The
works at the Cathedral Thursday 4th September 2014 at 1:00pm
When visiting
today at, I believe week 7 of a 44 week contract, I was taken around by Jason
Everest who is currently standing in as Site Manager for Dave Nash who is on
holiday. Jason was unfortunate to pick
up an infection in his knee from kneeling on the ground – always a risk when
working in historic buildings!
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| Crypt floor revealing asbestos |
It is still early days as part of the crypt
and southern parts of the upper floor are carefully unpicked. Soon the concrete
floor in the crypt will be broken up revealing many secrets for the
archaeologist to unravel. One not so pleasant secret has already been
found in the crypt floor and library joinery in the form of the dreaded
asbestos, and a specialist firm is now awaited to remove this.
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| Kent Steps |
Connecting the
two levels on which the asbestos can be seen are the Kent Steps. Now the stair lift is gone what an
interesting comparison between the old brick and stone steps, visible on the
south part, and the startling brightness and grain of the plywood treads and
risers which cover the remainder. It is
all so well done- just for temporary protection.
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| 'Pigeon Parlour' |
Staying with
changes in level there will be no doubt excitement as the levels of the
flagstones in the up to now enclosed ‘pigeon parlour’‘are lowered down to crypt
level to form a space, once roofed over, the new kitchen.
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| Whole through arcade |
In the vicinity
of the new kitchen site and the now stripped out existing facility, an opening
has been formed through arcade infilling which revealed a very old ‘criss
cross’ of timbers which acted as props to the arch before being embedded in the
stone infilling. The timbers have rotted away and now an opening is being made
through the rubbles walling for a door
and the old timber props ‘job’ is being
fulfilled by modern steel acrow props.
By the end of my
visit men were back from lunch and the sound of tools was audible throughout
the east end of the Cathedral.
Canon Malcolm Green
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