WREN CHURCH UNSAFE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXI, Issue 18664, 21 March 1924, Page 11

WREN CHURCH UNSAFE.

RAVAGES BY A BEETLE.

DAMAGE DONE TO ROOF.

Sine© July: last. the church of St. Clement, Eastcheap, : : London,f has/ been closed. The reason is that the depredations of the death-watch ; beetle have made %he. roof unsafe. If the'church is to be preserved it will be necessary = for the entire roof to be 'reconstructed,..- at an estimated cost of £3500. "

In an appeal for funds for thisV purpose the rector, the Rev. William Bussell, stales that the discovery of j'...the,"g ravages f of the death-watch beetle was made while other .repairs wiere being made, ' and that, according to the city surveyor's report, nothing, loss than t. entire reconstruction of' the :rcof can" remody the mischief done. "As it is clearly impossible to rake such 'a sum without a public appeal." the rector , says; , "'the question arises: Are there : any leading and ; wealthy , Churchmen sufficiently interested in the preservation of- .a city church to-■coma to : : the rescue? • : '•' , "St. Clement's is a: Wren church,; but . beyon.d, some gooid ■wood-qarving. can claim no special - architectural feature, although the regular worshippers there find that it provides a most helpful and devotional atmosphere. "Its principalf; historical .interest lies in the fact that it was there that Bishop .Pearson delivered , his famous lectures ? on "'■ the Creed, "and it was there also that the', greit Thomas. Fuller, ; (appointed lecturer "during the Commonwealth) delivered some of : his most telling -'. sermons." \ _, ; _ , ' At one time" St. Clement's was one of the < richest churches in the city; Tho original edifice was the : first church -to be destroyed in the great fire of London in 1666. '■*■'■" '

,When Wren rebuilt it he retained the south -•wall and the tower which* axe , part of the present structure. Mr. Gladstone was a great admirer of the. wood- : carving in the church, .and frequently brought his grandchildren to look ab the carving on the top of the font.