Emergency £25,000 repair work on one of Harborough's historic treasures is completed - just in time for Christmas

Top stonemasons drafted in from Loughborough have tackled the vital three-week project to make the medieval church safe.

Church stalwart Ken Hook, 80, told the Harborough Mail: “We brought in Midland Stonemasonry at very short notice and they’ve done a fantastic job.

“This repair was urgent, it had to be done now and there was no time to lose before Christmas.”

The lifelong church-goer said the highly-specialised work was done on a lucarne or open space feature on the north face of the steeple.

“An architect carried out a regular five-year inspection here in September.

“They spotted that there were cracks in the building and loose stonework,” said Ken, chairman of the church’s fabric committee.

“It was dangerous because it’s about 80 feet up.

“And if a stone had fallen from there it could have done a lot of damage or even killed someone.

“Incredibly this ancient stonework probably dates back to when St Dionysius was built way back in the late 1300s.

“So it’s about 600 years old.

“Our church is a grade one-listed building so everything has to be restored to its original pristine condition.”

The church called in scaffolders to set up the task before the stonework was painstakingly repaired last month.

“The lucarne is a special feature, an open space, which helps to ventilate the church.

“This is the sort of repair that couldn’t wait to be addressed,” said Ken, who also sits on the Parochial Church Council.

“The scaffolders and stonemasons have done us proud by carrying out such crucial work so quickly and so brilliantly.

“St Dionysius is a beautiful church and is right at the heart of Market Harborough sitting here off the High Street.”

Ken, who lives on Harborough’s Southern Estate, said the repair had cost £25,000.

“This kind of restoration isn’t cheap.

“It would been more much more difficult to fund if we hadn’t any help from the Market Harborough and Bowdens Charity and the Friends of St Dionysius,” said the retired engineer.

“We are very grateful to them.”

The Rev James Pickersgill, team vicar at St Dionysius, said: “I’d very much like to thank these two charities for their generous contributions supporting this work.

“Both of these organisations get behind our unique church all the way and we appreciate everything they do for us.”