Work is underway to restore the tower and walls of Portsmouth Cathedral thanks to a grant from the First World War Centenary Cathedral Repair Fund.

The tower clock chimes of the cathedral were silenced at 12pm on Friday 3 July and scaffolding was erected around the tower and the east wall to begin the task of restoring the 17th century tower and 12th century east walls of the cathedral. 

The First World War Centenary Cathedral Repair Fund consists of a £20 million fund which was made available to all cathedrals in England, for which all Roman Catholic and Church of England cathedrals were invited to bid. 

Both the city’s cathedrals, Portsmouth Cathedral, St Thomas of Canterbury and St John’s Catholic Cathedral, are amongst the 31 Cathedrals who received grants thanks to the government-sponsored fund set up to support vital repairs to some of England’s most important historic buildings.  

The grants were first announced by the Chancellor in the budget in March 2014, in recognition of the powerful symbol cathedrals are of Britain’s shared history, as well as the significant role they will play throughout the commemorations of the centenary of the First World War.

Following invitations for tender, the restoration work was issued to Daedalus Conservation in March of this year under the supervision of the Cathedral Architect Simon Ablett of Ablett Architects. 

The first phase of restoration work funded by the grant of £40,000 was to the south transept, and restored the water damaged wall to its former medieval glory. This was completed in May 2015. 

The tower and east wall restoration are funded by a £700,000 grant. The tower work will replace the lead of the domed cupola, replace the rotten timbers of the cupola and tower, and repair the delaminated stonework.  Two commemorative hoppers for water drainage will be emplaced on the western elevation of the tower with the dates “1914” and “2014”, commemorating the centenary of the start of the First World War.  Work on the 12th century eastern wall will consist of the removal of the cement pointing and its replacement with lime mortar on the medieval exterior wall.

Originally built as the parish church for Portsmouth, Portsmouth Cathedral began as the church of St Thomas of Canterbury, founded and built in 1180. In the early days of Portsmouth, the central tower was used as a lookout point and lighthouse over the Solent. 

During the Hundred Years War, a French raid in 1337 laid waste to most of Portsmouth, but spared the church thus making it one of the oldest standing structures in the city. 

In 1642 during the English Civil War, the Royalist garrison in Portsmouth used the tower to observe the movement of Parliamentary forces. Parliamentary gunners positioned in Gosport fired on the tower and inflicted damage to the church, destroying the medieval tower and nave.

With the restoration of Charles II in 1660, a collection for churches across the country raised the money required to rebuild the tower and nave which was completed in 1693 in the new classical style. The wooden cupola with a lantern for shipping was added to the top of the tower in 1703 and a ring of eight bells was also added at the same time. Today, Portsmouth Cathedral is one of only a few cathedrals in the country with a ring of 12 bells

The beautiful gilded ship at the top of the tower, the golden barque, was added in 1710 to the cupola where it has acted as a weathervane and welcome sight for homecoming Portsmouth ships.

It was a local tradition that, whenever the barque was taken down for cleaning, local mothers placed their babies in it in belief that this would prevent death from drowning.

The original golden barque was blown down in a gale in 1954, and is now mounted on an oak plinth in the nave, constructed from timbers recovered from HMS Victory, Lord Nelson’s flagship in the Battle of Trafalgar.  

A series of guided tower tours will be made available to the public, with a total of 10 planned throughout the stages of the work, when there will be opportunities for visitors to go up the tower and see the work first hand, whilst taking in a rarely seen view of the city and the Solent.

The restoration work is expected to be completed by December 2015, just before Christmas. The culminating event for the completion of the tower work will be the return of the golden barque to its rightful place in a special ceremony to be announced at a later date.