THE CLERGY at St Johns Cathedral in Norwich are finding that the ground is slowly falling away from under their feet and there is nothing they can do about it. In fact a cavern about 40 ft wide has opened up underneath one of the Cathedral buildings.
It was only three weeks ago when a plumber was repairing a burst pipe underneath a shed near the Cathedral house that the crater was first noticed.
It seems that over the years water from a nearby well and from leaking pipes has been gradually washing away the earth from underneath the buildings and leaving an evergrowing hole.
Priests at the Cathedral are now waiting to see how much of the cost of the repairs is going to be covered by the insurance company before they begin any work. But it seems likely that the costs will run into tens of thousands of pounds.
Storage sheds will have to be demolished and rebuilt and a concrete beam is needed to underpin part of the Cathedral house wall to protect it from being eroded.
Fr Robin Hawes, a priest at the Cathedral, says the hole seems to be getting bigger all the time and has already demolished the foundations of at least the shed.