Leicestershire Church Survey
Local Parochial Church Council
Building and Collection
The church building consists of a 12th century local ironstone structure with limestone dressings and medieval wall paintings present internally on the dressed stone of the south arcade arches. The church houses a mixed media, ecclesiastical collection whose importance in many cases is literally tied to the building and its location. The main items of historical significance within the collection are the medieval wall paintings and two15thC wooden pews. There are many items of local significance that were donated or commemorate donations and contributions by members of the local community over the last two centuries
Survey Aim
To present gathered data on the internal and external environment and condition of the church and the collection it houses, to assess the efficiency of the building in providing a suitable environment for that collection and provide recommendations to improve conditions.
Survey
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A condition survey of the church collection was carried out using a material based format as proposed by Susan Keene.
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An external and internal condition survey of the walls, roof, drainage, windows, floors and main services was carried out. Thermal bridges and underlying issues were identified with the help of a ELSEC 765 Environmental Monitor and infrared thermal imaging with a FLIR ® TG165 IR Thermometer.
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Lux and UV readings were taken at strategic locations and times throughout the building using an ELSEC 765 Environmental Monitor to create a map of areas of high and low exposure.
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Moisture readings were taken with a pronged GE Protimeter Mini© and used in conjunction with a map of the RH% and temperature to show areas of elevated moisture levels.
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A strategically positioned Datalogger© recorded the relative humidity (%RH) and temperature (°C) at 5-minute intervals over 19 days. This was used in conjunction with external environmental data to identify the causes of drastic changes in the RH and temperature.
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Risks and vulnerabilities to the building and its collection were identified and catalogued and a list of recommendations was compiled to
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a) improve external building maintenance to positively impact the internal environment
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b) improve internal arrangement of collection to minimise the hazardous effects of the internal environment on the collection
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c) improve monitoring and management of the collection as a form of preventative conservation.
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