Church Restoration Blog – 13 June 2017

Heritage Lottery Fund building works at Bressingham Church are going well and on schedule.  All the groundworks and archaeological work in preparation for new gutters and downpipes are now complete, and smart new gullies installed.   Unfortunately, 17-19th century graves were discovered beneath a church path in the new soakaway location.  Our archaeologists sensitively uncovered and recorded their findings and a reburial service (led by the Reverend Canon Tony Billett) took place on 1 June close to where the human remains were found. 

The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) also funds some improvements to the church to ensure that the building is sustainable long term.  Currently, the electricians are installing new under pew heating.  Bressingham Church will have some heating……Hurrah!   New lighting fixtures will also be installed.

Our builder (Atthowe’s) is about to begin work on repairing the tower roof, replacing the wooden louvres in the tower (which are currently almost falling out!) and installing new cast iron gutters.  We are planning an Open Day at a time when repairs to the base of the tower wall are taking place so that visitors can learn traditional flint wall repair techniques using lime mortar.  We believe the craftsmen will be working in July – we will put up a notice on the website when we have a firm date.Several heritage activities have also taken place which have been recorded elsewhere on the website: a Landscape History walk in April, a visit to Norfolk Archives in May, and Medieval Graffiti workshops with Bressingham Primary School Children were also held in May.  We also commissioned two reports: a bench ends specialist wrote a report on the magnificent bench ends, and Matthew Champion produced a graffiti report and worksheets for visitors (we will be posting these reports on the website).