Churchill Memorial
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The Green Oak Carpentry Company were commissioned in 2005 by Paul de Moncheau to build this timber sculpture for the occasion of the BBC’s ‘Great Britons’ competition, after Churchill was voted the winner by the public.
The sculpture was assembled in Westminster Great Hall, by our team shown here working with a gantry to lift the sections into place. You can see the long vertical bolts onto which each of the ‘reciprocal’ assembles were located.
Clever lighting within the structure casts beautiful shadows onto the enormous stone tiles of the floor. Brass plaques engraved with some of Churchill’s more memorable quotes are let into the top face of the beams.
A job well done!
Dwarfed by the magnificent hammer-beam roof of the Great Hall the structure nevertheless holds its own.
Westminster Hall is the largest medieval timber roof in Northern Europe. Measuring 20.7 by 73.2 metres (68 by 240 feet), the roof was commissioned in 1393 by Richard II, and is a masterpiece of design and carpentry. Pre-fabricated in the forest at Alice Holt near Farnham, the beams were transported to Westminster by barge on the river Wey, which at the time was navigable from Farnham and joins the Thames at Weybridge.
“"Just a quick note to say thank you for sending such a great team to do the work. As well as clearly being very hardworking and hugely skilled, Mick, Andy, Clark and Dave were all exceptionally pleasant, considerate and cheerful guys to have around, and as such a huge credit to Green Oak."
Julia, Crabfields Farm
“"Everyone is very impressed with the finished result and I thought I would just take the opportunity of belatedly giving my thanks to you and your team for a job very well done. I have submitted the bridge for a Civic Society award for next year and have every expectation of its success."
P White, Northholt & Greenford Countryside Park Manager
“"We wanted to write to you to express our profound gratitude for the excellent work you have done on our building scheme. It cannot have been easy to pick up the project from another architect when there were still a number of issues unresolved, but you have done so brilliantly and remained calm throughout, even at fraught times. We really do appreciate that you have gone the extra mile for us. We have all enjoyed working with you and have been so impressed with the quality of your work."
Alastair, The Early Years Project
“"I wanted to drop you a quick note to show my appreciation for your guys efforts today; they were a pleasure to have around the house and worked hard to get the frame up today."
Paul, Contracts Manager
“"Thank you for the frame that you have just finished at Rogate. It was a miserable wet day, yesterday and John and team carried on regardless. We are delighted with the overall look and also the mouldings to the members. As usual, the frame was millimetre accurate and will be easy to take forward to complete the building."
Bob, Trembath Associates