ST. PAUL'S

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 47, 25 February 1914, Page 7

ST. PAUL'S

<», , . STRENGTHENING THE SUPER STRUCTURE. APPEAL FOR FUNDS. (Bj Telegraph.— Pmss Assodition. -Copyrieht.) (Times— Sydney Sun Special Cables.) LONDON, 24th February. Dr. Inge, Dean of St. Paul's, in appealing for £70,000 to strengthen the superstructure of the cathedral, said he believed that many thousands of people in Britain's dominions, to whom the cathedral was hallowed, would be ready to respond. «. 'a disquieting report. Some months ago, Sir Francis Fox made an investigation regarding the foundations of the cathedral. He ascertained from the city records that when excavations were made for the sewer proposed to be carried along the south side of the cathedral in 1831, a quicksand was found at a depth of 31ft below the street level, in close proximity to the s6uth porch, and that in view of the grave peril in which the carrying out of the work would have involved the fabric, the project was abandoned. The same quicksand was encountered in the excavations for the warehouses on the south side of the street, particularly those at the corner of Godlitnan-street. It is added that all excavations in connection with building operations in the vicinity of the cathedral demand attention, as they are important causes of the serious movements which have taken place along the south side of the structure. Plumbing of the dome and walls has been carried out on several occasions, with the result that they are found to be out of truth in different places, generally t in a south-westerly direction. "The amount of divergence," says Sir Francis Fox, _ "would be negligible were the fabric at rest, and tho core of the walls and piers intact, but, although the movement is not in itself serious at present, it is imperative that it should be stopped, otherwise»it is only a question of time when danger will be reached." He further states that in consequence of the tilting of the eight main piers of the dome, due to the excessive and unequally distributed < pressure on the foundations, these piers have been seriously cracked, and require attention ; that twenty-three of the thirty-two buttresses to the drum of the dome are cracked, tliose to the south-west being very seriously disintegrated, and that both the outer and inner walls of the drum itself are also cracked, and have been pointed up in -years gone by. Serious cracks have occurred in the walls of the South Transept. Some ten years ago heavy iron tie-rods were fixed to overcome the , motion, which, however, continues, as is proved by numerous "live" cracks in the cement. Sir Francis Fox concludes : "The cathedral, although standing immediately, as I am informed, on pot earth, gravel, and sand, is underlaid by wet sand and gravel (the level of water depending, more or less, on tho rainfall), for a depth of about five to six feet above the London clay. The strata of wet sand and gravel constitute an unreliable nnd unstable condition, which requires a remedy."