We did it!

“Rescue” in this instance is no exaggeration. The roof was at the point of collapse. The timbers couldn’t bear the 32 tonnes of stone tiles any longer. They were all fractured in at least one place. The wall-plate had pushed out so far that, in places, it wasn’t even on the wall any more.

After 14 months of incredibly challenging, complex work beautifully executed by the team at Jones & Fraser, St James’s looks very different. It’s taller, lighter, safer and… pink.

Using straps and props, the snapped roof timbers were lifted and squeezed back into their A-shape alignment. The timber wall-plate – rotated and rotten – was repaired and replaced as necessary. The dislocated masonry beneath was dismantled and reset.

Stainless steel plates were bolted onto the trusses to increase their capacity to carry the weight of the tiles, and the timbers which were salvageable were repaired using traditional joinery techniques. This included planing, by hand, metres of roll-moulding, cutting new ribs, notching in collars and splicing new oak into old.

The roof is now back into its original shape and, believe it or not, is actually 2 ft taller than it was when we began – it really had sagged and deflected that much.

When the roof was back in shape, riven oak laths were installed between the timber ribs. These were then plastered and limewashed – almost all of the elaborate timber repairs are hidden!

Internally and externally, all the cement pointing was raked out and the stonework was repointed in lime mortar. The walls were plastered in lime. Inside, the walls were limewashed an off-white colour. Externally, we opted for a pale pink colour. This is intended to pick up tones of the coral colour in the local clay soil -- as though someone had dropped a handful of red sand into the limewash.

I know some people prefer their churches in bare stone. However, we know that historically, most rubble-built churches, like St James's, were rendered and limewashed. Indeed, a small patch of old render survived on the north elevation of St James's. This additional outer finish gives the building greater weathering protection.

In the post medieval period, lime finishes weathered, were not renewed or were purposely stripped by Victorian restorers. We know from records that the internal lime plaster at St James's was stripped as part of the 1899 restoration. Many Victorian architects and builders were under the impression that in these situations bare stone was more historically accurate and authentic.

Our work has restored the historic lime finishes inside and out.

Finally, the bellcote, which was a creation of leaking asbestos panels and recycled staircase balusters and a cranked steel beam, needed to be completely overhauled. With the asbestos removed, the structure was weather-boarded in oak. New louvre-boxes were created to give ventilation to the space. The staircase balusters are still there – just inside the boarding.

Our heartfelt thanks to everyone who made this possible – Andrew Faulkner (architect), Steve Swinbank (engineer), Rebecca Sheahan-East (ecologist), Ross Cook (archaeologist), Lily Watts (volunteer videographer), the Jones & Fraser team – Lal, Louis, Dixy, Paul, The Colonel, Seren, The Viking, Tom and Finn. I am so proud of what we’ve achieved together.

A final thanks to the people who paid for this work – The National Heritage Memorial Fund, The Garfield Weston Foundation, and the members, donors and supporters of the FoFC. Thank you.

Together, we have saved this medieval church, we’ve supported some of Wales’s exceptional craftspeople, we’ve restored St James’s to the public, to its community and to its landscape.

Thank you all from the bottom of my heart. This has been a project I will never forget.

St James’s is now open daily – please do pay it a visit.

We created a scrapbook of our memories from the project, which can be read by clicking on the button below.