An update on the roof at Cuckfield's Holy Trinity Church

By Brian Cutler

The refurbishment of the external stonework of Holy Trinity Church in Cuckfield is being undertaken by DBR London under the direction of our inspecting Architect, Jonathan Cerowski. The extensive damage to the masonry is primarily the result of weathering, exacerbated by the use of hard cement pointing in the middle of the last century. The majority of the work has involved cleaning the stone, removing loose debris (defrassing, re pointing and repairing or replacing stone as necessary). Work is also underway to prepare new coping stones to replace the most severely damaged stones on the battlements at the top of the tower.

Work on the project started in mid July 2021 and is expected to last until the end of the year. Extensive scaffolding has been erected at both the east and west ends of the building to enable access. In some areas, the stone is not as damaged as had been feared while in others it is worse, and a more extensive repair will be necessary. Inevitably there have been some surprises. A rotting roof rafter hidden by facing stone at the east end and the building of a Victorian buttress to the tower built against a pattress plate that has now corroded and damaged the stone of the buttress.

Cuckfield's Holy Trinity Church gets a facelift

Scaffolding has been a regular feature around Holy Trinity Church over the years and villagers and visitors alike will be greeted by its appearance once again for about three months from now until November. The stonework of the building is Wealden Sandstone and is therefore, subject to the weather that we all know to be getting more extreme. Churches across Sussex are built of this stone sourced from the quarry at West Hoathly and though resilient (some date back in part over 1000 years) it decays and becomes damp internally when surrounded by modern cement mortar.

Four years ago a survey at our beautiful Church revealed a considerable amount of wear and tear and a more recent one has shown that repairs are now urgent. The work is intended to be a ‘once in a generation’ scheme to remove the cement mortar and repair or replace severely decayed stones where necessary, repointing the stonework with a more compatible lime mortar.

Architects for the project are Cowan Architects Ltd based in East Grinstead and Jonathan Cerowski told us: “It is a pleasure to act as the Inspecting Architect for Holy Trinity. Over the past few years I have been working closely with the Churchwardens to develop a scheme of repair works to address the condition of the stonework to prevent further decay and to protect the public from falling masonry. The works which are about to commence will ensure the long-term future of the external walls of the church, whilst still keeping the lovely existing patina of the stonework.”

The contractors are DBR Southern based in Worthing, part of DBR London Limited, specialists in masonry conservation whose recent work includes the Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace, The Royal Pavilion in Brighton, Chichester Cathedral and St Nicholas’ Church, Worth.

Assembling the funding for such a major project has taken a lot of time and effort and Fr. Michael has expressed his grateful thanks to: The Friends of Holy Trinity Church, Cuckfield; Local Donors; The Ernest Kleinwort Charitable Trust; The Garfield Weston Foundation; The Sussex Historic Churches Trust; The Wolfson Foundation through the National Churches Trust; The Allchurches Trust; The Dept of Culture Media & Sport through the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme Work commences on Monday 19th July with a completion date of 22nd November and services will not be interrupted despite entry to the Church through the west door being restricted.