Repair works worth £675,000 carried out at Peterborough Cathedral

The grant came from a national £40 million pot to carry out repairs at cathedrals across the country ahead of First World War centenary events.

Peterborough Cathedral was awarded a total of £676,495 by the Fund, which was used for five different projects.

The re-leading of windows cost £10,628, and saw repairs to the north window of the Old Baptistry, the southern window in the West Sacristy and the North Presbytery window enabled the Cathedral to be warmer, and more wind-proof and weather-tight.

Urgent repairs on the Old Baptistry Gable saw work carried out on exterior stonework and two deteriorated and weathered gables were made safe. Without this work, the stone would have continued to degrade and may even have fallen off the building. These works cost £88,433.

The Victorian tesserae (mosaic) floor near the High Altar was identified as being in very urgent need of repair in a quinquennial inspection carried out in 2011. Due to the tiles lifting and becoming uneven, the area had been inaccessible to visitors for many years and had been roped off. But after many months of painstaking work, in which 21,000 small tiles required resetting, the floor was ready to be used again – allowing the Cathedral to make full use of the whole of its space. These works cost £224,000.

Repairs to the east windows of the north and south aisles on the Tribune level of the Presbytery, the east window of the South Transept Clerestory, and the South West Transept roof void window cost £12,935, and High-level tower fire safety glazing cost £340,500.

The fire safety works saw improvement of existing handrails, and the installation of fire resistant glazing to the upper part of the Crossing Tower windows. New handrails were also installed to the Clerestory to improve safety. The work was completed in April 2018 and has made the Cathedral a far safer building.

The Very Revd Chris Dalliston, Dean of Peterborough, said: “Many of the repairs undertaken with these grants are behind the scenes and unglamorous, but nonetheless essential. We are extremely grateful to have had the opportunity of carrying them out in time for our commemorations of the Centenary of the First World War this autumn.”

Grants were awarded by an independent panel chaired by Sir Paul Ruddock, a position appointed by the Secretary of State. The Fund was administered by the Church of England’s Cathedrals and Church Buildings Division (CCB) on behalf of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport, with the CCB praised in the report for cost efficiency and excellent communication.