Urgent repairs for 'dangerous' entry at abbey

Urgent repairs on a "dangerous" chimney above the entrance to a popular country house have been given the green light.

The National Trust, which owns Lacock Abbey in Wiltshire, applied to Wiltshire Council for consent to carry out repairs on the structure after pieces of render started falling from the "unstable" chimney stack.

The council has approved the repairs, saying they would "help to secure the stability of the building" and "ensure public safety" at the site.

The entrance building houses the Fox Talbot Museum, which celebrates Lacock's reputation as Britain's birthplace of photography having been home to Victorian photography pioneer Henry Fox Talbot.

The museum is located in a Grade II-listed building at the front gates of the abbey, where Fox Talbot lived and worked until his death in 1877.

Until recently the museum's chimney stack was rendered and the brickwork beneath was not visible, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

But when sections of render started falling off, it was found that "large areas of render were dangerous" and needed to be removed to make the area safe.

In a bid to strengthen the chimney, the trust wants to use stainless steel bars to brace the structure before rendering it again.

Applying for consent, the trust told Wiltshire Council that if nothing was done, the visitor entrance would be "jeopardised by unstable masonry above".

The council agreed, and said the "impact of the proposals on heritage assets" would be "largely positive".

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