St Peter's Church Farnborough

Major reordering of St Peters Church, Farnborough

Work on this Medieval church dating from the C12 century comprised reordering by removal of the nave pews and the installation of a new stone floor with underfloor heating. The interior of the church has a fragment of wall painting of C13 century Saints Eugenia, Agnes, and Maria. For this reason, it was imperative the new floor construction had minimal impact on the moisture regime in the walls.

The existing floor to the nave comprised a tiled walkway between timber pew platforms. The inconsistent levels presented a challenge to achieve compliance with DDA access throughout the nave and chancel.

The new floor comprised stone laid on a limecrete slab with recycled glass insulation and included underfloor heating. The vapour permeability of limecrete ensures that moisture in the ground is unaffected by the new floor which now covers the whole of the nave.

The presence of several significant burials was known but not their exact locations. Accordingly, ACA developed a reinforced limecrete option capable of spanning over individual burials. This detail was used in selected areas agreed as work progressed.

A soil investigation was carried out with 15 hand auger probes confirming undisturbed natural ground between the burials in the church. A small crypt was known to exist, for which allowance was made to span over it. A surprise discovery during the contract, however, was the extent of the crypt.

When opened it was found to cover the full width of the nave and most of its length. It had capacity for 20 coffins and 11 were present. The presence of undisturbed ground above the crypt revealed by the soil investigation suggested that the crypt had been formed by tunnelling. This was confirmed by straight vertical joints in the brickwork noted within the crypt indicating the end of each phase of excavation.

The scheme provides the flexibility, accessibility and welcome needed to enhance the church’s role at the centre of local life, whilst preserving the beauty and character of the building including the unique wall painting.

Client

St Peters Church Farnborough

Architect

Thomas Ford and Partners

Value

Undisclosed

Photography

Jess Squires

Tags

Ecclesiastical, Historic