What we found in the cutters' shed
A gantry rail, a dust chute, two hundred timber templates and enough stone dust to fill a skip twice over.
Two years, mostly spent cleaning
Limestone dust gets into everything and stays there. The first eight months were washing walls; the interesting work came after.
The gantry rail could have come out and did not. It carries the lights now, which is the only modern thing we asked it to do.
The templates were catalogued before anything was touched, and the list is on the wall by the door if you want to know which church each one belonged to.
52 covers
Dining room plus the long table.
5 tables
The card hall, on the old cutting floor.
6 crew
Two in the kitchen, two on the bar, two in the hall.
What people ask about the shed
Can I take a template down?
Please do not. They are catalogued, brittle and irreplaceable.
Is the gantry real?
It is, and it is load-tested. It holds lights and nothing else.
Is the hall accessible?
Level entry from the lane, and two tables sit at wheelchair height.
Do you host functions?
The long table on a Monday, up to fourteen, with two weeks' notice.