It was an anxious time for
those in charge of the work; it was only after many days and nights of
incessant labour, that they felt sure that the sinking of the tower was
arrested and that the new work was holding up the weight.
In 1875 it was discovered that the south-west clerestory was beginning
to crumble away. Lord Grimthorpe had this shored up at his own expense.
A new committee was soon after this appointed, and in March, 1877, a
faculty was granted to this committee "to repair the church and fit it
for cathedral and parochial services." The first Bishop, Dr. Claughton,
who up to this time had been Bishop of Rochester, choosing the northern
of the two parts into which his diocese was divided, was enthroned as
Bishop of St. Albans on June 12th, 1877, and on the following day the
restoration of the nave was begun. The church was in a very bad state:
the weight of the roof and injudicious repairs had thrust the clerestory
walls about forty inches out of the vertical plane. There was much
controversy at the time as to what should be done, and in the middle of
it Sir Gilbert Scott died, in March, 1878. In May, however, the roof
having been lifted, the leaning walls were forced up into a vertical
position by hydraulic pressure.
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