Church closes while dry rot is dealt with

The find was made when planned work was taking place on the church’s tower.

The vicar, the Rev. Matthew Barrett, said they were still working to find out how far the damage had spread. But what had been discovered was already expected to cost tens of thousands of pounds to fix.

‘We are currently closed as they are digging up the floor,’ Mr Barrett said. ‘It’s all gone a bit wrong.’

The church launched a £150,000 fundraising drive in July to cover the necessary work on the tower to deal with damp issues. That project is due to take six months and the church would have stayed open during the work.

But the latest discovery has forced its closure, while the rot is dealt with.

Mr Barrett said he thought the costs were likely to go up by tens of thousands of pounds, but it would not be clear by how much, or how long it would take until the full extent of the rot was checked.

‘They keep finding more,’ he said. ‘They will keep digging up the floor until they find the end of it. It’s not good news, but it is good news we have found it now.’

The front of the church, including the floor under the front pews, has been affected, as well as the floor going up to the organ. Fortunately the organ is on a concrete floor, but this may need work as well as dry rot can attach itself to concrete too.

In the long term there had been plans to turn the church into more of a community space, with a cafe.

With such extensive work now having to take place inside the church, Mr Barrett said they might look to bring this work forward, as the church would need to be closed for so long to deal with the rot.

The work on the tower has been progressing, despite the rot, and Mr Barrett said that was going to plan.

However the congregation has had to move out, with services being held at the nearby church hall instead. Mr Barrett said fortunately the hall had good acoustics.

. Anyone wanting to help donate towards the work should visit www.stjohns.org.gg/donate.