CATHEDRAL RESTORATION

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 51, 1 March 1930, Page 20

CATHEDRAL RESTORATION

Seventeen years1 work on tho. reconditioning of the fabric of St. Paul's Cathcdrai in London is approaching completion. N A .great thanksgiving servico will bo part of the celebrations which are' being arranged to mark the conclusion of a gigantic task. Tho date so far selected, for the service -is 25th June, at noon. Tho King has signified his hope to bo present, and, the Archbishop of Canterbury will preach the sermon. . .

Tho restoration work of tho last 17 years at St. Paul's has included vital parts, of the.historic building (says, tho "Sunday Times"). . There has been contributed £450,000 from all parts of the Empire,, representing large and small individual gifts fro*n £5000 to sums of is and 6d. A little Australian girl who was dying expressed the wish to her father to send 5s to the fund, and in due course the contribution reached the cathedral authorities. Np less than £0000 has been received in the boxes placed in the cathedral for the preservation fund. On an average this represents.£l a day since 1914. .'

These generous gifts have_ heartened the Dean and chapter in their great endeavours, supported as they are by noble help from the City Corporation and city companies. Never once in the

ME& -NEW■-.;'ST. PAUL'S'

long and anxious period*-—particularly during the war, when only time-expir-ed men were employed—did the work stop on account of financial reasons. T^o Dean and chapter maintain regularly 'a staff of 40 .workmen, including carpenters, masons, labourers, painters, and electricians. In the course of the work no fewer than 10,000 scaffoldboards have boon in uso under the dome, and 6000 square feet of wood were employed for the screen shutting off the dome from tho nave, The great steel chain, 450 ft long, which has been fitted to the drum of the dome, weighs about 30 tons, with links 15ft long and1 2ft high. Altogether about 300 tons of steel have been requisitioned for tho repairs, as well as hundreds of tons of liquid cement and new masonry. ■' ~ , , ',

Stupendous problems were involved in connection with the foundations and the great \veight of the. cathedral from th'e^floor to the top of the cross. It is calculated that the total pressure upon earth ascribablo to the weight of the dame and its supports amounts to over 67,000 tons. This calculation indicates that the task of the experts in completing, their work successfully is a conspicuous achievement in cathedral restoration. .