Scrooge gravestone fixer says humbug to vandals

A company carrying out repairs on a gravestone bearing the name of Ebenezer Scrooge has said that in a reversal of the moody money man's redemption, it will not be as nice as it was before.

Vandals smashed the gravestone in the yard of St Chad's Church, Shrewsbury, last week.

The name of the fictional skinflint was added to a gravestone there for the filming of the 1984 movie adaption of A Christmas Carol, starring George C Scott.

The original name on the stone had worn down and disappeared over the years, and despite a check of records, the actual person whose passing it marked could not be determined.

The switch reportedly went ahead with Home Office permission.

Visitors are drawn each year to the site for the literary connection, and while the stone cannot appear exactly as it once did, its fixers promise to add greater protection.

Stonemason Ed Jones, from Midland Masonry in Market Drayton, said the repair work - being done for free - was due to be carried out one day next week.

On Wednesday and Thursday this week, the firm worked to remove the stone, digging out the foundations and putting concrete down.

"Once the concrete foundation is cured," Mr Jones said, "we'll bring [the stone] back, fix it back together with stainless steel pins and resin.

"Then we'll do a mortar repair across the top where the cracks are.

"Then we're going to put some concrete or cement round the edges, all the way round it, so you can't lift it with your fingers; physically pull it back up."

The stone was smashed into multiple pieces

Town council clerk Helen Ball said it had been a "complex" process to gain the "necessary permissions" for repairs to take place, but thanked the Diocese of Lichfield for "fast-tracking" what was required for the work to begin.

The two largest pieces of the stone had remained in the graveyard, but smaller fragments were removed earlier by town council staff to ensure "pieces of the jigsaw" were not lost.

Asked what he thought needed to be done to make it more secure for the future, Mr Jones said: "I suggest really they could put some railings round it, with a little gate at the front, just waist high, so that no-one can actually get inside it to actually physically lift it up again."

The stonemason stated the company's efforts did not represent "a huge amount of work".

He added: "I just feel that it's something we can do for society and for everyone who comes and sees it, 'cos it's a heirloom of Shrewsbury, isn't it?"