Scaffolding is due to be removed from Salisbury Cathedral after a ‘marathon’ 37-year circuit of restoration and repair, reports The Salisbury Journal.
image for illustration: Artist – Constable’s Salisbury Cathedral – Public Domain Commons Wikimedia
… a significant milestone in an extraordinary feat of restoration and repair…
The Salisbury Journal writes:
In less than two weeks’ time, Canon Kenneth Padley, Canon Treasurer of Salisbury Cathedral will climb to the top of the scaffold on the East End of the Cathedral to bless the cross that sits high above the Trinity Chapel.
Called ‘Topping Out’, Canon Kenneth’s blessing on Thursday, September 7 will mark a significant milestone in an extraordinary feat of restoration and repair, which began with a survey by the then Clerk of Works, Roy Spring, in 1986.
In his survey, Spring noted that the stonework was in a dangerous condition and major work was required…
Once the Topping Out blessing has taken place, the scaffold will be removed, a process that will take around six weeks… Just as the masons uncovered evidence of their forebears in the form of oyster shells, eaten for lunch and used to pack spaces between stones, so future masons carrying out restoration work centuries from now will discover quirky stone carvings of…
Among the new stones fixed on the East End there are also commemorative stones recalling historic events or people…
Gary Price, Clerk of Works said: “It has been a great honour and a privilege to have been able to work on this incredible building since the start of our modern repair programme…”
