The church of St James is a grade 1 listed Anglican Church located in the heart of Trowbridge. The conservation work at St James undertaken by the masonry team at Ellis & Co largely centred around the external elevations of the South Porch and some plasterwork at the West end of the Church. The Architect overseeing the project was Jonathan Saunders from Caroe & Partners.
Particular attention was paid to those heavily weathered elements of the masonry on the Southern Elevation of the porch, notably the stiff leaf foliage that had largely disappeared around the south entrance into the porch and the associated engaged pinnacles located either side of the entrance.
The weathering and decay had also affected the ashlar, this was either replaced or repaired dependant on the degree of decay. Replacement was kept to a minimum to help reduce the change to the aged façade. Several repair schemes had taken place over the years, these had weathered and blended into the original surface.
Replacing the elements that had lost all recognisable detail will hopefully give an impression of how the porch should appear with the fine details replaced.
The templates required to replace the outer arch of the south entrance and the engaged pinnacles were produced before any scaffold assembly, this gave our masonry department a head start on the project and meant that a detailed inspection could take place, gather information and produce clay maquettes of the crocket details to the entrance and the pinnacles. Once these were approved the arch and pinnacles were hand carved in our workshops.
Once the scaffold was assembled, the masonry team could start the essential conservation works including stone cleaning, repairs, pointing and fixing of the new masonry.
Internal works located at the West end of the church were the removal of cementitious render and reinstatement of lime plaster and lime wash.
