HAVE you wondered what all the scaffolding is for at Westbury-on-Severn’s church of St Mary, St Peter and St Paul?

Well, it turns out the 21 levels of scaffolding, each two metres high, is aiding workmen with their mission to remove and then replace 35,000 oak shingles on the spire.

Contractors Splitlath, of Hay-on-Wye, started work in May and say to clad the 153ft timber structure requires 10,000 copper nails and will take them at least another year to complete. Two of those months alone will involve dismantling the scaffolding.

The priest-in-charge, the Rev Steve Taylor, said: “There is a lot of work involved. It was previously restored in the 1930s with shingles purchased from a local company.

“The spire, a thing of beauty itself, became an object of added interest in 2013 when a team of mountaineers known as the ‘wallwalkers’, using only ropes and ladders, removed the weathervane. Once again we have watched fascinated as the web of steelwork embraced the 160ft high structure.”

The work has taken at least three years to come to fruition and the costs have been met through a number of sources, including a local fundraising team who have worked tirelessly to find the £600,000 cost.

Rev Taylor added: “Some £200,000 of the £600,000 renewal cost has been allocated for the scaffolding. The money has been raised in different ways including fundraising and church funds (£18,000), Historic England (£426,000), the National Churches Trust (£40,000), ENTRUST (£26,000), recovery of VAT (£90,000).”

Churchwarden Simon Phelps added: “Our appeal to parishioners to sponsor a shingle has helped us towards the costs. However we have been told by the site manager that these costs are escalating so we welcome more sponsors while the work continues.”

The handmade shingles have been purchased from Bavaria in Germany and should last 80 to 100 years.

Andy Morris, project manager at Splitlath, said: “At the moment exploratory work is being carried out by three workmen. Once we are in a position to carry out the actual repairs the number of workmen will increase to eight. We hope to finish the work early next summer.”

If you’d like to sponsor a shingle, forms are available at the church.