Project Summary

This Project was to repair the South West Buttress and adjoining Church Tower Walls of St Mary's Church, Bawdsey, The Project Development Stage (Stage 1) - when specifications are written, permissions are obtained and builders are appointed, took place during 2011. The actual Building Work (Stage 2) was started in June 2012. The first phase of the work was to dismantle the upper stage of the buttress. This revealed the tower to be in a worse state than expected. The solution was to rebuild the upper stage as a “brick wedge” which was then flint faced. This very firmly reattached the buttress to the Tower. The other work then went broadly to plan, removing sections of flint facing, rebuilding the core using stainless steel mesh and ties, and replacing the original flint facing. Several quoins and parapet capping stones were also replaced during the work. The building work finished in October 2012 and the project was formally closed on the 6th December 2012.

The total cost of the Project was £86,747 (£8,155 on Stage 1 in 2011 and £78,592 on Stage 2 in 2012).

The PCC are indebted to the following organisations and their dedicated staff who made this work possible:

No.

Organisation

Grant

Comments

1.

AllChurches Trust Ltd. (ATL)

£1,000

Parent company of EIG.

2.

English Heritage / HLF
(Repair Grants for
Places of Worship)

£5,920
£10,000
£17,995

Stage 1
Stage 2
Emergency Additional Grant

3.

Garfield Weston Foundation

£5,000

4.

Suffolk Historic Churches Trust

£5,000
£1,500

Original Grant
Emergency Additional Grant

5.

Suffolk Churches Capital Fund

£1,500

St Eds & Ipswich Diocesan Fund

6.

Viridor Credits Environmental Co.

£4,500

Landfill Communities Fund

7.

Wolfson Foundation

£3,000

The PCC is also enormously grateful to the many people who contributed to the Village Appeal. More than half the village responded and this raised the amazing amount of £22,950, which is an average of nearly £230 per contribution or the equivalent of £120 for every household in Bawdsey.

Finally, the PCC wishes to thank Matthew Thomas (Ecclesiastical Architect), who supervised the work, the other professional advisers and to Lodge & Sons (Builders), who did a wonderful job of restoring the buttress and the adjoining Church tower walls.

[This is an extract from the full Completion Report by Graham Turner PCC Secretary]