Midland Stonemasonry enjoy the work involved in church extensions but usually consider themselves fortunate if they have one to build. When two came along together Director Derek Park felt they had been smiled upon, even if it did test the company’s resources. “When we turned up at St Mary’s and thought ‘what about the stone’, then someone came up with this reclaimed granite and you thought someone up there was looking after you,” Derek told NSS as he showed us round the two church extensions Midland Stonemasonry finished last year.
A lot of churches these days want to expand their roles in their local communities and many are seeking to do that by adding an extension that also provides wheelchair access. As many churches are stone, extensions provide what tend to be interesting projects for stone masons when they come along. But as Derek Park of Midland Stonemasonry says, he doesn’t hold his breath waiting for the contract after he has priced such projects because it can take churches a long time to raise the money they need for them.
Midland Stonemasonry spend most of their time carrying out repair and conservation / restoration work and consider themselves lucky if they get one church extension a year.
So, having submitted his quote for an extension to St Mary’s Church in Bitteswell, Derek was happy to start work on another extension at the Church of St Nicholas at Little Bowden, like St Mary’s coming under Market Harborough in the Leicestershire diocese and, also like St Mary’s, listed Grade II*.
But St Mary’s had been left a bequest by the daughter of a former bank manager who lived in the village and were ready to go with their £260,000, 50m2 extension. It presented an unexpected workload for Derek and the 20 people he employs but it is the sort of problem they were delighted to have.
St Mary’s Church dates back to the 13th century with the north aisle being added in 1852 and the chancel being reconstructed in 1881. The extension is joined to the church through a new doorway created in the north aisle.
Midland Stonemasonry (who, by the way, are in Normanton on Soar, Loughborough, and should not be confused with Midland Masonry in Market Drayton, Shropshire) had worked on the church previously with the same architect who designed the extension, John Dodson of Parkinson, Dodson & Cheung in Leicester.
Their previous work involved repairs to the tower, so the masons were already familiar with the local granite and sandstone construction of the building.
Previously they had used Croft granite from Leicestershire for the walls with dressed masonry in Woodkirk York stone as a replacement for the original Attleborough sandstone that was no longer available. For the extension, Woodkirk would be used again with granite walling reclaimed from a demolished barn that was being offered at a low price by a local developer because of his connections with the church.
When Derek Park was shown the granite he says it did not look like much more than a pile of mud and he had to weigh up whether there would be enough for the project. However, he bought it because when it was cleaned up it was a perfect match to the existing building. As it turned out, there was more than enough of it, with a stock left over to carry out repairs to the church as they become necessary in the future.
As is clear from the pictures here, John Dodson designed the extension with its meeting room, kitchenette, toilets and wheelchair access that includes a new path cut through the cemetery from the lychgate, to match the existing building, which was precisely what the church and the village wanted.
However, English Heritage took the opposite view. “We had a tremendous battle with them over it,” says the architect. “They didn’t like it being pastiche.”
But the village did like it and eventually got what they wanted, although it came close to going to a Consistory Court, says Church Warden Margaret Foster. “We weren’t on the same wavelength at all.”
John Dodson says: “I have nothing against modern additions when they fit in, but on a rural parish church like this when you have the skills like those of Midland Stonemasonry, why not use them?”
And, says Margaret Foster: “Everyone in the village is delighted with it. That’s the important thing as far as we’re concerned.”
In contrast, English Heritage raised no objections to the £400,000, 117m2 two-storey extension at the Church of St Nicholas built using ironstone from Great Tew with dressed stone in Ancaster Weatherbed limestone supplied by Block Stone in Derbyshire to match the original fabric of the church and reclaimed Cumbrian slate on the roof supplied by Hunslet Roofing in Leeds.
According to the listing, the church dates back to the 13th century with traces of earlier building in the west end. The chancel was built in the 18th century. Restoration work was carried out in 1900 when the current double bell cote was built of stone to replace an earlier wooden one.
The new extension by Keith Hamilton of B3 Architects of Leicester provides a kitchen and serving area, lobby and toilets downstairs and a large meeting room on the first floor, with stairs and a stair lift for wheelchair access to the first floor. Some reshaping of the original wall was required to move a pier and give wheelchairs room to turn at the top of the stairs.
As with many such projects there were a number of issues to overcome before work started. To begin with, 40 graves had to be moved. That work was accompanied by an archaeological survey.
A public footpath that crosses the churchyard had to be temporarily re-routed. Neighbours in a new housing estate on land adjacent to the church complained because it brought the church closer to the boundary and there was some dispute over the ownership of a hedge that was removed for the work, although has since been reinstated.
For Midland Stonemasonry the main problem was simply that work started in one of the UK’s wettest ever Julys, turning the site into a quagmire as they cut the substantial 3m footings and causing some delays connecting up to sewer.
As the church succeeded in raising money for the project with backing from recyclers Biffa and quarry company Lafarge Aggregates under the Landfill Communities Fund, Market Harborough & Bowdens Charity, and 10 other trusts and charities, as well as the congregation and individual donations, the proposal for the size of the extension also grew. Keith Hamilton went along with that and has used the full space available. “I don’t think physically you could have got it any bigger,” he told NSS.
Even so, there was a budget and at one stage blockwork and render were considered, although Keith was convinced that stone was the right solution.
“I think there was an acceptable degree of conservatism regarding the expectations of the customer,” says the architect. “If we had used more modern materials we might have been accused of trying to turn this extension into something it wasn’t.”
As Andrew Quigley, who took over as Vicar after the work had started, says: “It was a key element that the extension would blend in. There is a bit of a fashion for very definitely modern buildings, but I think the right decision was made. It’s beautiful work and blends in with the original architecture. But it doesn’t just match it – it actually adds something.”
The extension provides a new access to the church at the back of the aisle at ground level through an 1800mm wide access cut into what had been the outer west wall of the church. The stone removed was used for repairs to the walls.
A particular problem of cutting the access was that there is an organ on a balcony above it inside. An engineer was called in to make sure the supports would do the job.
When Derek Park set up his masonry business 20 years ago, his brother Robert also established a joinery business and they often work together on projects such as these extensions with their oak trusses and shutters. Robert also built the oak porch at the entrance to this extension that is topped with an Ancaster Weatherbed stone cross.
Derek says Midland Masonry are always delighted to work on extensions. “A lot of architects we know wouldn’t even think of us for work like this because they only know us for our conservation work. But we have talented people. You could put them up against anyone.”