[c-r] Lincoln Cathedral

[john ketteringham]

I thought this might also interest some of the Historians who are not also
subscribers to the change-ringers list.

-----Original Message-----
From: john ketteringham [mailto:john.ketteringham at n...]
Sent: 19 April 2002 16:37
To: change-ringers at e...
Subject: RE: [c-r] Lincoln Cathedral


I thought it might be interesting and answer Bill's question if I reproduced
below part of my account of the life of Robert Godfrey who was clerk of
works at Lincoln Cathedral at the time of the massive restoration of Lincoln
Cathedral during the inter war years. The account starts with an obituary
which appeared in one of the national newspapers.


‘One need look no further than Lincoln Cathedral to see a lasting memorial
to Robert S. Godfrey. For it is largely due to Mr Godfrey's ingenuity and
his untiring labours over many years when the entire fabric of the Minster
was threatened with collapse that the Cathedral stands today as secure on
its foundations as ever it has been. He it was who discovered in 1921 that
the whole of the West Front and the towers were falling outward at the
alarming rate of an inch every sixteen days and it was his brain that
developed the instruments with which this steady disintegration was halted.

Godfrey saved further deterioration by injecting liquid cement under
pressure and this method of grouting ancient masonry has since been copied
in many famous buildings including St Paul's Cathedral and Durham Castle.
Godfrey was ingenious and characteristically determined to overcome
difficulties’.

Three years after the completion of the repair of the west front it was
found that the south east corner of the Angel Choir was in a dangerous state
and Godfrey remarked at the time that he would not have been surprised if
that part of the Cathedral had collapsed at any moment.’


-----Original Message-----
From: owner-change-ringers at e...
[mailto:owner-change-ringers at e...]On Behalf Of Bill
Hibbert
Sent: 19 April 2002 08:27
To: change-ringers at e...
Subject: [c-r] Lincoln Cathedral


While on the subject of this fine building, I have noticed many times that
the west towers appear to lean apart slightly. They look as if they are a
little further apart at the top than the bottom. Is this really so, or just
a trick of optics?

Bill H