Historic Galleries

These photos were gathered starting immediately after the fire so they could be available to the fire investigators and during the rebuild. Now they act as a wonderful historical record of St Peter’s before, during and after the 2014 fire.

Old photos of St Peter’s are still welcome and will be added to the appropriate galley if suitable. If you have any images of the church, especially of the interior (and particularly the interior of the Bell Tower), then please send them to stpetersropley@gmail.com — images of the fire itself will also be very useful. If there are too many to attach then just send a link if possible. Flash drives or CD/DVDs are also welcome — get in touch via email please.

Historic Images

Old Images of St Peter’s – part of Tim Day’s extensive Ropley collection.

Old Images from Tim Day

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Pre-Fire Images

Ron Beal – 2002 Photos for Village Design Statement

Village Design Statement 2002

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Paul Smith 2012 Interior Detail

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Paul Smith 2012 Organ

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Paul Smith 2012 Windows

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Paul Smith 2012 Monuments and Plaques

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Paul Smith 2012 Exterior

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Ropley School Pupils Pre-Fire

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Photos during the fire

A sobering set of photos from Rodney Skinner taken as the fire progressed

Photos during the fire (Rodney Skinner)

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Aerial Drone Images

Hexacopter drone images of St Peters taken on 29 July 2014 by David Quick of Alton Camera Club (working with the Curtis Museum in Alton).

David Quick Aerials

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Images Taken After the Fire and During the Making Safe

Photos taken during a period from just after the fire until rebuilding started

Interior Damage Detail

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Not long after the fire – by Rodney and Ron

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Andy Bonner – Rebuilding 2014

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Andy Bonner – Bells on 11th August 2014

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The Bells being Removed

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This section features images taken as the rebuilding of the church progressed.

Images taken during PCC Site Visits

St Peter’s PCC have a regular schedule of monthly visits to the site to view and discuss progress and any issues that have arisen.

Photos taken during these visits are in the dated galleries below. Just click on the gallery thumbnail to open the gallery.

24 September 2019 – The interior is completely clear of rubble. Interior archaeology is finished. The concrete floor for the main nave is down.

24 September 2019

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29 October 2019 – The Main “Glulam” (Glued Laminated Timber) beams are in situ. Covered currently in protective black plastic sheeting which will be removed to allow the full beauty of the timber to be seen.

29 October 2019

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burst

26 November 2019 – Since the last gallery, a large amount of additional scaffolding has been installed. The previous open views of the nave will not be possible again until the build is almost complete. The bell tower scaffolding now extends above the remains of the tower – closer to its final height. These photos have been taken from various levels on the scaffolding which can be confusing. On today’s visit we were pleased to be joined by the Bishop of Basingstoke and the Archdeacon of Winchester who were very interested to view our progress first hand.

26 November 2019

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29 March 2020 – Unfortunately the national Coronavirus restrictions have stopped work. A lot of progress has already been made as you can see in the following images.

29 March 2020

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02 June 2020 – Work has been restarted for a couple of weeks. Already significant parts of our church are taking shape – with the roof timbers and the new entrance porch being particularly encouraging.

02 June 2020

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06 August 2020 – The roof is taking shape! The breathable membrane (green) has been fitted and the tile battens are nearing completion.

06 August 2020

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24 August 2020 – A major milestone, the roof tiles are starting to be installed. Also note the progress with the structural steel frame for the bell tower.

24 August 2020

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19 November 2020 – Most tiles are on, roof lights fitted. Oak cladding started on bell tower.

19 November 2020

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24 March 2021 – Much Progress. Roof approaching completion and Tower Cladding well underway.

24 March 2021

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08 June 2021 –Tower Looking Great. Roof very nearly complete. Tower cladding and louvres are really splendid.

08 June 2021

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22 July 2021 – Tiles just about finished. Cladding to extension started.

22 July 2021

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31 August 2021 – Walls Mostly Plastered. Ceiling Panels Started. Bronze cladding to extension looking very good.

31 August 2021

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30 November 2021 – Nearly Ready for the Scaffolding to come down. Ceiling panels well advanced – much complex and time consuming fitting work has been done. Frames in for triangular glass panels at East and West ends.

30 November 2021

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02 March 2022 – The internal scaffolding is finally down, Amazing! Without the scaffolding the true size of the space we now have becomes apparent. The glass roof panels let in an amazing amount of light, even during a dull day like today.

02 March 2022

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29 March 2022 – Half the solid oak flooring is down, lights look fantastic. Really good progress this month, it looks more amazing on every visit!

Note that there’s a photo of chairs – a review of chair options is ongoing, with no final choice made.

29 March 2022

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Notes on the Aerial Drone Gallery (Above)

These images were taken by David Quick of Alton Camera Club using a “Hexacopter” drone on the 29 July 2014. The original resolution is much higher than available on this site – images here are downsized to a 1024 pixel maximum for performance reasons. For the originals, see David’s gallery on flickr at https://www.flickr.com/photos/davidquick/sets/72157646012011852 from where they can be downloaded.

Alton Camera Club has started maintaining a bank of ‘then and now’ photos of Alton and surrounding villages with the assistance of the Curtis Museum.

Aerial Images from Kevin Milner of Alresford

Photographer Kevin Milner used a remote controlled drone to take these images from 250ft above St Peter’s Church in Ropley. Kevin, from Alresford, has been a professional countryside and equine photographer for seven years, and his work can be seen on greetings cards across the country. He said: “I have taken it to give to the church. I supply them with church cards and it’s nice to give something back to the community. Once it has been rebuilt they can put it up.”

The images are excellent and give a current and sobering indication of what little is left of the church. Note that the images are copyright of St Peter’s PCC and Kevin Milner — they should not be re-used or re-posted, particularly by news media, without permission (stpetersropley@gmail.com). The images on this page are much reduced from their original resolution – clicking on the actual images here will display an improved quality image.

The first image shows the situation of St Peter’s Church Ropley — at the very heart of our community:

Wide angle drone image of the destruction at St Peter's Church, Ropley — Drone image kindly donated to St Peter’s by Kevin Milner

The second image shows a closer view of the destruction — almost nothing is left of the interior: