Mystery Of Springing Tiles In Cathedral

Northern Advocate, 13 January 1948, Page 7

Mystery Of Springing Tiles In Cathedral

CHRISTCHURCH, Tue. (Sp.) A slight settling of the foundations of the outer walls of the Christchurch Cathedral has apparently caused the damage to the tile floor in the main aisle about the centre of the building, but there is no suggestion of a serious subsidence that Might indicate the canting of any part of the cathedral. The tiling, done more than 50 years ago, was a beautiful job, and with the tiles laid so tightly it is considered inevitable by Mr F. J. Ball, who is engaged on repairs, that they would spring if the all-over pressure was disturbed even slightly. Mr Ball today found a slight fracture in the concrete beneath the displaced tiles. Although subterranean subsidences have been the only really feasible explanation for the mysterious springing of the tiles at intervals for many years, Mr Ball’s discovery is the first evidence of actual movement in the foundations. LONG AFTER QUAKE He said slight movements might occur long after an earthquake, and there was, of course, normal settling from time to time even in an old building. If the floor tended to bow, even minutely. tightly-packed shallow tiles would lift, breaking the seal beneath. Mr Ball said that in the north transept the tiling was “drummy,” or sounded hollow, showing that it also was tending to spring and might lift soon. The springing has been attributed to the cathedral being built on a swampy river bed. Others have contended that expansion and contraction occurred in sudejeh extremes of temperature, and somfe I 'suggested that the reverberations of the cathedral organ unseated the tilei *