STEEPLEJACK activity on the spire of St Mary’s Church recently has certainly attracted a lot of attention locally.

But the grim reality of what’s being discovering on the spire and the church tower, is quite alarming.

Dawsons Steeplejacks were undertaking urgent work to repair the lightening conductor.

But while the ladders were still in place a further inspection of the inside of the spire was undertaken.

The saga began at the end of August when a member of the church, who was on welcome duty outside the north door before the 9.30 Sunday service, noticed a rhythmic clanging.

He looked up to see the top stones of the northwest pinnacle swinging. The movement was caused by the bells ringing, which have since been silenced and it was discovered that the clanging was the stainless-steel rod, that runs through the centre of the pinnacle, clanging on the stonework as the top stones moved.

An inspection by steeplejacks revealed that three of the pinnacles have the same problem.

Last week, while reconnecting the lightening conductors properly, Dawsons examined the top of the spire to find that some of the metalwork at the very top was also loose and that the large steel pin running through the top of the spire and out to form the weather vane is badly rusting and beginning to crack the finial stone as it expands.

The steeplejacks said that this will only deteriorate over time and revealed that the top eight metres of the spire has badly deteriorating and open mortar joints.

However, the spire is still safe at present, but it will require urgent attention soon. Remedial action will involve dismantling the solid section of stone at the top and rebuilding it with a new rod, repointing will need to be done on the top part of the spire along with some other areas.

The whole tower and spire will need to be covered with scaffolding in due course.

The church officials are working closely with steeplejacks, architects and structural engineers to determine the best course of action for these two major problems.

“We want the work we do to be long lasting. It will cost many hundreds of thousands of pounds, far more than St Mary’s can afford,” said churchwardens Mark Sanderson and Bryan Jones.

“We will only be able to begin work when we have secured funding from national grant awarding bodies. To this end, we are hoping to put together a project group.

St Mary’s is a building used by the whole community and much loved by it. It is arguably the most important landmark in South Herefordshire, the only Grade I listed building in the town, and its tower and spire - the tallest in the county - is used by many businesses and organisations in their logos.

The churchwardens added: “We hope that the project group will be representative of the whole town, rather than just St Mary’s and the Friends of St Mary’s. If you think you can help, please be in contact with the church office [email protected].