Fire Fire
 In the early hours
of Sunday, 20th November 1994, a member of staff at the Cheshire Home,
opposite the church, noticed flames leaping up from the South Aisle
roof. Six fire appliances attended the church but extensive damage had
been caused by the time the fire was extinguished. The fire had been
started against the door in, what was at that time, the open South
Porch. A strong wind blew the fire under the door and ignited heavy
curtains on the inside. Fire from the curtains set alight the South
Aisle roof above the door, from where it spread Westwards. Debris from
the burning roof dropped into the pews at the southwest quarter of the
nave. A considerable fire resulted and the pews and floor in that area
were destroyed along with portable staging stored there, and half of
the timber font cover. The intense heat destroyed the Southwest and
West windows in the south aisle and caused considerable stone damage in
the area, to the extent that one of the pillars had to be rebuilt.
Remarkably, although the fire destroyed most of the south aisle roof,
the stained glass windows to the east of the door were unaffected by
the heat.
Fire had begun to
take hold in the nave roof but with the aid of an infra red imaging
device the fire brigade were able to locate the danger areas and
extinguish them before serious damage occurred. Elsewhere in the church
the only other serious damage was to the organ. Heat had melted solder
joints allowing the metal organ pipes to fall into the church and glue
joints in the wooden pipes sprang open. However the entire building was
thick with soot and condensation, a truly devastating sight. The church
was unusable, and without a rector, but the churchwardens were
determined that the life of the church should continue without
significant change. Services were arranged in the village school and
the Methodist chapel and a target date of the Patronal Festival, 22nd
July 1995, was set in faith for the rededication.
Following the
acquisition of detailed quotations and discussions with the insurers
and loss adjusters it became clear early in 1995 that restoration was
going to cost in excess of £300,000 of which the parish would need to
find £43,000. The response from the parish was magnificent and by the
end of 1995 in excess of £43,000 had been raised and the appeal closed.
Canon Martin
Greenfield was licensed as rector by the Bishop on 28th April 1995, at
a service in the village school. Then on Saturday 22nd July the Bishop
rededicated the restored church and completed the induction of the
rector.
During the
restoration some improvements were made. The South Porch was refitted
as the main entrance to the church with new external and internal doors
and the windows were glazed. The partly destroyed doors were mounted
above the doorway in order that their design and decoration could still
be seen. The font was moved back from the door to make more space and
to place it centrally to the Southwest window and the new seating area.
Chairs replaced the destroyed pews so that the area became flexible in
its use. Additional floodlighting was provided within the church to
overcome previous complaints about poor lighting levels. A new book
cupboard and table were constructed from timber recovered from the
burnt pews. The organ was completely rebuilt and the organist made a
gift of an additional set of pipes (or stop).
In 2005 Pews from
the front of the nave were moved to the back to replace those burnt in
the fire. The chairs were moved to the front to enable greater
flexibilty in the seating arrangement for the various styles of worship
required in today's church.
Ian Stracey
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