given so generously of their time, energy and money to support this restoration and especially for Phoebe who, as Church Warden, has worked so hard on behalf of the parish.

 

We also remember the many who, week by week, serve willingly to care for this building and who open it up for visitors to find here a place of healing and hope.

 

We pray that you would richly bless this church and its people so that they may reach out to their community with compassionate service and with the good news of your love, in the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

 

 

 

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Read the article in the News HERE