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St Mary's Church Eardisland, Worcestershire (Grade I)

With work due for completion in early 2010, St Mary's is a charming church of some note. The Nave was built in the 12th century (probably being the total extent of the Church at that time) and the Chancel, Vestry and South Porch were added in the 14th Century. The original Tower (of probable 15th century origin) collapsed in 1728 and was replaced by the present one in 1760.

The project plays to Recclesia's key strengths in Masonry and Stained Glass conservation-restoration work, comprising of the restoration of the East elevation including the east window tracery. The stained glass window is a Burlison and Grylls window of 1902 and is a particularly fine example of their work. The installation of french drains to the perimeter of the building is also part of the schedule of works.

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English Heritage Case Study Project

St Mary the Virgin Church, Cleobury Mortimer (Grade I)
Architect: John Wheatley & Leslie Lloyd

Famous for its twisted spire, this twelfth-century landmark is at the heart of one of Worcestershires best known towns.

This phase of restoration work involved re-roofing the Nave and St Nicholas Chapel, installation of Cintec Anchors to address structural movement, restoration of masonry arches and carved heads to the porch and installation of new french drains.

The masonry work to the porch, which involved restoring the hood moulding, voussoirs and carved character heads to the entrance, has been used as a case study by English Heritage demonstrating outstanding workmanship.

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St John's Church, Hope Bagot, Worcestershire (Grade I)
Architect: Peter Cripwell

One of the prettiest churches we have worked on, St John's lies in the heart of South Shropshire. The church is of Norman origin and lies in a protected wild flower meadow but was looking decidedly bedraggled before we started work.

The work involved re-roofing the tower in cedar shingles, re-roofing the nave and chancel in clay tile, lime rendering and limewashing the chancel, re-pointing the tower and installing new cast rainwater goods and storm water drainage system.

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Church of the Holy Innocents, Highnam, Gloucester (Grade I)

Described as the most complete Victorian church in the country by Sir John Betjeman, this 1851 church is one of the few in the UK to be so extensively covered in fresco wall paintings. After losing his wife and children at a very young age, the builder of the church dedicated his life to painting every inch of the internal elevations.

The work here was confined to the external fabric of the church, repointing the south elevation in carefully selected lime mortar, taking up and relaying the sunken floor to the porch, masonry repairs, replacement cast rainwater goods and roofing repairs. We worked here through some of the worst weather we have ever known but the completed project was a success.

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2009 RIBA Conservation Sector Reviewed

St Peter & St Pauls Church, Rock, Worcestershire (Grade I)
Architect: John Wheatley
Structural Engineer: Richard Hartshorne, Shire UK

This is the largest Norman Parish Church in Worcestershire and has some of the finest examples of Northern Architecture in the West Midlands. The main body of the Church, including the very fine Norman Chancel Arch, was built around 1160 with further addition in the 15th and 16th centuries.

This phase of work focused upon the Great West Window which was suffering from extensive structural failure. A large steel supporting beam was needled into place above the window before careful conservation pinning work began to the tracery masonry. The leaded lights were restored in-house using mouth-blown glass and some new masonry elements were used to replace lost sections.

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Civic Trust Award Winning Project

St Oswald's Church Oswestry Shropshire (Grade I)
Disabled Access Works

Dating from 1085, St Oswalds is an extremely handsome church sitting in the very centre of this historic market town. With a history of some 1000 years behind it, the installation of access for wheelchair users had to be carried out with some delicacy and finesse. Architects from Arrol & Snell devised the scheme which involved a curved masonry ramp into the church, along with a masonry ramp between the Nave and Chancel. Decorative iron railings finished the scheme, along with new cobbled areas and non-slip resin flooring.

Disabled lavatories were installed into the adjoining Parish Centre along with a wheelchair lift into the main hall and non-slip flooring was laid to all wheelchair routes.

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The Preaching Cross at St Alkmunds Aymestrey (Grade I)

Recclesia was contracted to undertake the careful rebuilding of the medieval Preaching Cross at Grade One Listed St. John the Baptist and St. Alkmunds Church in Aymestrey, Worcestershire. The masonry structure was suffering from quite severe settlement causing it to sink and tilt at a rakish angle. It was dealt a final blow by churchyard vandals who pushed the cross over, smashing several sections of the fifteen-foot high monument as it tumbled to the ground.

English Heritage research revealed records citing a structure at that location in medieval times. Further analysis showed that the column supporting the cross was superimposed onto the earlier masonry during the sixteen hundreds. Today, the Preaching Cross masonry work is very badly eroded and almost every section has delaminated, moved or vanished altogether.

Through a careful process of groundwork investigation, the foundations of the structure were revealed to show rudimentary rubble foundations which had failed and left sections of the structure unsupported. The base and plinth were be recorded as they stood, every section numbered, then taken apart and laid out in sequence. Each section was conserved by method of stainless steel pins and dowels. New foundations were built and then the process of rebuilding was carried out, ensuring that every section of the original masonry was put back in the location from which it came.

The project was grant-funded by English Heritage with church architect John Wheatley of Tenbury Wells.

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St John's Church, Hope Bagot, Worcestershire (Grade I)

Set in a protected wildflower meadow, this lychgate was in desperate need of attention. The roof was only partially remaining and the oak structure was in an advanced state of decay. One side of the sole plate had detached fully from the tenons of the upright leaving the whole thing precariously balanced in mid-air.

Careful conservation oak repair work was carried out to ensure the longevity of the Grade I listed lychgate. Once the structure was sound, the gate was re-roofed using hand made tiles to closely match the lost originals.

The Shooting Box, Tatton Park
Architect: Purcell Miller Tritton
For: The National Trust & Chester West CC

A quirky building set in the heart of the park, the shooting box was originally used as a hide for shooting game. The box was converted into public lavatories but was suffering persistant vandalism. Recclesia installed secure glazing behind griles to address the problem.

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Hulme Hall , Port Sunlight

Hulme Hall is one of the largest building at Port Sunlight, the planned village built by the Lever Brothers for their employees at the soap factory on the Wirral peninsular. The building is best remembered for being the first place that Ringo Star ever played a gig with the Beatles, and continues to be used today for Weddings, Conferences and Exhibitions.

Recclesia have completed two phases of work at Hulme Hall in 2009 and the next phase is confirmed for early 2010 to the front facade of the building, including restoration of metal casements and a combination of new and restored leaded lights and re-pointing to the masonry elements.

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North Lodge, Worden Park, Leyland
Client: South Ribble Borough Council

Worden Park is an historic park in Leyland, Lancashire, established by the Farington family of nearby Shaw Hall in the 1800s. The park holds the prestigious Green Flag award, noting it as one of the best green spaces in the UK.

Recclesia, as principal contractor, is currently working to restore parts of the North Entrance to the park, which is Grade II Listed. The project involves masonry conservation and restoration of cast iron railings which will be follwed by landscaping works to open up the entrance to make the approach more welcoming.

Several sections of railing were missing and have been carefully copied and sand cast by a specialist foundry in Scotland. The project is due for completion in early 2010.

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St Georges Terrace, Bolton
Client: Corporate Developments Ltd

In 2009, Recclesia were commissioned to undertake specialist works to a row of nineteen terraced Georgian Townhouses in Bolton. In their original form, all nineteen properties had decorative arched fanlights above every entrance way, but only two original fanlights remained. The brief was to achieve a more uniform appearance by restoring the two original fanlights and using this process to make seventeen reproduction units to run through the rest of the houses.

The originals were removed from site and returned to Recclesia's workshops where conservation specialists from the Stained Glass studio began the process of stripping back the units in order to conserve each individual element whilst the timber frames into which they sat underwent repair. The restoration process also allowed a detailed investigation into the method in which the originals had been built, meaning that we could establish a methodology for reproducing the new units to match exactly.

The rest of the project involved the installation of new masonry stepped entrances with railings and a general overhall of the facades of the whole street, involving several other contractors.

For more details on this project, CLICK HERE

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The Vulcan, Llanidloes

This listed timber frame building was formally the Vulcan Arms & Smithy. The timber frame was failing from the cellar side which was built in the 1700s to allow cold spring waters to run through it as a way of keeping the ale cool!

Years on, the running water had taken its toll on both the cellar and the frame. The water was filling the cellar up and keeping the frame so wet that it could never dry out. Further, to allow for the cellar the frame had been suspended on gigantic oak timbers some eighteen inches square. We were charged with the task of inserting new timbers under the existing frame, which meant a huge operation to needle through the foundations, jack up the existing frame and slide in an oak suport weighing several tonnes. There was no stopping the spring water from pouring through the bedrock beneath the frame, so the decision was made to handle the water better by inserting better drainage into the cobbled floor, allowing the water to flow away, and installing automatic powered vents to keep the humidity down.

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Joseph Paxtons Fernery at Tatton Park, Cheshire
Architect: Purcell Miller Tritton
For: The National Trust & Cheshire West CC

In 1850 William Tatton Egerton employed Joseph Paxton, the creator of Crystal Palace, to design a Fernery and an Italian Garden for Tatton Park. The Fernery is now known for being part of one of the most important collections of glasshouses in the UK and is home to a vast variety of ferns and tropical plants.

With this in mind, Recclesia were asked to carry out extensive glazing restoration to the structure whilst the park remained open and the delicate flora remained in place. There were broken panes of glass all over the glasshouse meaning that we required access to all areas. We partnered up with Nationwide Access who surveyed the site and provided us with a variety of different machines to reach the difficult angles without danger of smashing further glass.

The restoration work was done using only mouth-blown cylinder glass to match the original glass and we used some 250 square feet in the process. The entire glasshouse was cleaned on completion.

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Coronation Park, Ormskirk
For: West Lancashire Borough Council

Recclesia have completed the contract to create the new entrances to Coronation Park in Ormskirk Town Centre for West Lancashire Borough Council.

The new entrance comprises of a large sculpted stone and iron feature wall with contemporary carved stand-alone pillars, bronze inserts and hidden lighting scheme.