There are two factors in the problem of St. Paul’s: the tooth of time, which in our London atmosphere rapidly erodes the stoutest stone, and, what is infinitely more serious, the instability of the foundations. For, like the foolish man of the Scriptures, the City of London built its house upon the sand -the neighbourhood offering nothing more solid—and the footings reach to nearly the water level, which is 23 feet below the crypt floor. Consequently the eight great piers on which the dome rests have moved and sunk several inches, causing cross strains in the structure. As may be seen from Mr. Morrell’s diagrammatic drawing, the part chiefly affected is the buttress surrounding the dome, where serious cracks have
appeared, gaping wide enough to allow one’s hand to be inserted. Many of the recent cracks have been temporarily repaired by stopping with mortar and new stone, but this is only a makeshift, and does nothing towards securing the fabric itself. The dome has already tilted five inches to the south-west, and the south-west tower is six inches out
of the perpendicular. Fresh trouble has also appeared near the eastern main buttress, in proximity to the proposed tramway subway. Thanks to the publicity given to this scheme London at large has awakened to the danger threatening its Cathedral, and the work of repairing the building, which will occupy some months, has begun.

ST. PAUL’S IN PERIL: THE DAMAGED DOME AND THE MENACE OF THE SUGGESTED SUBWAY

DRAWN
G. F. MORRELL