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Repair work reveals 'mind-blowing' Victorian skills

Andy Lake,BBC News, Cambridgeshireand
Katy Prickett,BBC News, Cambridgeshire
News imageBBC Ryan Logan, who has a full brown beard, is wearing dark rimmed glasses, a white hard had, and a hi-vis yellow jacket over a black hoody. Behind him on the left is stonework and on the right are scaffolding poles and a view of Cambridge.BBC
Stonemason Ryan Logan said it was amazing to be part of the restoration of a building everyone in Cambridge knew

The skilled work of 19th Century craftsmen who built a Grade I listed church is "mind-blowing", according to a stone mason.

Ryan Logan has been helping to repair the elaborate stonework of the Church of Our Lady and the English Martyrs, on Hills Road, Cambridge.

"Modern day stonework is a lot of power tools, a lot of machinery; back then a lot of this was created with just manpower, a mallet and chisel," said Mr Logan.

It is one of the largest Roman Catholic churches in the country. Urgent repairs, costing an estimated £1m, began in February, when scaffolding surrounded the bell tower.

News imageAndy Lake/BBC A close up of carving on the outside of the Church of Our Lady and the English Martyrs. In the middle is an oval within which is the Virgin Mary, wearing a long dress, with a halo and surrounded by eight smaller angels. Outside that are carvings of medieval-style foliage with figures of men and women. Andy Lake/BBC
Much of the originally creamy stonework has become blackened, thanks to 20th Century pollution

Matt Champion, the Diocese of East Anglia's historic churches support officer, hoped the scaffolding would come down in October or early November.

"When this church was first built, it was this gorgeous creamy, honey colour," he said.

"Unfortunately the pollutants that were so common in the first half of the 20th Century have left a whole series of deposits and phosphates all over the building, so by the middle of the 20th Century it was black."

Experts are carefully removing the pollutants - but this has exposed a number of other problems such as eroding stonework, some with cracks and fissures.

News imageAndy Lake/BBC Matt Champion who has a short white beard and is wearing dark framed glasses, a white hard hat and an orange jacket over a blue shirt. Behind him on the left is stonework and on the right are scaffolding poles and a view of Cambridge.Andy Lake/BBC
The church was built to the very highest quality and has fantastic levels of detail that most people cannot see from the ground, said Matt Champion

The church was designed in the 19th Century gothic revival style and was funded by Yolande Marie Louise Lyne-Stephens, a former ballet dancer at the Paris Opera and Drury Lane, London.

It took five years to build and was consecrated on 8 October 1890.

The diocese became aware pinnacles and high-level stonework had become loose and were in a dangerous condition two years' ago, thanks to a routine survey.

As a result, Hills Road itself was partially closed for a few days in July 2023 to remove the affected stonework and a plan was put forward to start the restoration.

News imageAndy Lake/BBC Exterior of the Church of Our Lady and the English Martyrs against a blue sky, with fluffy white clouds. The tower on the left is covered in scaffolding, while the dirty stone nave of the elaborate Victorian Gothic-style building is on the right. Andy Lake/BBC
It tower, which overlooks one corner of Parker's Piece, has been partly shrouded in scaffolding since February

Mr Logan said: "It's mind-blowing some of the work here.

"The level of craftsmanship is just phenomenal and it's nice to be working on it and restoring it back to how it should be."

News imageAndy Lake/BBC A side on close-up view of some of the elaborate Victorian gothic style carving on the Church of Our Lady and the English Martyrs. It shows the top of an arched window, above it a round window. In font of it are grey scaffolding poles and a wooden walkway. Andy Lake/BBC
The church was built by Cambridge firm Rattee and Kett out of stone mined from Casterton in Cumbria, Ancaster in Lincolnshire and Combe Down in Somerset

Urgent repairs are also needed to the south aisle roof as part of the project, which is expected to last about a year.

The church has raised £100,000 towards the repairs, but newly discovered structural issues has meant it has had to increase its fundraising target.

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