Safe, Sound and Secure”?

Winchester Cathedral: Safe, Sound, and Secure A Centenary Tribute to William Walker the Diver by David Farthing David Farthing is a retired civil engineer and a Winchester Cathedral Guide, with a special interest in the underpinning project in which William Walker played a vital part at the beginning of the 20th century. Recent Recognition for The Winchester Diver In March 2018, the author was privileged to attend a short ceremony at the one-time home of the diver, formerly 112 Portland Road, South Norwood, when a commemorative plaque was unveiled by the Dean of Winchester Cathedral, Catherine Ogle. (The houses were renumbered in the 1950s.) Fig 1 Dean Catherine Ogle with three generations of Fig 2 Dean Catherine Fig 3 The unusual descendants of William Walker, three granddaughters, a great unveils the plaque commemorative plaque granddaughter and a great great granddaughter Phtotos: Figures 1 and 2 by the author, Figure 3 by Tony Holding The plaque reads simply William Walker 1869-1918 “The deep sea diver who saved Winchester Cathedral” . while living here Context In September 1911 when his extraordinary years of work as a diver on the preservation project were nearing completion, William Walker was interviewed by the Hampshire Observer. [1] The reporter asked him “Have you had any curious experiences?” The reply was typical of this modest, robust and remarkable man: “Nothing to speak of, unless the stoppage of my air pump twice can be regarded as curious. It certainly came about in a curious way. Somebody each time called “stop the pump”, (a second pump was always at work for removing water) and my man thought it meant MY air pump and obeyed orders. What did I do? Fig 4 William Walker descending I came up to the surface as soon as I could, and suffered no ill in his diving suit effects. A man can live in a diver’s dress for ten minutes after his Photo: Winchester Cathedral Archives air pump has stopped.” 1 There is no doubt that William Walker, who became known as the Winchester Diver, was the hero of the project. His skill, bravery, and tenacity whilst labouring for over 5 years in the gloomy waters beneath the foundations of Winchester Cathedral, over one hundred years ago, certainly caught the public’s imagination not only in Winchester, but across the country and beyond. This year, 2018, marks the 100th anniversary of his death on October 30th 1918, during the Spanish flu epidemic at the end of the First World War. So it is an appropriate time to consider the legacy of this unique undertaking and the crucial role played by William Walker. Over the years much has been written about this feat of engineering. In particular, the book by John Crook and Ian Henderson [2] provides full and comprehensive coverage of the entire enterprise and is now accepted as the standard reference on the subject. To avoid covering too much ground already familiar to many, this article adopts a fresh approach by highlighting the evidence still visible both within and outside the Cathedral. The reader is taken around the outside and through the Cathedral, stopping at a number of key locations. To assist with a fuller understanding of the work undertaken, included in the text are responses to the most common questions asked by the many visitors who are intrigued and fascinated by the story of the Winchester Diver. Summary Outline of the Underpinning Project and Walker’s Achievements In January 1905 the Dean, William Mordaunt Furneaux, lost no time in responding to the report submitted by the Cathedral Architect, John B Colson, highlighting the alarming condition of parts of the Cathedral fabric, notably the south presbytery aisle and the south transept. He called in the eminent Diocesan Architect Thomas Jackson, who in turn recommended seeking advice from Francis Fox, a leading consulting engineer and qualified diver. Fig 5 Contemporary illustration of William Walker laying bags of concrete below the foundations (Winchester Cathedral Archives) To avoid excessive pumping, Fox devised an ingenious underpinning scheme whereby drifts were excavated down to the peat above the layer of solid gravel. When the peat layer was breached, water held under pressure in the gravel rose to flood the excavation, and a diver descended into the water to remove the remaining peat and and lay bags of dry mix concrete in its place. The bags of concrete effectively sealed the gravel so that the water could be pumped out of the drift and masons could go down to build a new foundation on the hardened bags of concrete, connecting up with the underside of the medieval foundation. The diver who was chosen for this challenging task was 2 William Walker, the chief diver from the leading firm of Siebe Gorman. Walker, working for eight hours each day, laboured for five and a half years in hazardous conditions placing 26,000 bags of dry mix concrete beneath the existing cathedral foundations. Fig 6 King George V and Queen Mary leaving the Cathedral after the Thanksgiving Service, St Swithun’s Day, 15th July 1912 © Dr John Crook On completion of the work King George V and Queen Mary, and many dignitaries attended the Thanksgiving Service on St Swithun’s Day, 15th July 1912. Walker was presented to the King. The Daily Express reported, “If one could have cheered in the dim religious place, the people would have carried their homage to the diver. He was standing there unobtrusively, a burly, broad shouldered figure in a frock coat with a silk hat in his hand, blushing like a great schoolboy when the Archbishop praised him to the King and Queen.” [3] Walker said afterwards: “It made me feel uncomfortable to be spoken of in the pulpit before that host of people, but I daresay they didn’t know I was the man His Grace was talking about.” On 19th December that year, the King conferred on Walker The Royal Victorian Order. Fig 7.1 William Walker Fig 7.2 Portrait of William Walker as a young man by Japanese artist, Ishi Bashi Photos: © John Crook, Winchester Cathedral 3 Fig 8 Plan showing locations for viewing Evidence of the underpinning project Diagram by Simon Newman (Location 5 is the crypt and a separate plan appears on page 13) Visible Evidence Outside the Cathedral Location 1, Path beside No 1 The Close Fig 9 John Colson, Cathedral Architect, measuring the outward lean of the south presbytery wall in 1906 © John Crook, Winchester Cathedral 4 In the photograph above (Fig 9), taken in 1906, the architect John Colson, on the steps by the Bishop’s Door, points towards the white plumb line indicating the extent of the tilt of the masonry. The best place to view the settlement of the building (point 1a) is from the south of the eastern extension, built by Bishop de Lucy in the early 1200s, as this is where the ground conditions are at their very worst. Even though the builders laid beech logs beneath the foundations to spread the load of the massive walls, this end of the Cathedral had sunk by up to 2ft 6inches (762mm) and also, the south presbytery wall leant outwards by approximately 2 feet (610mm). Fig 10 Sloping east end today Photo: Simon Newman The fact that the far east of the Lady Chapel (point 1b) shows little sign of settlement is because that end of the chapel was rebuilt in the 15th century, to the same floor plan as previously on its original foundations. Consequently the peat underneath might have been compressed and hardened under the weight of the original walls. Large cracks, repaired by bridging them with horizontal Portland stones are easy to see. (Fig 11) The crack running full height to the right of the Bishop’s Door, viewed from location (c) marks the general area where the construction of the retrochoir commenced, thereby extending the building onto poorer ground. It was from here eastwards where the building began to sink. Some people describe this point as where the Cathedral had “broken its back”. Many other large crack repairs with Portland stone can be seen on the walls of the south transept. Fig 11 Large cracks in west wall of south transept repaired with Portland Stones Photo: Peter Innes 5 Fig 12.1. Nuts and Plates on east wall of south transept 12.2. Nut and plate on retroquire Photos: Julie Adams Large plates and nuts viewed from positions (c) and (d) on the outside wall anchor tie bars running across the inside of the retrochoir and south transept stretching right through to the far walls to help keep the walls upright. (Figs 12.1 and 12.2) Tie bars themselves can be seen spanning the retrochoir at location 6. (Fig 36, p.17) Fig 13 Slype Buttresses Photo: Peter Innes 6 Inside the slype, substantial Portland stone buttresses (Fig 13) support the south wall of the south transept. The subsidence here was as bad as at the east end, the building having sunk by over 2 feet (610mm) and the gable was leaning out of the vertical by 4 feet 7 in (1.4m), about one third that of the leaning tower of Pisa. On seeing the evidence of all this subsidence visitors often ask why the Cathedral was built in this problematic location on a flood plain. The possible answer is that even if Bishop Walkelin had been aware of the poor soil conditions, it is most unlikely that he would have considered any other location. The prestigious and historic nature of the site adjacent to the Saxon minsters, close to the river for a water supply, was the ideal location to build his new cathedral opposite the royal palace.

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