Press and News - 2nd November 2018

Flint wall restored thanks to local community

A large section of the traditional flint wall surrounding St Mary’s Church, Lidgate has been restored thanks to the skills of Kevin Green, a local flint and stonework specialist, and the generosity of donors who provided £5760 to cover the cost of repairs and village support.

A significant feature of this beautiful medieval church, close to Newmarket, is its setting on a hill surrounded by the churchyard with its flint walls. Much of it is now in such a poor state of repair that it cannot saved; but the Parochial Church Council were determined to restore the most prominent section, which you see as you enter and leave the churchyard.

Kevin Green hard at work using traditional skills to rebuild the wall.

Village support for the support for the project went beyond just helping to raise the money. Two teams of Lidgate men and women gave up their Saturday mornings to find and move flints from sections of the wall that cannot be saved, to ensure that Kevin Green had sufficient flints to work with. This also reduced the cost of the repair and enabled stones to be recycled.

However, their efforts would have been in vain if it were not for the £5760 generously donated by locals and including grants from the Skinners' Company Lady Neville Charity, the Allchurches Trust and HDH Wills 1965 Charitable Trust. The latter trust owns the land surrounding the Church and are regular benefactors.

Chris Stembridge, Michael Wells, Paul Watchman, Chris Bliss, John Mitson and Ella, the dog, part of St Mary’s Church flint moving team!

The completed wall.