Rev Graham Morris from St Catherine’s Church, Ventnor attended the Town Council Planning meeting tonight to inform the TC on future plans for the renovation of the church tower and surrounding churchyard.
He started by quashing the rumours that had been circulating throughout town (we hadn’t heard this one) that the tower was going to be demolished. Rev. Morris assured the meeting that this was far from the case. The current scaffolding and apron surrounding the tower had been constructed for safety purposes, following an incident whereby a very large piece of masonry had fallen from the tower missing a member of the church by inches.
He went onto explain that plans were to renovate the tower back to it’s original condition (minus the spire), including the reinstatement of pinnacles that had been removed in the 1970s.
Rev Morris’ presentation highlighed the work that had taken place in the churchyard over the last year, with scrub and overgrowth cleared away revealing the sad sight of damaged and neglected graves.
Damaged Headstones
Many of the headstones have suffered damage over the years from vandals (some as recently as during the August carnival) and there were very few on which the engravings were still visible. It’s believed that there are still four families in the town who do visit graves and maintain them in the churchyard, but there has not been a burial there for over 140 years and the majority of the graves are in a state of terrible neglect.
Rev Morris explained that the church does not have funds to maintain the graves and that many were becoming a safety hazard, as vandals shifted tomb stones and vandalised headstones.
Town Square
The church would like to seek permission to re-home around 90 headstones in a quarter of the churchyard, in order to open up that space to become a town square or precinct.
It is hoped that this area could be used for community events at certain times of the year, or perhaps just somewhere open and green for residents and visitors to sit and enjoy the surroundings.
Rev. Morris explained that if permission were granted, an opening could be made in the wall by the telephone box on Alpine Road to allow pedestrians to walk through the churchyard, thus avoiding the pavement on the sharp corner opposite the Rex.
Funding Sought
Funding was being sought through English Heritage, who Rev. Morris explained had been very helpful throughout the last year.
Renovations to the tower were expected to be in the region of £220,000 and it was hoped that pending grant approval and planning permission, that the work would be completed within two years.
Although there will be conservation concerns for some people, we consider this a good move to tidy up an open area in the town. Neglected graves and headstones that are damaged and unreadable have led to a very messy churchyard, that Rev Morris, rightly so, claims he is embarrassed about.
Members of the Town Council voted unanimously to support plans put forward by the church to make the changes presented this evening.
Image: St Catherine’s Church courtesy of Graham White He left the Island in 1987 to pursue a career at the BBC and now works for sit-up (the company that produces bid tv, price-drop tv and speed auction tv on Sky, Virgin and Freeview).
Graham, a member of the VentnorBlog Flickr Group is a former Ventnor resident who was born and brought up here. He attended St Boniface, Ventnor Middle and Medina, and his parents still live in the town.
