Day 219 - Handrail to Gallery Stairs

Week 44 - Day 219
The handrail to the stairs from the chapel floor to the gallery were completed and returned today, cleaned, stained and polished.

Day 206 - Spindles

Week 42 - Day 206
New spindles to match original surviving ones that were located around the stairwell from the chapel to the gallery.

Day 202 - Cleaning, Stripping, Painting

Week 41 - Day 202
More cleaning, stripping and painting working down from the gallery.

Day 193 - Gallery Fronts

Week 40 - Day 193
The gallery fronts are being worked on.

Day 183 - Primer Paint to Vestry and Gallery

Week 38 - Day 183
Starting to prime woodwork in the chapel today. The vestry was a later addition within the chapel is is a lower quality wood compared to earlier fitments such as the pews and pulpit.

Undercoat to the woodwork of the vestry.

Preparation of the woodwork to the vestry and the gallery. 

Day 174 - All the bits-and-bobs for the Gallery

Week 36 - Day 174
New timbers for the gallery fronts with boxes to cover up the metal uprights that have had to be created to provide stability for the front to meet modern safety regulations. Can't afford anyone collapsing the front and ending up falling to the chapel floor below!

Day 169 - Repairing Floorboards

Week 35 - Day 169
Attention turned to the floor today. Piecing new boards in to replace damaged older ones on the gallery.

Day 164 - New Plaster - Old Plaster with Decoration

Week 34 - Day 164
The new plaster was applied today to meet the old plaster that still has the stencil decoration found during the stripping out earlier in the works programme.

New lime plaster applied up to the surviving original plaster
with its surviving wall painting decoration
at George Street Chapel, Oldham.

New lime plaster applied up to the surviving original plaster
with its surviving wall painting decoration in the NE corner of the gallery
floor of George Street Chapel, Oldham.

First coat of lime plaster being applied to the internal wall of
George Street Chapel, Oldham on the west, Jackson Pit side of the Chapel.

Day 161 - More Plastering

Week 34 -Day 161
Lime plastering continues on walls and laths.

Lime plaster being applied to the underside of laths to form the ceiling above
side pews, underneath the gallery on the Jackson Pit side, west side, of the Chapel.
The former Vestry can be seen in its stripped state at the far end. 

The ceiling above the side pews, under the gallery has been re-lathed and is now being lime plastered.

The inner wall on the Jackson Pit side includes a corbeled section of flue for the carrying of fumes and smoke from the central fireplace in the cellar. This flue was inserted from the inside of the building by cutting into the outside wall and creating a flue where none had previously existed. A chimney was then created through the roof, but inside the line of the stone gutter. See earlier photo of this feature from the roof side - 

Day 157 - Plastering Walls above the gallery

Week 33 - Day 157
Lime plaster, first coast, applied to walls above the gallery level today.
Top coat applied within the vestry. Note the construction of the dumb waiter which will carry food and plates to the gallery.
The wall rising up from the cellar where the new staircase has been inserted is being lined with plaster board.

Day 151 - Access Scaffolding Removed

Week 32 - Day 151
The temporary scaffolding that provided the working floor above the gallery floor and provided access for work on the ceiling was removed today. The view of the ceiling can now be seen from the chapel floor and means that restoration work scan proceed to the gallery and the pews.
Withe the scaffolding removed the windows can now start to be replaced.

Day 34 - Removing the Gallery Fronts

Week 7 - Day 34
The Gallery fronts are being removed. These are modern replacements of the originals. The materials are of poor quality and we will replace with a proper replica that more closely resembles the original.

The Gallery fronts are being removed at George Street Chapel.

Day 17 - Support Structure for Gallery Revealed

Week 4 - Day 17
The lath and plaster is being removed from underneath the gallery Floor revealing the support structure.
Also the new set of toilets behind the lobby entrance have been removed.

Gallery Investigations

Small opening up operations took place below the Gallery Floor to check on the connection between the support beams and the external wall. We needed to see if there was any evidence of rot where the beams were attached to the wall, and if there was any evidence for how the pews were arranged.

Lifting the floorboards of the Gallery

The supporting beams below the Gallery floor.