Editing Winchester Cathedral (section)

=== 20th century restoration ===
At the turn of the 20th century, Winchester Cathedral was in grave danger of collapse, and by the summer of 1905, the Dean, [[William Furneaux]], was facing the imminent ruin of the building. Huge cracks had appeared in the walls, some of them large enough for a small child to crawl into, the walls were bulging and leaning, and stone fell from the walls. Furneaux brought in a leading architect of the age, [[Thomas Graham Jackson|Thomas G. Jackson]]. Jackson's prognosis was grim, and his survey showed the entire building was listing to the south-east, and sinking into the soft ground, most likely due to defects in the foundations. On his instructions, large sections of the building were shored up with timber. Initial estimates for the cost of the repair were £20,000 in 1905.<ref name=":8">{{Cite AV media|url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/1767d4e06dd743d0be840b64761e057d|title=Flood at Winchester|type=Television production|publisher=[[BBC]]|year=2005|series=Cathedral}}</ref>

Jackson, acknowledging he was out of his depth, brought in engineer [[Francis Fox (civil engineer)|Francis Fox]], whose company had completed projects such as the [[Mersey Tunnels|Mersey Tunnel]]. Jackson and Fox sunk a trench to the foundations of the east end and discovered the Normans had constructed the entire cathedral on a 'floating raft', consisting of a 15-inch-thick layer of [[Beech|beech trees]], laid diagonally one on top of the other. Some of these beech trees were solid, but others had rotted and collapsed, and as they did so, the cathedral shifted and sank into the soft ground, which was not strong enough to support the enormous weight of the building, causing the cracks, bulges and leaning walls. Fox removed a layer of topsoil, and ten feet of [[clay]], at which point they arrived at the raft. Below this was a solid layer of [[peat]], about 8 feet thick, and below this at a depth of 16 to 24 feet below the cathedral floor, they encountered a more solid layer of gravel, which they intended to utilise as the new base for the foundations.<ref name=":8" />

Jackson and Fox proposed to sink a series of trenches around the eastern end, about 50 in number, down to the gravel bed, and to build up to the raft with concrete and brick. However, the upper walls were so weak that digging under the foundations without supporting the walls could bring the structure down. Therefore, Fox began grouting the walls using the '[[James Henry Greathead|Greathead Grouting Machine]]' to fill in the cracks. When grouting was completed, a new problem was encountered. When the peat was dug through to reach the gravel bed, water rushed up to a height of fourteen feet. The peat had acted as a seal, and when it was broken, water from the nearby [[River Itchen, Hampshire|River Itchen]] flooded the trenches. Jackson ordered a powerful [[steam pump]] to remove the water from the trenches. This caused a rift between Fox and Jackson, as Fox thought the pumping could further destabilise the foundations and cause the collapse of the building. Pumping nevertheless began.<ref name=":8" />

In the spring of 1906, there were signs Fox was right – the cathedral was still moving and sinking, and this time, more rapidly than before. It was realised for the first time that there was a serious risk to lives. Fox made a site visit in March 1906 and became concerned because the water being pumped out was no longer clear but was cloudy, containing [[chalk]]. He ordered pumping stopped. The pump had disturbed a layer of chalk silt between the peat and gravel bed, which further destabilised the building. Jackson was against stopping pumping, as he could not see an alternative. Fox, however, summoned diver [[William Walker (diver)|William Walker]] from London, who arrived in Winchester on 5 April 1906.<ref name=":8" />

Walker, who was arguably the most experienced diver in the country at the time, had an extremely challenging job. His task was to descend into the flooded trenches in a primitive and immensely heavy diving suit and level the trenches, by removing the peat topsoil and then laying bags of cement to plug the water coming up from below. Walker's suit weighed {{cvt|200|lb}} dry, and the trenches were cramped and pitch-black; Walker had to feel around with his hands. Additional challenges were that the water was full of bodies and graves, which made the water septic. Walker worked 6 to 7 hour shifts almost every day for six years to achieve this, diving under the majority of the cathedral building. When he had completed his work in 1911, the pump could be used safely to remove the water without disturbing the foundations. In 1911, [[flying buttress]]es were added along the length of the south nave to complete the work.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5" /><ref name=":6" /><ref name=":8" />

A special service was held on St Swithun's Day in 1912, attended by the King and Queen, to give thanks for the work of Jackson, Fox and Walker. Walker was later rewarded with the [[Royal Victorian Order|MVO]]<ref>Bussby, Frederick (1970). ''William Walker: The Diver who Saved Winchester Cathedral''. Friends of Winchester Cathedral. pp. 16–18. {{ISBN|0-903346-08-7}}.</ref> and is credited with saving the cathedral from collapse.<ref>"[https://www.bbc.co.uk/hampshire/content/articles/2008/06/05/cathedral_diver_feature.shtml Hampshire – History – Saving the Cathedral]". BBC. 22 September 2008. [https://web.archive.org/web/20100108125611/http://www.bbc.co.uk/hampshire/content/articles/2008/06/05/cathedral_diver_feature.shtml Archived] from the original on 8 January 2010. Retrieved 27 May 2012.</ref> The total cost of the work was £113,000, equivalent in 2017 to nearly £9 million.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Archives|first=The National|title=The National Archives – Currency converter: 1270–2017|url=http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/currency-converter/|access-date=15 September 2021|website=Currency converter|language=en-GB}}</ref> Walker laid more than 25,000 bags of concrete, 115,000 concrete blocks, and 900,000 bricks.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":8" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=William Walker: The diver who saved the Cathedral|url=https://www.winchester-cathedral.org.uk/our-heritage/famous-people/william-walker-the-diver-who-saved-the-cathedral/|access-date=15 September 2021|website=Winchester Cathedral|language=en-US|archive-date=11 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200811212533/https://www.winchester-cathedral.org.uk/our-heritage/famous-people/william-walker-the-diver-who-saved-the-cathedral/|url-status=dead}}</ref>