Locals and visitors will have noticed scaffolding going up on the West Front of the Cathedral this past week — but is this necessarily cause for alarm?
Careful cleaning of the statuary
What is happening?
Works are taking place to conserve the stonework of the West Front, as a continuation of regular repairs and maintenance that have taken place on the Cathedral over the centuries. The works to the West Front broadly include:
- cleaning and removal of plant growth and pigeon muck
- repairing and replacing some of the most damaged stone to the decorative niches
- applying lime mortars to recreate some of the lost detailing of the sculptures
- following repair, applying a lime-based sheltercoat as a protective coating to enhance the appearance of the stonework
Typical pigeon damage
Why are we doing it?
Stone deteriorates over time, it will weather naturally due to wind and rain, but can also be damaged by plant growth and birds, and also inappropriate repairs over the past. As with any historic building, regular repair and maintenance is needed to both delay any deterioration, but also to address any such damage. One of the most significant impacts on the West Front was the damage caused by pollutants during the Industrial Revolution. This allowed disfiguring crusts to form, and subsequent cleaning may have removed some of the detailing and also the highly decorative painted surface from medieval times.
Whilst cleaning of stonework can be controversial in that ‘dirt’ can often provide protection for the stone beneath, in this case it will allow us to establish what level of treatment is needed. This is therefore the next phase of the significant repair programmes which took place to the West Front in the 1870’s, 1903, and the late 1920’s, with a ground-breaking project to arrest decay last taking place in 1974-1987.
A surveyor at work
What is the process?
The works will take place in a number of stages. These will begin with careful removal of dry dirt from across the surface, followed by wet washing and where needed, the application of a biocide to
inhibit algal growth. This will be carried out by the same team who will carry out the repairs (some who worked on the pilot project), allowing them to get a ‘feel’ for each piece of stone and the individual treatment needed. Each sculpture and surrounding stone element will be carefully recorded and drawn as necessary, recording both the condition and proposed repairs.
Before and after: damaged carved figure on the west front statuary
Remains of medieval paint on angel wings
How long will it take?
The works started at the end of April and will continue until mid-September.
Our contractors, Clivedon Conservation, have 35 years’ experience in this area of work. They were involved in previous phases of conservation work on the West Front and so are very familiar with the area, and life in and around the Cathedral.