All Saints' Church is the parish church of Stock Harvard, in the village of Stock. This ancient building is Grade 1 listed and sits beside a large graveyard, a garden of remembrance and a glebe - which is a field used for the dinner dance, flower festival and fete that is one of the biggest events in the village calendar. Please see the following introduction about our worship. And click here to find us.
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The south face of the chancel and nave roofs covered in reclaimed tiles, with work contiuning on the other side
Roof work moving to completion
The south face of the nave and chancel roofs are just several days' work from completion, including new powder-coated guttering (paid for by our Friends).
Timber and lead work continues on the north face, with all the tiles ready for putting in place. Its is hoped that all work will be completed before the end of April.
We have managed to retain some of the old tiles but most are comparatively newer reclaimed hand-made tiles from another site.
After some major timber repairs (with some more to go on the northern side of the nave), new felt has been added to both sides of both roofs. And new treated battens were added to hold the tiles.
Repairs also included some gutters and hoppers, plus some stonework.
All this followed many months of consultations with our long-serving architect, roofers, the Diocesan Advisory Committee, and bat consultants (plus Historic England and Natural England) keeping an eye on us.
Step back nearly three years to the gusty day when a 2m row of tiles slipped on the Chancel roof. Checks revealed that roof repairs after the nearby 1940 landmine explosion had been done while facing a post-war shortage of key materials. See the image below for the wartime damage.
In short we discovered that the roofs over the Chancel and the Nave had little or no waterproof underfelt, the wooden battens were untreated and rotting, and even the nails were poor quality and rusting through.
That meant major areas of the roof were deemed to be liable to fail at any time, leaving wooden slats open to the elements.
Last year we worked through the detailed process of obtaining a bat licence (after three separate surveys) to allow work to go ahead. Six new bat boxes have already been installed on churchyard trees to provide additional and any replacement accommodation.
One of the biggest – and most frustrating – challenges of maintaining a Grade 1 listed church is spending a six-figure sum for a repair designed to be as unobtrusive as possible when complete. But soon you can admire how it has mostly appeared for centuries - and can now be for many more years.
* If you wish to help to cover our costs – in conjunction with the Friends of All Saints’ Church, mail Martin King if you might be able to help.
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