All Saints Church
The possibility of an extension to the church to house a toilet suitable for the disabled was first considered in October 2005. After many months of discussion, planning, hard work and fundraising, enough money was raised towards the project to enable the build to commence in 2007. Grants were applied for and obtained with some of the costs being met by the Parochial Church Council. The original estimated cost for the build was £50,000 however this rose to almost £58,000 due to unforeseen costs.
The small porch like extension consists of a toilet, tea bar and small meeting area. These improvements will enable the church to open its doors for village groups to use and to widen its activities for the benefit of the community as a whole. This page gives a narrative of the build, along with links to a gallery of images and fundraising events, all being regularly updated.
The work began on 9th July 2007, mostly carried out by specialist contractors, Railton Price of Winterton, Scunthorpe, with an original estimated completion time of 14 weeks. The excavations were dug with great care to a depth of approximately 6ft and inevitably a number of marked graves had to be moved in the process. During the process further graves were found lower down, of which there were no records and some appeared to have been quite badly disturbed and scattered by later burials. All remains found were treated with the utmost respect, details were recorded and all were reburied elsewhere in the graveyard with a proper burial service on 26th July 2007.
There were some interesting finds. Remains were discovered beneath the blocked up arched doorway, which being the oldest part of the church, possibly makes it one of the oldest graves.
A further grave, believed to be Victorian, was found encased in bricks and covered by Yorkshire stone slabs. Inside there was a shield and a metal cross, leading to the belief that this may have been someone of quite high standing, possibly military. Rather mysteriously the skeleton had no lower legs! The local History Group are currently carrying out some research in an attempt to identify this person.
During the excavations it was discovered that the buttresses, which had been standing for several hundred years, had no foundations whatsoever and there appeared to be no subsidence.
These have now been underpinned with shuttered concrete to the full depth of the excavation due to the soil being unavoidably disturbed.
The original Victorian cement rendering on the west wall was found to be in a poor condition and had to be removed. This was replaced with new lime mortar rendering, requiring two layers with time allowed for drying out in between.
In August the hardcore was put down, the ground prepared for concrete foundations and services were laid. September saw the laying of the foundations with the concrete being specially mixed on site.
Also started in September were the cavity walls built of concrete blocks with insulation in between and lime mortar rendering on the outside. Stone cladding, cut by the Stonemasons at Lincoln Cathedral, will be added to the lower outer walls just below the windows of the extension. The outer corners of the walls will have buttresses in keeping with the style of the church which will also have stone cladding.
The main windows, one on either side of the extension, will be of a design to match the others in the church, with stone surrounds. A much smaller window of similar construction has been fitted into the top of the gable end wall.
The roof, begun in September, is of Welsh slate tiles and will have a small stone cross placed on the gable end. The guttering and down pipes will be of black Heritage Cast Aluminium. The extension will be surrounded by natural stone and gravel paving.
At the beginning of October the church doorway, believed to have been blocked up in Victorian times, was finally reopened. It is a depth of almost 4ft and had been filled in with a great deal of various kinds of rubble. The original iron hinges were discovered still attached to the doorway. Once uncovered the surround of the inside of the doorway, which is much higher than the outside, was found to be quite ornamental and dramatic.
Research is currently being carried out to discover whether it is Norman or Saxon. It is planned to make this a feature within the church and will eventually be fitted with a solid oak door. The arched surround of the outer doorway will be left uncovered still visible from the extension side. The extension flooring has been lined with thick insulation and covered by screed.
Due to unforeseen circumstances all outside work ceased temporarily in early December 2007, leading to the requirement of extra funding, which inevitably meant the build would take a little longer to complete. Work eventually recommenced in February 2008 with different contractors. Good progress was made starting with the completion of the stone cladding of the lower walls and buttresses.
Natural Stone slabs were laid as edging to the paving around the extension with gravel added at a later stage. The small Ancaster stone cross, cut by the Stonemasons of Lincoln Cathedral, was added to the gable end of the extension and has 2008 engraved beneath it on the roof stone capping. Early March saw the delivery and fitting of the two side windows made of leaded glass with brass frames and small ventilation panels. The final lime mortar rendering of the walls was completed at the beginning of April. The Alumasc Heritage Cast Standard guttering and down pipes were delivered and fitted later that month.
Fortunately, the delay of outside work did not prevent work continuing on the inside. This is being carried out by a local contractor, with the fitting of the tea bar, toilet and meeting area now almost complete. All inside walls have been plastered and the reception area has wood block flooring, oak tongue and groove ceiling, a radiator fitted and will also have storage cupboards. The tea bar has flooring of a sealed composite material, ceiling as reception area, oak wall and floor units, a sink and will also have a hot water boiler. The toilet, built to disabled specifications, has a ledged and braced oak door, part tiled walls, the same flooring as the tea bar area, plastered ceiling, plus a radiator. The plumbing and mains sewage connection are due to be completed shortly.
It was found that the inside of the north aisle wall had a serious damp problem due to the use of cement rendering by the Victorians. This led to the rendering being removed from part of the wall and a window and new rendering of lime mortar being added which when dry will be followed by a coating of emulsion.
www.beckingham-northnotts.org.uk
This website has been funded by:
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