The South Porch (2015)

Heritage lottery fund logo

St George's fine example of a fifteenth century porch has impressive flint flushwork decoration.  Weathering had severely damaged the surfaces of the porch and thanks to a generous grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, this has now been repaired and restored by a team of skilled craftspeople.

Pupils from St George's Church of England Primary School in Great Bromley came to learn about the porch, the art and craft that created and maintain it, and admire the restored stone and flint flushwork.  They enjoyed trying to spot what was original and what had been renewed; it wasn't always easy!  With them is the Curate-in-Charge of St George's, the Revd Canon Simon Heron.

St George's Church Great Bromley Essex CofE Primary School visiting the porch


Here are some pictures of the porch flint flushwork before the repairs.

Notice how many flints have fallen out on both sides of the porch gable:

St George's Church Great Bromley Essex porch flushwork before repair

St George's Church Great Bromley Essex porch flushwork before repair

And see how eroded some of the stonework had become:

St George's Church Great Bromley Essex porch stonework before repair

Here are some examples of the repaired flints.  Look at how smooth the surface of the flushwork now is!

St George's Church Great Bromley Essex Porch flushwork after repair

St George's Church Great Bromley Essex Porch flushwork after repair

 

And some of the most eroded stonework has now been renewed:

St George's Church Great Bromley Essex Porch stonework after repair

Here you can see the whole effect of the magnificent porch.

St George's Church Great Bromley Essex Porch after repair


 

The grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund also allowed for the lighting in the entrance area of the south aisle to be improved.  Here is the work in progress.

St George's Church Great Bromley Essex south entrance lighting improvement

New lighting was also installed in the porch.

St George's Church Great Bromley Essex south porch lighting improvement

And here is one of the team of stonemasons at work:

St George's Church Great Bromley Essex Porch restoration stonemason

St George's Church Great Bromley Essex porch repair Heritage Lottery Fund logo

Details of all our restoration projects since 2010 can be found on the restoration projects page.