Following a year of careful planning and hard work, the ancient stone aisle flooring at St Michael's has been restored and revealed to its former glory for all to appreciate.

Ann Jessop, Churchwarden, says, "Our church surveyor instructed us to lift the aisle carpet and check the condition beneath. As he feared, the carpet had damaged the floor by trapping in the damp. You would think a carpet would protect a floor, but this is not the case with Cotswold stone which needs to 'breathe'.

"The backing of the red carpet had disintegrated into dust. The floor had been previously patched up with the wrong kind of cement, making the situation worse. Our experts delicately and painstakingly removed the cement. We then disposed of the carpet backing, and replaced the top carpet, temporarily, pending further work.

"We raised the money to finish the project, at no cost to the PCC; the Diocesan Advisory Committee granted us a faculty. We finally lifted and disposed of the red carpet. Then the conservators came back to finish their work, with specialist cleaning, filling, pointing, and repairing.

"As this floor is ancient and special, a principal of minimal intervention was applied. It looks its age! Some people remember when it used to look like this. We love the end result. We hope you do too."

The pictures below show the journey of restoring the floor.