Report - Salisbury Cathedral (nearly), September 2013

[Seffy]

Salisbury Cathedral

Anyone interested in why there's scaffolding on the building..

In 1966 the then Clerk of the Works and Cathedral Architect advised the need for comprehensive fabric repairs. Until this time a lack of funding meant the Cathedral could only undertake low-level maintenance work.

Many of the roofs were found to be more than 150 years old and distorted or even cracked by thermal movement; the glazing, some of the finest in the country, was becoming frail and in need of re-leading and cleaning and many of the stones in the walls were blistering, soot encrusted and eroded.

The areas in the worst condition were the spire (through which daylight could be seen in places and some stones were only 2â€￾ thick having once been 8â€￾), tower, west front and the roof. Work began on the spire in 1986 following an appeal by the Cathedral Trust that, under the patronage of HRH Prince Charles, raised more than £6million. The work on the spire and tower was completed in 1992, then that on the west front from 1995 to 2000; the work on the roofs, which involved 90% replacement was completed in 2005. The Major Repair Programme was split into Major Repair Areas (MRAs) and is still continuing today with the latest Area to be completed being the Chapter House; the entire Programme is between 80% and 85% complete and we have a target finish date of 2018.

So, I thought I'd put some photos up from this awesome and long night, despite it happening over a year ago now. The reason for this is that recently we went back to get to the top, and things have changed. The scaff we used has now gone, and the new bit round the back doesn't allow us to do what we did last time, so it's effectively now 'not doable'. That being said, it's as much 'not doable' as a tower crane with a trapdoor on. If you really put in the effort and are maybe willing to break the umbecks code of conduct, then maybe you'd have some win. Given what the building is, and a secret soft spot I have for buildings like this, I wasn't massively eager to do this at the time.

As with pretty much all of our plans, this one was a very last minute, spontaneous evening. We didn't leave Bristol until around half nine/ten ish, meaning of course that we didn't even arrive in Salisbury until about midnight. By this time, the place was extremely quiet, floodlights were off on the cath, everything was in our favour. We even got lucky with access into the cathedral grounds, as someone hadn't closed the pedestrian gate properly. Anyone who has been here late will know how surprisingly difficult it is to get into these grounds once 11pm rolls around...

Now, essentially, the idea was the reach the top of the spire. I mean, why wouldn't it be? It's the highest in the UK. Only one of us actually made it up there, through the hatch and out up to the red light. This was a mixture of CBA, and also a 'it's getting stupidly late and have work to go to, let's come back another day'. Probably one of the most stupid decisions and one of my biggest regrets of the 4 years I've been in this game. But hey ho, this is just one big game of snooze you lose eh. Hindsight is a seriously wonderful thing.

So props to Sam for making it to the top, unfortunately us two will have to settle for looking up at him from the inside, whilst propped on one of the many rickety wooden ladders they've installed in the spire.

On with some noisy and at times, rushed photos.

And off...

My ears are still ringing from the 15 minute interval bell chiming...

Diagrams

The whole structure leading up to the top of the spire was built like this:

[

Outside at the base of the spire

And of course, down inside for a quick look, avoiding the PIRs on the ground

Peace.​

 

[Els]

That spire wood work is some thing else - thanks for sharing

 

[wellingtonian]

Beautiful bit of joinery in there Seffy. Good job mate.

 

[raisinwing]

Awesome dude!

 

[Oxygen Thief]

Brilliant work. I know exactly what you mean, it's like a fortress just getting close when the gates are shut, there's a couple of places though. I got torched at the top of the scaff in the first picture. Came down all innocent then legged it before I got collared.

It's ridiculous you can get access to the inside considering what's in there.

 

[ACID- REFLUX]

Very nicely done

Ditto the Chinese Scaffolding set up

 

[Bunk3r]

lovely, makes me want to find another church roof to get up.

 

[The Kwan]

holy shit check that woodwork! This is the dogs danglies Seffy Lad

 

[WildBoyz]

That's some crazy woodwork, really cool though! Great report

 

[Monkey]

That woodwork is amazing. Nice one.

 

[Ojay]

Inspiring

 

[WhoDaresWins]

We certainly got lucky first time round didn't we

 

[Boba Low]

Rate good stuff!

 

[WhoDaresWins]

That bell!

 

[The_Raw]

Looks like an epic night out, loving that diagram and that wooden beamage