Conservation Cleaning in the Lower Church or Crypt at St John's on the Wall, Sunday 10th July

In this session we ensured that the floor was swept of all loose material. Why was this necessary? Apart from the obvious reason that an unswept floor doesn’t look cared for and is off-putting to visitors, dust can cause damage to the floor. Some parts of the floor are made from ledger stones (inscribed memorial stones) in various materials. These are showing damage; on some black patches adhere to the stones and make them more difficult to read, on others the surface is breaking down as the stone laminates off in little pieces. Water on the floor can react chemically with both the stones and the dust lying on them to cause damage such as the black patches. You may have been as surprised as I have been to walk into the crypt and find puddles of water in the middle of the room, caused by condensation onto the colder floor. The very high amount of condensation means that the ventilation panels in the windows have to be open all the time. Unfortunately this also allows dust to enter the building. There has been a lot of demolition and building work in the streets around the church which means that lately the dust problem has been worse than usual. Apart from causing chemical damage to the floor dust also acts as an abrasive when people walk over it and this too wears away the stone.

So on Sunday we tackled the floor and swept in clean of loose grit and dust with soft brooms. Then I started to clean the engraving on one of the ledger stones with a toothbrush and a natural brush. I did not get far as it takes longer than you would think. What delighted me was to find my name on the stone – Maria.

An especially big thank you to John Bowkett and Peter Shannon for their enthusiastic help in keeping St John’s in good preservation. Our next Conservation Cleaning session will be on Tuesday 26^th July when we will be tacking the Ringers’ Chamber between 6.30-8.30pm – do come and join us. Or if you would like to know more about the stonework at St John’s look out for an event on September 7^th with Sally Strachey – details to follow.

Maria Fenner

Within The Wall

So finally we made it!

An exhibition showcasing the development of the drawing group will begin next week!

Everyone is very welcome, It will be wonderful to see the volunteer team there too for the preview!

Brass rubbing kit; An update on the Marsh Christian Trust prize

Here's an update from Elizabeth on the progress on purchasing the brass rubbing kit, which the team decided was what you wanted to do with the £400 Marsh Trust "Volunteer Team of the Year" award. 

We can buy a "starter" pack,which includes a selection of small and medium brasses, black paper, various coloured wax-gold, silver, copper-erasers and masking tape, plus brass rubbing leaflets, history of all the included brasses, and some"How to do a brass rubbing" booklets. There is usually a 4 week delivery time. We are also hoping, if we have enough money left, to get a replica brass made of Thomas Rowley. A quote for the cost of a replica can be made from a clear black on white drawing, which Charlotte is going to do for us when she gets back from Copenhagen. We are hoping this brass replica will be @18x12 inches-we can choose the size.