CROWCOMBE villagers held a hog roast on Sunday (September 18) to celebrate completion of the first renovation work of its kind in 500 years on the Church House.

Lime-mortar repointing has been carried out on all elevations of the grade two listed building – one of only two surviving church houses in Somerset.

Villagers rallied round and raised £25,000 and various grants were made with the Heritage Lottery Fund meeting the £6000 shortfall so that work could go ahead.

But only half of the £62,000 raised for the task when the project was launched in May was spent on repointing.

In the course of the work, major structural problems were revealed. Some gable coping stones and much of the lead work had to be replaced, and entirely new wrought iron guttering and downpipes had to be commissioned.

“It is amazing that we finished right on budget,” chairman of the project’s volunteer management committee Peter Menneer said at the hog roast.

Full story in the Free Press