Barham Church

• Contractor: R&J Hogg
• Market Sector: Historic Buildings
• Services: Structural Engineering

The flint tower of St Mary’s and St Peter’s Church was built onto the existing south wall of the nave in the fourteenth century and acquired embellishments including the crown of ashlar battlements during the nineteenth century.  In 1995, significant distortion and cracking was  identified within the north and west faces of the tower.  An Inspection by English Heritage’s Chief Engineer Ian Hume, considered that the crack pattern was consistent with a slumping failure of the north west corner of the tower, and proposed major structural intervention to prevent a catastrophic collapse of the flint tower. 

MLM Consulting Engineers was appointed by the Parochial Church Council (PCC) to undertake a detailed structural investigation and assessment.  A plumb survey identified a lean to the tower and this raised the possibility of foundation movements as an alternative to the slumping failure.  It was therefore agreed to undertake a period of monitoring to determine the nature of the movement and to establish if the crack width movements were progressive.  A geotechnical investigation comprising a borehole and trial pits to expose the foundations was also carried out to confirm the sub-soil condition.