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Bath Abbey lacks sure foundations

23 August 2013

BATH ABBEY

Searching for voids: volunteers at work examining the floor of Bath Abbey

Searching for voids: volunteers at work examining the floor of Bath Abbey

BATH ABBEY has become a victim of its city's popularity.

Subsidence in the underfloor graves of thousands of people attracted to the Somerset spa for its hot-water springs have created a honeycomb of voids.

Abbey officials this week dismissed media reports that the Grade I listed medieval church is in imminent danger of collapse, but an £18-million renovation and development project, which will include pouring tons of concrete into the holes, should get under way next year.

"It was like a Swiss cheese or an Aero bar," the project director, Charles Curnook, said. "There are probably more graves under Bath Abbey than most other churches. One estimate put it at about 6000. Bath was a fashionable place in Georgian times, people came from all over Britain and the Empire to take the waters, and those who weren't cured were buried here."

The voids go down seven feet to the foundations of the Norman cathedral that once stood on the site. Some are huge - almost 5ft long and 18 in. wide and deep.

In 2011, a trial dig beside a column in the North Aisle showed foundations on one side only. "The other was over fresh air," Mr Curnook said. "But there were no cracks or subsidence. We are certain that the structure of this building is good. It is built on Norman walls and pillars, but there are places where the overlap is not 100 per cent.

"Last year, we did a dig beside one of the main pillars in the crossing, and were delighted to find there was a very substantial foundation - but right beside that was a substantial void where Georgian graves had been jammed right up against the foundations. It showed us that the voids go everywhere in the church."

A trial repair in a 50-metre square of the North Aisle should be completed by December, and will be scrutinised for 12 months. The scheme includes a new choir school, kitchen, and other facilities, and should be complete by 2018.

It also includes an innovative project using heat from the city's original Roman baths, Mr Curnook said: "At the moment, all the water goes down a Roman drain into the river - that's 1.5 megawatts of energy flowing 24 hours a day. We intend to put a plant on the drain to extract the heat for a local system for us and surrounding buildings."

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