THE Town Church was a danger to parishioners and had to be renovated, according to its warden.
Elis Bebb (pictured) said it was only during scheduled work that other problems with the building came to light.
‘At the worst point, there was a major additional problem appearing every week,’ he said.
At one stage the project almost ground to a halt but additional funding was secured by the church and then the parish.
It is now set to reopen to the public later this month.
‘The plaster was crumbling off the walls to the point where one of the memorials nearly fell off during work,’ said Mr Bebb.
The three-foot square marble wall-mounted memorial in the Lady Chapel was made secure but three nearby, including one measuring eight feet by four, were also in a precarious state.
‘They were literally about to fall off when someone noticed. It is quite possible that without this work, one would have just dropped off,’ said Mr Bebb.
Carpet in the Lady Chapel was also taken up, revealing it had been glued directly to granite memorial ledgers dating from the early 1700s.
‘We knew there was something there, but this was like finding hidden treasure,’ he said.
Article posted on 9th November, 2009 - 2.29pm
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