St. Paul’s, Newtown
Daughter church of St. Bartholomew’s, Longnor

Problems with the large East window

It has been a particularly troublesome winter in St. Paul’s Newtown in relation to the condition of the east window. This window has a large area, and is exposed to the worst of the weather that we experience locally, in that there is no shelter from the easterly winds that arrive from across the valley. There has been significant deterioration in the condition of the frame since the last Quinquennial inspection which was carried out in December 2024 (so we have experienced two winters in the interim).

The window frames are softwood and have decayed very badly. So much so in fact that a number of the panes of glass have fallen out of the frame and into the grass surrounding the church. Unfortunately, this is where a public footpath runs from the main churchyard gates to near to the entrance door area. Additionally, the last “named” storm that affected this area resulted in huge pools of rainwater gathering inside church on the wood surfaces at the base of the window.

We arranged to have a joiner inspect the frame. It transpires that the frome is quite pliant in places in that it yields to very slight fingertip pressure, and the joiner’s opinion is the frame has rotted and not likely to survive another winter.

Internally, a small number of the window panes are only held place by Duct tape, as the following photographs show:

It is our plan to have the window frames replaced using hardwood. This should give a longer lifespan and reduce the need for frequent maintenance. In all other aspects, the window will remain exactly the same. We would benenfit from having this work done in the coming months whilst the weather is more dependable, and we are all too aware that next Autumn/Winter will bring the now all to usual heavy rainfall.