The Vicar's Vestry Mullion Makeover

 We have been very privileged throughout our restoration project here at St. Peters to have had the experience of an extraordinarily skilled Master craftsman and Stonemason, Steve. The blog-team caught up with him (on a typically wet and windy day)  as he  starts the difficult task of renovating the window mullions in the Vicar's Vestry. 


The mortar holding it together (the mullion not the Vicar) have become very rotted as a result of water ingress and spider activity. The stonework is very dirty from the general pollution and age (see below).


The old rotten mortar, that was in danger of failing completely allowing the window to fall out, has to be sawn out using this lethal instrument. 



Steve holding a section of the mullion
Steve talked about making the repairs and how the stone is quarried, cut and laid. He said that out of the 4 apprentices who started with him, he is the only one who qualified. He estimates that there are only about 10 stonemasons left in East Anglia, which is sad and very worrying for the future of historic building conservation. The project team hopes to make a video of his work that might inspire people to find out more about heritage restoration skills, so that they might become less endangered in this remote part of the Fens! 



Watch this space for the video of the beginning of  the restoration work!

This work has been made possible thanks to the generous support of The All Churches Trust (@AllchurchesT) and Cambridgeshire Historic Churches (@CambsHCT). We are very grateful.

 


                                  






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