Sunday 1st September saw the Trustees carry out three restorations in one day. The first required lifting equipment, the second sheer muscle power, and the third a delicate operation to straighten a leaning memorial. All three were achieved after several hours of hard work.
The first – a quarter of a ton marble headstone to the GRIFFITHS family of 46 Lammas Street was lowered into place after preparatory work in securing the stone base. This headstone had been lying on the ground for fifty years. During this work two holes were drilled into the sides of the marble headstone and two steel rods inserted to take the enormous weight of the marble when lifted from the ground and into position. After a lot of maneuvering, left, right, up and down we finally managed to lower the marble into position and are very pleased with the result
Thank you to Robert Goodridge and his son Thomas, and to Chris Dzioba for their really hard work that day which was much appreciated.
The second memorial to be restored was that of the NICHOLAS family from Water Street. Please refer to the drop down menu under the “What’s in a name” for further information.
This engraved stone headstone had also been buried in the ground for decades face down and was initially moved by hand whilst the base again was made secure ready to receive the headstone back into position.
The second phase was to manhandle the headstone back into position and using special resin to secure it to the base. Once this was done wooden supports were used to ensure its safety.
The following day we returned to remove the supports and the area surrounding the base will now be cleaned up.
For the purpose of the photograph below showing the wording engraved on the headstone it was necessary to rub self raising flour into the lettering to show up the wording otherwise the photograph would not capture the script. This is a “technique” I often use to reveal engraved headstones that have been weathered over the years.
The third and final restoration was to upright a leaning memorial to MASTER MARINER WILLIAM JONES and family. This polished red marble cross had been leaning at an angle of almost 45 degrees and was in danger of toppling over, let alone being a safety risk to visitors.
