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A historic Preston church is in need of a slew of repairs after becoming riddled with wet rot.
The problems at St. Alphonsa of the Immaculate Conception Cathedral have been revealed in documents submitted to Preston City Council which detail the work needed to put them right. Inspections were carried out at the Grade II*-listed place of worship – also known as St. Ignatius Church – back in September.
A so-called “ecclesiastic exemption” notice lays bare the extent of the water damage that has been uncovered at the Meadow Street landmark, near the city centre.
The drainage system at the point where the cathedral’s distinctive spire – the first to feature on any church in Preston, when it opened in 1836 – meets the tower parapet is said to have “failed significantly”. Action is now needed to achieve “watertightness”.
Rot has “taken hold” of the vestry roof as a result of decades of water seepage and gutter failure – leaving the “structural integrity” of the roof in question. Meanwhile, the roof over the south porch has “completely failed”, affecting the joists beneath it.
Papers accompanying the notice describes the work now planned to restore the building to a “stable and watertight condition”. So far, that includes gutter replacement, improving the capacity for water discharge, replacing some of the slated louvres on the roof and installing new lead flashing.
Deteriorating stonework will also be repaired – and some stone pinnacles removed and rebuilt – while the timber flooring within the tower will be replaced. Meanwhile, the church cross will be re-fixed in position with new stainless steel fitments.
An initial assessment report produced following last year’s inspections found that entire roof timbers in some parts of the building were “saturated and decayed with wet rot” where water had “percolated” into the building. The wall plaster in those areas was also infected with damp, causing “unsightly” blistering and mould. In addition, wet rot fungus has also been identified in some places.
The report concluded that all of the inspected areas were showing “some form of problem or decay”, meaning whole roofs may ultimately need to be replaced as opposed to carrying out “numerous localised repairs and treatments,” it warned.
The church was part of the Diocese of Lancaster until November 2014, when it briefly closed amid a declining congregation. However, the building reopened the following year for the local Syro-Malabar community of Indian Catholics. It had cathedral status conferred on it by Pope Francis in 2016.
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