MUCH needed repairs to a village’s ancient church tower are well under way, with locals hoping the work will allow the building to stand for another 900 years.

St Petroc Church in South Brent had been under threat from an ill-advised application of cement mortar in the last century.

The non-breathable material was used in place of traditional lime-based mortar to repair the tower, but caused problems as water became trapped in the walls.

Thanks to a huge grant of nearly £200,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund this year, along with smaller grants and tireless fundraising by the church, work got under way in August. And, with scaffolding inside and out, the bid to safeguard the iconic building for the future is in full swing.

The work is being carried out by a team from Bristol historic building conservation specialists Carrek, led by engineer Ben Morton. The project involves pumping in a lime-based grout to fill the cavity in the tower’s walls, before the old cement mortar pointing is raked out and replaced with lime-based material.

Internal work being carried out includes replacing many of the timbers inside the tower, as well as installing new LED lighting thanks to a grant of nearly £10,000 from South Brent Community Energy Society.

Ben explained: ’The walls are about a metre thick, and we had to drill holes 500 millimetres apart to pump in the grout. It doesn’t go too hard like cement, it’s about the consistency of soft cheese, and we had to take out a few stones to see where it was going.’

He continued: ’Cement mortar was used a lot back then, but it causes problems as water gets trapped. Lime mortar allows the walls to breathe, and allows for a bit of movement, it solves a lot of problems.

’It does take a long time to cure, so it’s all about the prep work. In summer you have to keep on misting it and let it dry slowly, but at this time of year you’ve got the opposite problem, you have to try and keep it warm. It takes a lot of patience.

’We put a few layers of removal blankets over the new pointing, and make it as airtight as possible to stop it freezing. But years ago, instead of blankets they would have used cow manure and hay to keep it warm while it dried.’

As they stopped work for the festive season, Ben and his team had finished the grouting and were more than halfway through repointing the ancient tower. They have also begun to remove the ’merlons and embrasures’ - the battlements - at the top of the tower, to install a waterproof course.

Much of the church is currently full of scaffolding, with seasonal services taking place around the temporary obstructions.

The whole project is costing around £325,000, with nearly £200,000 from the HLF, while more than £50,000 has been raised locally. Years of fundraising by the church itself has also garnered £43,000, with many smaller grants adding to the total.