'A lighthouse for every Prestonian'- St Walburge's historic golden Christogram restored to its former glory

A historic church in Preston has undergone a very intricate makeover this week.

St Walburge’s Church- famed for having the tallest spire of any parish church in England- is part of the way through a much needed £250,000 restoration.

Phase two of the restoration work, partly funded by the National Lottery Fund, saw the iconic metal Christogram symbol above the Grade-I listed church get regilded earlier this month.

A craftsman came all the way over from the Isle of Wight to complete the regilding of the symbol, which took five days in total.

St Walburge’s rector Canon Gwenaël Cristofoli said: “The redecoration of the cross was part of phase two of the re-roofing of St Walburge’s. The cross was in a very bad condition, just last year, we painted it in yellow to make some savings. It was part of a work with the National Lottery to restore the cross to its former glory. It means a lot to us because now when the sun shines on Preston, it’s nice to see the gold all light up.

“St Walburge’s would love to be like a lighthouse for every Prestonian to feel at peace, a place where they can reconnect and feel the presence of god so the cross is like a call, like the light from a lighthouse.”

The iconic golden cross was erected on top of the Preston church a staggering 160 years ago in 1866, roughly 12 years after the construction of St Walburge’s was complete.

The regilding of the Christogram with 24 carat gold leaf took place between Monday, July 6 and Friday, July 10.

The gilder, Jack Fox, was able to return to Preston this week to see how his finished project was getting on and he spoke to the Post about how pleased he was with the result.

Jack, who has been a gilder for six years said: “I was excited to work on St Walburge’s after seeing the photographs of the cross and reading about the incredible history of the church and the site.

“The process took about 5 days all in from removing all of the old paint and rust from the substrate, repainting and base coating to finally sizing and leafing, the latter of which took the most amount of time due to the intricate detailing. I was very lucky to have had no wind which aside from working at height, makes the process of gilding much harder.

“Now that the top layer of scaffolding has come down and it’s more visible from below I’m very happy with the result, the sun hits it at all angles throughout the day and it’s great seeing people look up at it as they walk past. It’s an honour to be one of the few people in the history of the church to have worked on the cross and it’s a pleasure to be a part of the much-needed restoration works at St. Walburges.”