St Nicolas Church

Glass Screen & Doors

Project

St Nicolas Church at Great Bookham with Brewer Jewel Architects of Dorking

Product

Glass Screen, Glass Door, Corbelling, Glass Clamp Fixtures.

Overview

St Nicolas is the village church of Great Bookham in Surrey dating back to the 11th Century.

A recent project restored use of the West Tower as the main entrance to the church whilst at the same time minimising heat loss for the comfort of the congregation and to save costs.

The project installed a bespoke glass screen across the width of the tower with an oversized glass door, combined with an additional pair of glass doors designed to sit inside the existing wooden entrance door to keep out draughts and avoid additional heat loss.

The installation had to meet contemporary criteria with minimal impact on the original structure of the church.

Technical Information

Ion used a series of glass clamps to fix the panels of glass to the ancient stonework, minimising the impact on the ancient fabric of the walls whilst also minimising visual intrusion. In order for the screen to meet the heat retention specification it had to fit closely around the original stonework with no more than a 6mm gap. The stone itself was hand hewn several centuries ago and the surface and corbelling was both intricate and variable. Ensuring a perfect fit involved a laser survey of the arch, combined with accurate use of a templating cone to precisely record every nuance of the stonework. This provided sufficient detail for the glass to be manufactured to the exact shape of every corbel.

The glass doors were considerably bigger than average at 3000mm high and 1100mm wide, posing an additional technical challenge. Bespoke fixings were manufactured to take the weight of the door and give it lateral stability whilst at the same time offering minimal visual impact.

A separate pair of glass doors were manufactured and installed to sit inside the existing wooden entrance door of the church to minimise heat loss.

To ensure the glass screen represents and reflects the spirit and atmosphere of the church, Ion Glass recommended the addition of a small cross detail on the screens. The emblem is embroidered on the altar cloth and was replicated in an applied manifestation in two rows across both the inner and outer screens.

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