1000 year old church being restored

[Mary of Bethany]

Someone shared this on facebook and I thought it was worth sharing. God bless Mr. Davey for taking on this work (although the article title is rather sensationalist and not really the point).

Bob Davey defies Satanists death threats to renovate Houghton-on-the-Hill church, Norfolk | Daily Mail Online

Mary

 

[MKJ]

What a lovely church. The headline is hilarious though!

It's an interesting thing when people who are private citizens just take on that kind of work that has public significance. There is a park near me on what is part of the public commons, where a man who lived next to the park about 100 years ago built all kinds of beautiful dry stone walls around the slopes. He did this in his spare time, the rocks came from the ground of the park, and it took him 30 years.

I wonder how things would be if we spent more of our efforts on doing things to just make our community a nicer place, instead of on private projects?

 

[Cjwinnit]

(although the article title is rather sensationalist and not really the point).

It's those kind of tricks that got the Daily Mail to the point where it's the second most widely-read English-language online paper on earth. I guess it worked!

 

[Liberasit]

It's those kind of tricks that got the Daily Mail to the point where it's the second most widely-read English-language online paper on earth. I guess it worked!

I thought it was because they didn't have a paywall.

 

[Targaryen]

I'm more shocked at the CofE and frankly the Royal Archaeological Society for allowing a church building from near the end of the Anglo-Saxon era to fall into such disuse and disrepair.

 

[John Shrewsbury]

I'm more shocked at the CofE and frankly the Royal Archaeological Society for allowing a church building from near the end of the Anglo-Saxon era to fall into such disuse and disrepair.

Each church in England is responsible for its own affairs, including maintenance of the building. If the congregation fell, then the church would have closed and the CofE would have written it off.

This is why English Heritage and the Churches Conservation Trust are working hard to bring buildings like this back into use.

 

[Liberasit]

I'm more shocked at the CofE and frankly the Royal Archaeological Society for allowing a church building from near the end of the Anglo-Saxon era to fall into such disuse and disrepair.

What does an archeological body have to do with it? These folks tend to stop you from fixing your buildings.

 

[Targaryen]

What does an archeological body have to do with it? These folks tend to stop you from fixing your buildings.

Considering there are paintings and other pieces in the building that are 1000 years old, they would've at least preserved the building in a manner to stop further degradation of the paintings or those other pieces.

 

[John Shrewsbury]

Considering there are paintings and other pieces in the building that are 1000 years old, they would've at least preserved the building in a manner to stop further degradation of the paintings or those other pieces.

It depends when it fell into disuse. There are many old churches that were abandoned and left to rot prior to the 1980s, when we suddenly realised that we should preserve them. Before then most people weren't interested.

There is an Orthodox church near me that was originally built in the 11th century. But until the mid-1980s it had been used as a barn by a local farmer, and hadn't been used as a church since the 16th century. When it was restored they discovered a number of ancient wall paintings.

 

[Liberasit]

Considering there are paintings and other pieces in the building that are 1000 years old, they would've at least preserved the building in a manner to stop further degradation of the paintings or those other pieces.

They only kick in if you actually apply for planning consent. If you are simply neglectful, they have no role.

The heritage bodies are a bit more interested, but there is not an awful lot they can do until the owner/trustee applies for planning consent or sells it to them. There default position is often to do as little as possible, IME.

There are safeguards in active churches known as quinquennial repairs.

There is a great antagonism between heritage bodies and church chancellors with respect to work on churches. The heritage bodies will protest any modernisation whereas church policy definitely calls for modernisation, for example in energy usage. Planners don't always listen to the heritage folks though.

 

[MKJ]

Considering there are paintings and other pieces in the building that are 1000 years old, they would've at least preserved the building in a manner to stop further degradation of the paintings or those other pieces.

People in the Old World tend to be much more casual about this sort of thing than North Americans.

Watch an English and then American version of Antiques Roadshow some time. On the English one someone will bring in some bit of crockery from the 16th century they found in the cupboard and get told its worth 10 pounds, while the Americans bring in a 150 year old quilt and its worth $2000.

 

[wandererUK]

It's those kind of tricks that got the Daily Mail to the point where it's the second most widely-read English-language online paper on earth. I guess it worked!

I think you'll find that all the tabloids use such headlines as do the BBC, Sky, ITV etc..It's what gets the attention and sells!

 

[wandererUK]

Each church in England is responsible for its own affairs, including maintenance of the building. If the congregation fell, then the church would have closed and the CofE would have written it off.

This is why English Heritage and the Churches Conservation Trust are working hard to bring buildings like this back into use.

In a recent episode of Location Location Location, the team tried to get a gay couple a house they could do up as their first home together. One of the places was an old church. The response of one of the chaps was quite telling: he flatly refused to look at it as he thought such buildings should most definitely not be de-consercrated and used for private dwellings.

An alternative view, of course, would be that he couldn't abide the thought of living in a place that represented something he vehemently opposes!!

 

[Liberasit]

In a recent episode of Location Location Location, the team tried to get a gay couple a house they could do up as their first home together. One of the places was an old church. The response of one of the chaps was quite telling: he flatly refused to look at it as he thought such buildings should most definitely not be de-consercrated and used for private dwellings.

An alternative view, of course, would be that he couldn't abide the thought of living in a place that represented something he vehemently opposes!!

I am not imaginative enough to see how an old church can be converted to a dwelling. That's why I'm not an architect 😄.

I don't have a problem with desecration for dwellings, though. It's much better than a carpet warehouse or a nightclub. I can understand why a gay couple would be spooked at living in a place that might have been frequented by people who disapproved of their lifestyle.