Published: 20/10/2025
Updated: 21/10/2025
In September, we hosted our first-ever working party at St Michael’s, Castlemartin, Pembrokeshire, showcasing what skills are needed to repair a historic church. The working party pre-empted 20 weeks of repairs to this medieval church by our contractors, Cardigan Bay Architectural Conservation Ltd.
We hope that this blog, written by our office and events volunteer and art history graduate from Oxford University, Alex Egland, will give you more insight into the traditional conservation techniques.
Down a narrow lane nestled into a lush green hillside lies the medieval church of St Michael’s, Castlemartin, Pembrokeshire. Upon arrival at the churchyard, the metal gates were notably absent in the entryway as it undergoes repair. Without the gates the church feels more vulnerable, but it was our job to make it feel more secure and taken care of.
I arrived in Castlemartin with some of the FoFC team and immediately set up my tent. A kind farmer allowed us to camp in his field near the church for the duration of the working party. Camping out in the field was optional for our group of participants. A few chose to camp whilst others found accommodation at some of the inns in nearby Pembroke.
The first day of the event we were blessed with sun and mild weather, which it turns out would hold until the end of the working party. If you aren’t familiar with the concept of a working party, it is an event where volunteers participate in the physical preservation and repair work of the church alongside professional craftsmen and relevant experts.
Our phenomenal group of volunteers spanned myriad life experiences, from locals to graduate students, trade workers, and heritage enthusiasts. I was lucky enough to tag along and help for the event as a regular volunteer for FoFC. A working party gives people an opportunity to learn whilst doing, a chance to make a physical, tangible difference to built heritage and the way that we experience these lovely historic buildings.
To begin, we had an important safety briefing, with details of PPE and any spots around the site that could be hazardous. We also had a nice introduction to the church where we would spend the next two days. The structure of the working party allowed volunteers to learn and work with two professionals per day, with plenty of breaks for tea, biscuits, and hand-packed lunches. At our first FoFC working party we were lucky enough to be joined by four incredible (and patient) professionals. Thom Kinghorn-Evans, Jo Adkins, Simon Howard, and Sian Williams. With four different stations spread throughout the church and church yard, the volunteers split into small groups to maximize their time with each professional.
At Thom’s lime station, we learned about of the history and material properties of lime mortar. Did you know that you can make lime from oyster shells?
St Michael’s has had multiple material treatments through the years, notably visible on the exterior walls. Areas of snail-creep pointing were the focus of much of the repointing work done over the course of the two days.
After mixing fresh lime mortar, volunteers worked to chisel away the old crumbling cement. The cement was so brittle that parts of it could break away with only your hands. After chiselling away at these spots, volunteers used the freshly mixed lime to repoint these holes, using rocks to fill in some of the larger gaps.
Simon’s station was next. Simon is the only one whose work was happening inside of the church, with a perfect view of the set of windows that he would be replacing in the coming months. The church was chilly but inviting as volunteers huddled around the raised table to see Simon at work. Stained glass is an intricate and delicate practice. He demonstrates to the volunteers how to use various tools and showed us a template that he used for his courses, as well as the laid out plan for the windows of St Michael’s. His calm and soft-spoken demeanour reflected the slow, precise work that he was doing. After demonstration, he gave the volunteers a bucket of tools with different cutters and grips, alongside pieces of smooth glass so that we could all have a go at cutting the glass however we wanted, using curved or straight lines to get a feel for the traditional craftsmanship.
After the first two stations it was already time to pack up for the night and head up to the village hall. The FoFC team made a full spread of food for dinner, likely enough to feed the whole village, but with everyone working so hard it was much needed. Dinner, cake, and socializing amongst the participants made for a lovely evening in the cosy village hall. Sian, our local ecologist, happens to be an expert on the bats that live in and around the church. She hosted a bat watch on Thursday night, for people who wanted to see the bats in their nocturnal habitats. She informed us that when she started working at St Michael’s, there were a small number of bats that called the church home. Now, St Michael’s houses hundreds of healthy bats.
The next morning, we had breakfast at the village hall with a spread of toasts and jams, bagels, cereals, fruit, yogurt, granola, coffee, and tea. Everyone was eager to get back down to the church and start work for the day. Having explored two of the stations the previous day, the second day would encompass the remaining two stations, ensuring that everyone got enough time to really experience each station.
Friday morning, I was one of the volunteers working with Sian to improve the plant environment in the churchyard. With shovels, rakes, and clippers, we pulled out and clipped back weeds and brambles, being careful to leave the beautiful ferns to flourish.
My group’s goal was to clear the area immediately behind the church, so that Thom and his team can work around the entirety of the building. This also meant that visitors to the churchyard could see more of the exterior, including one 19th-century grave behind the church.
Each of the groups worked on a different area in the churchyard, with special attention being paid to graves and to the war memorial out front. Doing this gave us all an immediate sense of accomplishment and gratitude, as we could so easily see the positive impact that our work had on the church’s green environment.
The tea and biscuits were sweet and well-deserved after the tiring but rewarding job of clearing brush. For our final activity, we were at Jo’s station, which drew my curiosity. As a traditional blacksmith, the clang of hammer on metal was audible throughout our time working at St Michael’s. The goal at Jo’s station was to teach us some of the fundamental skills of blacksmithing. We were each to make a wall hook by heating a long piece of rounded steel in the charcoal fire and finishing it to a point on the anvil by hitting it at different angles before curling it up on one end. We then put one end of the metal into a clamp while we twisted it to form a decorative twist in the centre of what would become the hook. After this, we used the rounded end of the anvil to create the large curve of the hook. The excess metal was cut off the end and we hammered the edge flat for a hole to be put through to be hung up. we each got the take home our hooks as symbols of our two days of hard work. My arm was sore for the following two days, but I felt so accomplished.
Friday afternoon, after experiencing each of the activities, we had some free time to go back to whichever station we wanted to ask questions, get in some more practice, or just observe. By the end of the working party, we had learned so much about traditional craftsmanship with the chance to do hands-on work that is once in a lifetime for many of us. Our impact on the church was visible and palpable, and I feel grateful to have been part of a group where everyone was willing to be so generous with their time and energy. I think we all left feeling fulfilled and content.
You can read more about further repairs Thom and his team will carry out here. Please note St Michael's church will reopen to all visitors sometime in February 2026.
