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Darwen Terracotta Ltd

DTF make architectural terracotta and faience for renovation, restoration and new build. With a range of colours, mottles, painted decoration and highlights, the material offers unlimited design shape, size and colour. DTF team have worked on Royal Albert Hall, Natural History Museum and more.

DARWEN TERRACOTTA LTD
Building O
Ribble House
Ribble Business Park
Challenge Way
Blackburn
Lancashire. BB1 5RB
United Kingdom

T. +44 (0)1254 460 500

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www.darwenterracotta.com

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Bringing Back the Terracotta Glow at Historic Church

1) Darwen Terracotta supplied more than 100 new terracotta blocks for St Catherine's church, horwich

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A major project just completed at St Catherine’s Parish Church in Horwich near Bolton, restores original terracotta features that were suffering from over a hundred years of weathering. More than 100 new blocks, manufactured by Darwen Terracotta (DTL) in Blackburn have been installed by Lambert Walker Limited under the supervision of Buttress Architects in Manchester.

St Catherine’s is noted for its magnificent West window, framed in terracotta and part of the initial phase of construction undertaken between 1897 and 1902. “Time had not been kind, the prevailing weather had eroded joints permitting water ingress resulting in secondary frost damage to some of the blocks,” observed DTL director Jon Almond. In total over 100 blocks were identified that had been damaged beyond repair including sills, mullions and window surrounds as well as wall copings and buttress units.

“Terracotta of this age is particularly prone to damage,” noted Jon. “The original blocks would have been made in coal fired kilns where temperatures would be uneven, resulting in the clay vitrifying to differing degrees, so some underfired pieces would have been softer, more porous and liable to damage in the long term. Modern gas fired kilns we use today have multiple burners and close temperature control so all pieces are consistently vitrified throughout the kiln.”

Great care was taken to manufacture the new blocks to ensure a precision fit and to match the colour of existing material as much as possible. Based on careful measurement of the existing pieces, DTL skilled crafts people created new models and moulds taking into account shrinkage that takes place in both the drying and firing phases. Each piece was expertly hand finished and compared to existing weathered terracotta to ensure a good match on both colour and texture. On completion each piece was individually inspected for marks and chips before shipping to site.

Darwen Terracotta provide a nationwide service enabling church buildings, schools, municipal and other heritage buildings to be fully restored.

More Information
Jon Wilson, Director Tel. +44 (0)1254 460 500
E-mail: jonwilson@darwenterracotta.com Web: www.darwenterracotta.com
Darwen Terracotta Ltd, Building O, Ribble House, Ribble Business Park, Challenge Way, Blackburn, Lancashire. BB1 5RB

Press release issued: May 30, 2017

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