St Albans Cathedral reopening will let brick turn tale be heard

Walter Barrett is "one of the great unsung heroes of the cathedral", Stephen De Silva said

The reopening of a cathedral as lockdown eases will let little-known stories be heard, like how every brick in its tower was turned 180 degrees.

Guides at St Albans Cathedral say they can adapt to new restrictions by offering more regular outdoor tours.

Chairman, Stephen De Silva, said this meant they could "share stories we don't always get a chance to tell".

These include the "astonishing" story of how the tower's bricks were reversed to give it a "clean, new face".

The work by Walter Barrett and his assistant took seven years to complete in the 1950s

The cathedral has been a site of worship for more than 1,700 years.

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Although it will reopen for private prayer from 15 June, it is looking at how to welcome visitors once smaller groups are allowed to meet.

"One way we can adapt is to offer more outdoor tours, looking at the cathedral's exterior," Mr De Silva said.

"We can wax lyrical about the townspeople attacking the Great Gateway during the Peasants' Revolt of 1381 and we can share the remarkable story of an unsung hero, stonemason Walter Barrett."

The chair of the cathedral guides said it had been "a particular sadness for the cathedral not to be able to greet visitors from across the world as we usually do"

A fabric report in the 1930s showed the bricks were in a "pretty parlous state" after 75 years of damage, Mr De Silva said.

Barrett and his assistant Fred Restall spent most of the 1950s painstakingly removing thousands of bricks in the Norman tower, turning them around and relaying them using a more suitable mortar.

The work "probably cost just his wages as an employee plus the cost of new lime cement", Mr De Silva said

Mr De Silva said: "As they were chipping out the [old] cement they decided to turn round the bricks as well to give them a "clean new face". It was just the most astonishing thing."

Other features visitors will see outside are modern "gargoyles", including the face of Bishop of St Albans Robert Runcie, who went on to become Archbishop of Canterbury, 1980-91.

The face of Bishop Robert Runcie, who went on to become Archbishop of Canterbury, was added to the roofline in the 1980s to celebrate a major restoration

St Albans locals attacked the Great Gateway during the Peasants' Revolt of 1381

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