There are two ways you can sponsor a paving stone. You are buying about 1 square metre of the new floor, fully laid and installed. The stone chosen is an English Purbeck limestone, which is intended to be sympathetic in colour to the existing building:
Picture: Pam Hacker
The new paving stones will be laid around some of the existing ledgers and memorials in the existing floor. These will be raised to meet the level of the new floor providing an even and accessible surface.
To make better use of the church we need more flexible seating, including some mobile pews, but that will only be possible if we have a suitable floor surface.
When the rear five rows o pews were removed, in 2017, it was discovered that there was no solid floor beneath them. Providing a solid floor, suitable for a building of this importance therefore became a necessity.
Our plans raise the current level of the floor so that there is an even surface throughout allowing better access to people with disability. The opportunity is also being taken to install underfloor heating that, in the future, can be connected to a more sustainable source.
The preferred stone finish will be in an English Purbeck limestone, which has better durability and is less prone to staining than Bath stone.
The cost per square metre (about the size of a large paving stone) is estimated at £250 once laid.
The paving stones will not be marked, but if you donate it will be possible to mark out a stone on the final plan as being the one for which a particular contribution has been made.
Thank you for your donation