Restoration of abbey floor now complete
A project to stabilise the floor of Bath Abbey has reached a significant milestone - with the final ledgerstone to complete its restoration having been laid.
The Abbey’s Footprint Project has been ongoing since 2018 to save the floor after massive voids were discovered.
Parts of the abbey’s floor had been gradually sinking for years before excavations in 2011 uncovered the voids caused by thousands of church burials decomposing over time, making the floor unstable.
Work began in May 2018 to lift up the abbey’s floor stone by stone, fill in the voids beneath, as well as to carefully restore and relay all 891 ledgerstones that make up the floor.
Now the abbey’s historic floor has been fully restored and is safe and secure again, following almost three years of work by Emery and SSH Conservation, as well as other contractors, staff and volunteers, who have helped to complete this huge task.
It is estimated that specialist heritage contractor SSH Conservation spent more than 20,000 hours on the restoration and relaying of the floor stones alone.
In addition, underfloor heating pipes have been installed throughout for an innovative eco-heating system that will be powered by sustainable energy from Bath’s hot springs. Prior to this, the abbey had to rely on an antiquated heating system that dated back to Victorian times.
Felix Emery from Emery Bros. Ltd said: “We have been working on restoring the abbey floor for two and half years, and in that time have lifted over 2,000 ledger stones and shifted tens of thousands of tonnes of excavated earth and stone - all of this by hand.”
Nathan Ward, Footprint Project director, said: “Work will continue on the final aspects of the eco-heating system so the abbey could be running on renewable heat by the end of March.”
In addition, volunteers from the local community and students from the University of Bath, Bath Spa University and the University of West of England played a huge role in ensuring that all 891 stones’ positions, conditions and inscriptions were carefully documented.
The Rev Canon Guy Bridgewater, Rector of Bath Abbey, said: “We’re so grateful to our fantastic team of staff, contractors and volunteers, not to mention the abbey community for their support.
“While the abbey’s currently closed for public worship and visiting while we’re in lockdown, we cannot wait to welcome everyone back once it’s safe to do so, and hope they’ll be able to enjoy fully the extent of the newly restored ledgerstones and heating that’s powered by Bath’s thermal springs.”
The next few months will be spent on building work in the vaults below to create new visitor facilities in the underground space between Bath Abbey and Abbey Chambers, as well as in the adjacent Kingston Buildings which will house the new Song School.
The Abbey’s Footprint project is a £19.3 million programme, supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, that will provide new spaces for learning, music and visitor facilities, undertake essential conservation work, as well as create opportunities for community involvement.
More information can be found on the website: www. bathabbey.org.