A popular but vertigo-inducing spectator sport in Waterford this week has been to watch steeplejacks working on the spire of Christ Church Cathedral. On their perch more than 160 feet above the city, the workers have been power-hosing the steeple and repointing it, the first facelift the spire has received for 50 years. This is the start of phase one of the £1 million restoration of the 18th-century cathedral which embodies much of the history and heritage of Waterford.
The project has gone ahead in spite of a £50,000 shortfall in the £250,000 cost of the first phase. A new fund-raising drive has begun aimed at bridging this shortfall by Christmas.
Phase one will repair the external and internal roof and waterproof the building which has suffered from considerable water penetration, according to an architect, Mr Brian Cooke.
When the integrity of the building is secured, conservation and repair of the plaster ceiling can begin.
The cathedral is on a site which has seen Christian worship for 1,000 years. In the Norse cathedral which stood on the site for eight centuries previously, Princess Aoife, daughter of Dermot McMurrough, King of Leinster, married the Norman knight, Strongbow, thus sealing Ireland's fate for 800 years.
The Conservation 2000 project to restore the cathedral will allow the public to see the column base of the original Norse cathedral which is still in place under the present church.