Holy Trinity Upper Tooting

The church with the open doors

TOWER RESTORATION 2019-2020

Tower

Restoration of the Tower

Holy Trinity’s tower has been fully restored following a major programme of repairs over the last two years.  We thank everyone who contributed to the ‘Flower for the Tower’ appeal, which has raised over £15,000.

What’s been achieved?

The tower stonework has been saved from decay and cleaned;

The stone flower frieze at the top has been completely replaced;

The structure has been made sound and watertight;

New internal staircases provide safe access to the top of the tower.

What next?

We invite the public to enjoy and appreciate the restored tower.

The church is open during daylight hours every day of the week. Drop in to see displays about the restoration and the church’s and Tooting Bec’s history..   

We are developing a heritage page and a blog for our website. These will tell the story of Holy Trinity and the neighbourhood past and present in a vivid, colourful way.

We cannot offer physical visits at the moment but will resume these as soon as possible.


How you can help

Contributions to the ‘Flower for the Tower’ appeal are still welcome. If you wish to donate, go to Tower Appeal.


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The repairs in detail


The work was carried out by Universal Stone Ltd, and Ablett Architects were our conservation architect.

Stonework
Many large areas of flaking stones have been restored or replaced. The stonework has been lightly cleaned. 
Repairs have been made to the Bath stone window surrounds, plinths and corner stones 

june 2020 flower

Flower carvings
A frieze of 32 stone carvings of flowers is a distinctive feature of the very top of the tower. Because most of the original carvings had decayed beyond repair as a result of rain and pollution damage, new carvings have been made to replace them. This required great craftsmanship and skill.



Clock
The clock face has been re-gilded and the mechanism overhauled.

june 2020 crossRoof and cross
The tower has been reroofed with slates matching the original ones, to replace the deteriorated artificial slates installed in the 70s. The cross at the top has been repainted and regilded. Guttering has been replaced in a number of areas and new drains installed

West window
The fine rose window in the west end of the church has been cleaned and repaired.

gantryOther items
New ladders and gantries to provide safe access to the tower’s upper levels have been installed.
Repairs have been made to deal with cracking of the tower’s inner walls



Funding the restoration

The restoration work has been funded by from Holy Trinity’s Tower Appeal Fund, to which many generous contributions have been made, grants from various sources and from the church’s own resources. We are very grateful to friends and neighbours who have donated, and to the Heritage Lottery Fund, Viridor Credits, and the Garfield Weston Foundation for their grant support.

We would welcome further support for the ‘Flower for the Tower’ appeal launched last December to help meet the costs of the new flower carvings to replace those decayed beyond repair at the very top of the tower. This was an unexpected addition of over £20,000 to the repair costs. We are grateful for the generous response so far, but more is needed.  More details.

Holy Trinity is grateful to the Heritage Lottery Fund, Viridor Credits and the  for their generous support for the tower’s restoration

viridor     hlfgw




ORCHID

UPDATE APRIL 2020

GOOD PROGRESS ON THE WORKS

Good news - excellent progress has been made in all areas and the bulk of the work has been done.  A few items are delayed because of the coronavirus crisis but will be carried out as soon as possible.

Stonework
Large areas of flaking stones have been restored or replaced. The stonework is being lightly cleaned and the appearance of the tower is much improved. Repairs have been made to the stone window surrounds, plinths and corner stones 

Flower carvings
New carvings have been made for 32 decorative stone flowers in the frieze at the top of the tower to replace those decayed beyond repair as a result of rain and pollution damage.

Roof
Work to replace the roof and associated guttering will restart when access is restored as the coronavirus crisis moderates. The current ones, which date from the 70s, have deteriorated badly. 

Clock
The clock face has been re-gilded and the mechanism overhauled. The clock will be put in place again at the final stage of the works

West window
The fine rose window in the west end of the church has been cleaned and repaired.

Internal access
Work to install ladders and gantries to provide safe access to the tower’s upper levels is almost complete. 

Other items
Repairs have been made to deal with internal cracking.  Work to install new drains and guttering is nearly done.

SHARING OUR HERITAGE

visit

Tours and visits

Two much appreciated visits to ascend the outside of the tower to see the works close up took place on 25th October and 25th January. Those taking part included local councillors and representatives of local history groups, Wandsworth Borough Council and local media, as well as Holy Trinity congregation members.

Further visits will be arranged when access to the church becomes possible again when the coronavirus crisis abates.

Meanwhile, please take a look at the explanatory boards on the project on the railings outside the church.

Latest photos - June 2020 

Before repairs:                                                                  And now:  

w windowJune 2020 t


flowersjune 2020 ta


june 2020 cross













june 2020 flower








 

june 2020 tb