During the summer the porch and tower of St Mary's Church have been restored and stabilised using traditional materials and methods - hot lime for the mortar and lead for the tower roof. The only variation has been the use of stainless steel for the porch roof, done for security reasons.

On 30th October, also in line with traditional medieval practice, work was officially suspended for the winter months - lime mortar, for instance, takes a good number of days to set hard and would be damaged if frost occurred during that process.

Photographs by Gethin Harvey (at that time of Nicholas Warns Architects)
(click pic for slide show)

Forncett has an amazingly rich history that has been documented in detail over the years by the Forncett History Group and especially by its Chairman, John Webster. However much of this history is not widely known and in recent discussions the History Group decided that a dedicated web site would help to address this. Our new website is now live at www.forncetthistory.net and we hope that lots of people, both within the village and much further afield, will take the time to visit it. The site can be viewed on desktop computers, laptops, tablets or phones.

This is a project that is very much “in progress” so please revisit the site from time to time to see what’s new. We are also very keen to have input and feedback. If you find any errors, or if there are topics or stories that you think we could include please let us know. We are also always very interested in historical photos of Forncett – both of places and people. You can get in touch through the “Contact Us” section of the web site or by emailing me () or John Webster ( ). We look forward to hearing from you.