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All Saints Church, Leighton Buzzard is the fine Early English parish church for the town of Leighton Buzzard in the English county of Bedfordshire. ==History== The church is dedicated to All Saints and has a 190 ft spire and some outstanding medieval ironwork, graffiti and roofs "aflutter" with carved angels gifted in the mid 15th century by Alice de la Pole, Countess of Suffolk and grand daughter of Geoffrey Chaucer. It has been described as the cathedral of South Bedfordshire (Bishop of St Albans at the re-hallowing ceremony on 7 May 1989) and is probably the finest church in the county (John Betjeman in Collins Guide to Parish Churches). Dating from 1277 it is the second church on the site. Such an old structure requires constant attention through its Preservation Trust. The Church was severely damaged by fire in 1985. The fire happened just as a restoration programme was nearing completion. It destroyed most of the nave and chancel roofs and caused serious structural damage to the tower, spire, and the vestry areas and a number of the windows were damaged beyond repair. The ring of ten bells was lost as were both the organs. The total cost of the damage exceeded £1.5 million (US$2.4 million). Within 24 hours of the blaze the congregation had begun its second restoration programme in as many years. The 15th century roofs, described as the church’s tour de force, have been repaired and the fine carvings of angels and saints which adorned them have been repaired or replaced. The spire has been stitched and relined with fresh stone. The tower has been stabilised with a massive internal ring beam. Serious structural faults were discovered in the tower which supports the spire in 1998 and after a thorough survey of the building the following year, a seven phase programme of repair was drawn up by architect Michael Dales. In the sixteen years which followed, the tower was secured with 262 steel anchors and voids in the walls filled. Eroded stone replaced and cement pointing changed to lime mortar. Other serious structural defects were uncovered right around the church, the result of use of cement, the weather, extreme old age and long term effects of the fire. Twenty three Kempe windows in the nave were removed and repaired and other windows were dealt with in situ. All cement was removed from the building and replaced with lime mortar, eroded stone replaced, with parts reconstructed where deemed necessary. One roof was recovered others repaired. Work comes to a completion in May 2016 in a special service of thanksgiving. Total cost of this project is nearly £2m. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Church of All Saints, Leighton Buzzard」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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