Extensive renovation was made to the stonework surrounding the ancient West Door during the summer of 2024. Expert stonemasons have made a wonderful job of fitting in a beautiful new surround to the door.
Repairs to the damaged parquet flooring in the church were carried out in January 2024. The parquet was originally laid in the late 17th/early 18th century, which is significantly earlier than originally thought. The blocks are 4 cm thick, and nowadays 2 cm are the thickest you can get. The blocks were all carefully taken up, repaired where necessary then re-laid, sanded and varnished. The floor looks beautiful once more and will hopefully continue to do so for a very long time to come.
Our major renovation project for 2022 was the repair of the east wall. This included repointing some of the flint work on the wall, repair and replacement of the coping stones up to the apex, the large apex stone itself and replacement of the stone cross which had been lost long ago. Please do have a look and see what a great job our stonemasons have done. We also replaced the wooden louvres in the window on the north face of the tower.
We appealed to our members in the summer of 2021 for contributions towards the cost of a badly needed new sound system for St. Mary’s. We made this appeal knowing that this was a departure from our usual works to the fabric of the church. We were delighted when a total of 16 members came forward, including 3 major donors, and the total cost was raised. The new sound system has now been installed.
Our major project during 2020 and 2021 was the repair of the 16 buttresses around the church. Our specialist stonemason has now finished repointing and replacing the stonework on the buttresses and around the two vestry windows, which was badly eroded.
The Friends’ trustees have also prepared and installed a self-guided tour of St Mary’s, featuring a series of paddles attached at different places around the church. The short paragraphs describing the special features at each site are presented in English, French, and German.
Repairs have also been made to the tower roof and gutters, both of which were letting in water for some time prior to the Friends funding of the repairs. We have also replaced some fallen plaster in the roof of the Chancel, which was carried out by specialists using horsehair and dung.
Our first project was the much-needed cleaning of the church clock, followed by major repairs to the beautiful east window and the side lancet windows. We have now completed the restoration of the fifteenth-century porch entrance to the church as can be seen from the pictures below.
The Friends of St Mary's Church Lenham 