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Drumkeeran Church Renovations

Week 13

Starting Monday, 31 August.

(View Progress for Other Weeks)


Monday

With the church due to reopen for Mass on Sunday next, 6 September,

it’s a case of all hands to the deck during this coming week.


This week will see the completion of the slating of the roof,
the dismantling of most of the scaffolding
 and the storm-glazing of the stained glass windows behind the altar.

Inside the church, the final touches will be made to the paintwork,
the glass panes will be put into the entrance lobbies and Day Chapel,
and the whole church will have to undergo a major clean-up.


The tidying up has already started outside.


Here we see the Main Door end of the church.
All builder’s equipment and rubble have been cleared away.



A new barge has been constructed over the side-door of the church.
The poor condition of the old barge had given rise to major dampness around the door
and nearby windows.


And inside the church a huge clean-up operation is needed.


Here we see the amount of dust and dirt that has accumulated on the seats in the nave.



Even the statues are covered in layers of dust.
This is the base of the statue of St Anthony.



The area behind the altar is cluttered with all sorts of dust-covered items.



Tuesday

Early on Tuesday morning the big clean-up started.

Apart from the general clean-up,
 the marbles of the rherdos and altar will be steam-cleaned.


The floor is hoovered and each seat has to be individually washed and cleaned.



By evening nearly all the seating has been given a first cleaning.
Each seat will receive a second wash and will then be polished.



The base of the statue of St Anthony now looks much better!



A worker prepares a section of the floor for new floor-covering.



Thursday

On Thursday the scaffolding on the south side of the church was dismantled.


With the scaffolding gone the the workers have access to the lower windows.



The men clean the windows and replace broken sections of glass
before the storm-glazing is fixed to each window.



The view from inside the church.




Friday


The scaffolding has been removed from the east side of the church.
It is planned to dismantle and remove the crane on Saturday.



The big clean-up continues.



This window was one of the windows that had to be fully removed for refurbishment.
The resulting gap had to be boarded up.
As a result, the stonework behind the boards could not be power-washed.
Here we see the difference between the washed and the unwashed stonework.
This will be rectified within the next day or two.



To the rear of the church most of the scaffolding is now gone.
The remaining scaffolding may stay in place until the north transept window is reinstated.



Saturday

Early Saturday morning, 5th September, work started on dismantling the crane.


The main arm of the crane is folded up….



… and the counter-weights are removed from the base of the crane.



By late morning the crane is almost ready to be moved away from the church.

Over the past few months it has helped remove the old slates from the roof
and has hoisted up the 13,500 new slates.


All of which gives rise to another thought….

How did the original builders manage to build this church in the late 1860’s
without any of the modern machinery we so take for granted today.

Their skill and their courage must not be forgotten.