Wells Cathedral West Front pilot study : Setting the tone for appraisal and repair strategies

Simon Jenkins placed Wells Cathedral at the top of his list of Top Ten Cathedrals of England and it is easy to see why when the sun dances across the West Front. Adorned with 300-plus sculptures dating from the 13th century, the pattern of decay is somewhat to be expected, but it is perhaps the historic interventions that make the building of such interest to conservators and architects alike. This paper addresses the recent works carried out on the West Front between May and August 2021, which were put together as a pilot scheme of repairs, from which a much larger repair programme could be specified. On a building as significant as Wells Cathedral, repair programmes are proposed as centuries-only events, rather than five-year plans, the impact of a full scaffold being placed across the façade being both technically challenging and disruptive to a small city relying very much on the tourist and filming trade. The repair works carried out and proposed for the future include replacement of severely decayed stonework, ‘plastic’ repairs in lime mortar, removal of detritus and pigeon guano, and comprehensive recording to understand both the patterns of decay of the stone itself and any repair programme’s longevity.