After only two weeks, the system has already prevented another potential theft of lead, and the church authorities are “delighted”.
Northampton based-Nova Security installed the system at St Mary’s Church, a 13th century building in a remote location at Warkworth, Northamptonshire.
Cameras were installed high up on the church so that all activity around the roofs could be observed. Because of the old brickwork, Nova had to have special brackets made to support the system.
Images are recorded on to a DVR from Videoswitch’s Vi series.
Said Spencer Tear, a director at Nova: “St. Mary’s roof had been stripped by thieves and the cost of replacing a section of the roof ran into several thousands of pounds. Clearly something had to be done to deter the thieves and as the church had limited funds, we formed a partnership with Videoswitch to provide an affordable CCTV system.”
St Mary’s Churchwarden said: “We are extremely grateful to Nova Security and Videoswitch for their generous support in helping us to deter thieves. After only having the system for two weeks there is already evidence that we have prevented another possible theft of the lead from our roof. We are delighted, to say the least.”
St. Mary’s is a 13th century mediaeval church originally built as a chapel for Warkworth Castle – now demolished – the home of crusader knight, Sir John de Lyon.