Wednesday, June 04, 2008

Methodist Church repair work begins.

Work to restore Saltburn Methodist Church’s distinctive eight-sided tower and spire is now underway. Built in 1905 at a cost of £6,600 an inspection of the landmark building in 2005 revealed serious brickwork and metal corrosion.
The 85 church members immediately set themselves the task of raising money to carry out work on the spire, as well as pointing and guttering repairs.
The lowest tender for the repair work came in recently at £167,000 and as all but a few thousand pounds is in place the work has finally begun. Most of the funding is coming from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Impetus Landfill Trust and the Methodist Church’s property fund.
During the work, which is due to take about five months, the public can continue to use the main door in Diamond Street for access to the church.
Thought was originally given to removing the spire, but the building is listed by English Heritage as being of specific historic and architectural interest. Instead the top third of the tower and spire will be removed and rebuilt, largely with refurbished stone.

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