A summary of repairs to the roof
of
the chancel - Winter 1993
given
to P E Guilbert
by
Thomas
Dutton Esq. 1999
click here for
photographs
Further to your request for information regarding St
Matthews church, I have detailed below my involvement with
renewing the roof of the chancellery. I hope this helps to
build your web site information, whilst remaining
understandable.
In the winter
of 1993 whilst I was employed by R.G.Phillips & Son, I
was given the opportunity to renew the slates on the
chancellery roof. I knew from past experience that this
would be no easy task but little did I realise it would
take three of us ( my son Paul and work mate Peter Carre)
some three months to complete.
It was first thought possible to
batten and counter batten the roof, to lift the slates and
allow a free passage of air to circulate, which is normal
practice with a close boarded roof. However, it was not
possible in this instance, as at the point where the bell
tower meets the chancellery roof there is a granite ledge.
Under which, lead soakers (*1) needed to be inserted and by
raising the roof, I would not have had the required 3 inch
upstand of lead. There was no other option but to nail the
slates directly onto the boarded roof.
This
created a further problem, as having no battens to stand
upon meant all work had to be completed by ladder, reaching
from the scaffolding at the base of the roof. There was of
course also the added danger of damaging the slates with
this particular approach, so each ladder needed a bag of
sawdust attached to the end leaning upon the slates.
The biggest complication during
the completion of this work was the weather. As most people
are aware in Guernsey, Cobo is open to the elements and
having to work in the wind and rain whilst balanced
precariously upon ladders can often become dangerous,
safety was paramount.
The roof
itself contains some 5,500 - 7 inch by 14 inch Welsh Blue
slates and every one on the turn had to be cut twice in a
taper to form the conical referred to as the 'upturned
boat'. There was no room for error at this point as any
deviance in the cut would result in the slates climbing up
and therefore the exact cover would not be maintained,
resulting in an imbalance of courses from one side to the
other.
There is an uncanny element to
this job. According to what was written on the old felt of
the roof, the church was last re-slated in 1948, which just
so happens to be the year in which I was
born.
Regards
Thomas. R.
Dutton
*1 : The lead soakers stop
rainwater squeezing in-between the joints in the granite
work.