William Walker 

...... the man who 
saved a cathedral.

TO MASTER LIST

In 1905, the subsidence was giving cause for great concern.  The architect, Mr. J. B Colson, reported that the West end of the Cathedral, the crypt, beneath the Lady Chapel the south wall of the retro choir was leaning outwards at a dangerous degree.  At that point the reason for the subsidence was unknown but he suspected it was due to the poor foundations; in fact the Cathedral had “broken its back” at the point where the thirteenth century extension work joined the Anglo-Norman structure.  It was also recognised that work to strengthen the foundations would be difficult due to the high level of ground water.  It was believed that the whole problem could be put right for the sum of £3,250.  Further advice was sought from consulting architect T G Jackson who dug a ten foot deep exploratory trench outside the south wall of the retro choir and found that the thirteenth century wall had been built on a beech log timber raft over a bed of peat that had become compressed under the weight of the building.  Below the peat was a layer of hard gravel, absolutely perfect for the foundations.  The problem was how did they bridge the gap between the gravel and the walls, the gravel bed being 15 feet below the water table?  He realised he needed the skills of a consulting engineer and the man he consulted was Mr Francis Fox. 

Francis Fox made five recommendations set out below in the importance he gave them:

1. The south wall of the retrochoir should be shored up on the outside.
2. The vaulting of the rectro choir should be supported with wooden “centering” to avoid collapse.
3. Steel tie rods should be inserted to tie together the north and south walls of the retro choir.
4. The walls should be grouted by pumping liquid cement into their loose rubble core.
5. The walls should be underpinned down to the hard gravel.

The firm of Messrs John Thompson of Peterborough was employed to carry out the work.  Some 16.5 tons of tie rods were installed and the grouting was undertaken pumping in some five hundred tons of liquid cement into the stone work using a machine called the “Greathead Grouting Machine”.  This work was deemed necessary before underpinning could commence.  (Civil Engineer James Greathead designed the grouting machine for work on the building of the London underground.  He needed to be able to pump liquid grout under pressure into the cavities and joints of the tunnel sections to consolidate the tunnel structures.  Francis Fox had worked with James Greathead on the London underground and realised that the “Greathead Grouting Machine” could be utilised at Winchester to consolidate the structure before they commenced the under-pinning of the foundations).

Early underpinning started very slowly as the beech logs had to be sawn out by hand, being in a surprisingly good state of preservation.  Digging through the peat layer proved difficult as soon as the bottom of the peat layer was reached, water came gushing in filling the drift to a depth of 13 feet.  Pumps were employed to keep down the water but there was always the fear that the gravel bed could be sucked out from beneath the walls and cause the cathedral to collapse.  When sediment actually started to appear in the pumped out water in April 1906, pumping was stopped and Francis Fox was forced to reconsider his methods.  He thought that if a diver were used, he would not need to pump at all and the Cathedral would not be in such danger of collapse.

On the 6th April 1906, two divers arrived in Winchester from the firm of Siebe Gorman & Co in London, William Walker and Edwin Rayfield.  Soon it was decided that the work would be best carried out by one diver alone and William Walker was deemed most suited for the task and he worked with his attendant William West, a local man, for the next 6 years. 

The method of working was always the same.  Outside the Cathedral a drift (or trench) would be dug at right angles to the walls.  When the bottom of the foundations were reached, a tunnel was dug under the walls, removing the beech logs as they were encountered.  The drift would be continued into the peat and partially through it, leaving around 18 inches.  At this point the diver entered the excavation and totally removed the peat, the water rising at this point to a depth of around 13 feet.  It wasn’t a pleasure to dive in as visibility in the black peaty water was almost zero, everything he did was completely by touch alone.  The tunnel in which he was working extended as deep as 20 feet and above him was the underside of the Cathedral walls.  Once cleared of peat, William Walker would lay jute bags of concrete on the gravel bed, side by side until the whole area was covered.  Then he would slit each bag with his knife to allow the concrete to be spread evenly over the whole area.  In all, four layers of jute bags of concrete was placed in the bottom of each drift beneath the walls and it would be left to set, then the drift could be pumped dry and stone mason could complete the work.  The work was regularly inspected by Francis Fox who was a trained diver and he always found the work as satisfactory. 

William Walker was to work there for over five years until 1911. In that time, he worked with very few breaks and it is estimated that he handled 25,800 bags of concrete.  It was always thought that the diver was at risk of infection as he was working in a graveyard.  William Walker believed that tobacco was a remedy against all ills, always smoking a pipe soon after he returned to the surface.
 

In the beginning, it was believed that the whole work could be carried out for £3,250, this proved to be grossly under the final bill of £113,000.  William Walker finished his work at the beginning of August 1911 and he was presented  with a silver rose bowl in recognition of his splendid work.  In his reply, Walker said that he valued the gift more than anything else and that he had honestly tried to do his best and was confident that his work would stand the test of time.  A service of thanksgiving was held on St Swithans Day (July 15th) 1912 in the Cathedral.  It was attended by King George V and Queen Mary and everyone involved with the restoration was recognised by name.  After the service the King expressed a wish to meet the diver who had done so much to preserve the Cathedral.  It is reported how the King shook William Walker by the hand and in reply to a question, Walker replied that he had been working in the Cathedral for 6 years, working 6 hours per day.  When asked if he would do it again, he replied that he would, it wasn’t easy but he was a proud man to have been able to help in so grand a work.  Also in recognition, Francis Fox (consulting engineer) was knighted in 1912, Thomas Jackson (architect) received a baronetcy in the same year and William Walker was summoned to the palace to receive the Royal Victorian Order.  Walker wrote the following to his employers Siebe Gorman & Co in December 1912: I have received a letter commanding me to be at Buckingham Palace on the 19th to receive the Royal Victorian Order at the request of His Majesty.  I would be grateful if you could inform me of how to go on and anything I could do for the firm, and I must thank you with all my heart for all you have done for me in the past. William Walker went on to work on as a diver with Siebe Gorman & Co until sadly he died in the influenza epidemic of 1918.  His grave can be found in a corner of a municipal cemetery in Beckenham.  Today, a statue depicting William Walker stands in the Cathedral at Winchester and a bust of him can be seen in the Cathedral grounds, alongside the shop.  Many books and stories exist about The Man Who Saved a Cathedral but it is 100 years in 2006 that he started his work in Winchester. .... Phil Thurtle, 2006.

WILLIAM WALKER - THE DIVER WHO SAVED A CATHEDRAL
By Frederick Bussby, Cannon Residentiary, Winchester
Published by: The Fiends of Winchester Cathedral, fdirst edition (printing) in 1979.
Printed card covers; 22 printed pages. Dimensions: 18.5 cms tall by 12 cms wide.
Small illustrated booklet about the problems that Winchester Cathedral had with subsidence and the work that diver William Walker did to under-pin the walls.  Illustrated with 4 monochrome photographs plus the one on the cover.  It is broken down into sections “The Growth of a Legend”, “Walker the Man”, “Architects Report”, “Consultant Architect”, “Consultant Engineer”, “The Origin of the Trouble”, “How The Diver worked”, “Grouting”, “Tie Rods”, “Buttresses”, “Retrochoir”, “The Crypt”, “The West Front”, “The Cost of the Work”, “Services of Thanksgiving”, “The King; The Archbishop and the Diver”, “Recognition”, “Memorial Tablet”, “The BBC – 1956”, “The Statue” and “Patronal Festival”.  There is a reference to the statue in the Cathedral but due to a simple mistake with a photograph, the statue was made in the likeness to the consulting engineer, Sir Francis Fox.

WILLIAM WALKER - THE DIVER WHO SAVED A CATHEDRAL
By Frederick Bussby, Cannon Residentiary, Winchester and John Patton
Published by: The Fiends of Winchester Cathedral, this fourth edition in 1994. 
Printed card covers;  24 printed pages. Dimensions: 20.5 cms tall by 15 cms wide.
The booklet is slightly larger in size than the first issue and this updated 4th edition has now increased in size to 24 pages with more illustrations some 16 monochrome photographs plus one on the front cover and details of the correction made in the likeness of the diver’s statue inside the Cathedral.  It now includes more photographs of the cracked walls, the shoring and scaffolding holding the walls up and of course the diver and the workmen who assisted him.  Sections are: “William Robert Walker – The Family Man”, “The Architects Report of 1905”, “Consultant Architect”, “Consultant Engineer”, “The Work Begins”, “Tie Rods and Grouting”, “Underpinning”, “How the Diver Worked”, “Development of the Work”, ”Other Work”, “The New Buttresses”, “The Cost of the Work”, “The Completion of the Work”, “Services of Thanksgiving”, “The King and the Diver”, “Recognition”, “The Growth of a Legend”, “The Statuette”, “The Grave by John Patton” and “Patronal Festival”.  This issue includes the photograph where the mistaken identity of the diver was made.  It shows Sir Francis Fox dressed ready to dive to inspect a drift, William Walker is on the photograph but stood there in flat cap, trousers, shirt, waistcoat and flat cap – nothing like a diver!  This issue has an insert with details of a new statue more to Walker’s likeness, made by Professor Glynn Williams and installed in the Cathedral in 2001.

WILLIAM WALKER - THE DIVER WHO SAVED A CATHEDRAL
By Frederick Bussby, Cannon Residentiary, Winchester, John Patton and additional information provided by Gary Wallace-Potter of the Historical Diving Society.
Published by: The Fiends of Winchester Cathedral, this fifth edition in 2005. 
Printed card covers;  20 printed pages. Dimensions: 21 cms tall by 15 cms wide
Now very slightly larger in format than the fourth edition but with a lot more updated content.  Has 16 monochrome photographs (5 in sepia) plus one on each of the front and back covers, many different from the previous editions.  It has sections headed “William Walker, the Man” and “William Walker and the Restoration Work of 1905-12” but this second section is broken down into further parts “The Cathedral Architect’s Report of 1905”,”Thomas Jackson, Consultant Architect”, “Francis Fox, Consultant Engineer”, “The Work Begins”, “Tie Rods and Grouting”, “Underpinning”, “How the Diver Worked”, “Development of the Work”, “Other Work”, “The New Buttresses”, “The Cost of the Works”, “The Completion of the Work”, “Services of Thanksgiving”, “The King and the Diver”, “Recognition”, “The Growth of a Legend”, “The Statuette” and “patronal Festival”.
Now the book includes a photograph of the new statue more in the likeness of William Walker.