A detailed 1:24 replica of Cambridge’s St Andrew’s Church is looking for a home.
The model from the front, now sitting in Dean’s garage. Photo: supplied
A rear view of the church model. Photo: supplied
Roger Dean’s Lilliputian version of the iconic church has popped up in several places since he completed it in late 2017. More recently it has been displayed in a glass cabinet in the café at Metlifecare St Andrew’s Moxon Centre, but Dean was recently asked to remove it.
“I understand they’re doing a re-vamp of the space,” he said. “They gave me no indication they might want it back, so it’s now in my garage. I’m not sure where it will end up next, but I hope it is displayed in a place where the public will be better able to see it.”
Dean could be right. The intricate model he crafted with dexterity and patience is a real triumph and warrants being more visible in Cambridge.
The Dorset native began work on the model over 14 years ago. The stop-start labour of love took about four years to finish – he reckons it would likely have taken a full year to complete had he been working at it fulltime.
The tiny chandeliers actually work. Photo: Viv Posselt
The finely carved detail of the miniature pulpit. Photo: Viv Posselt
Long attracted to shapes that define good craftsmanship, Dean has enjoyed model-making and woodwork for decades, slowly honing his maths skills as he went. Soon after settling in Cambridge, he put together a kitset model of the 1869 clipper, the Cutty Sark. It was after he completed that that his eye fell upon St Andrew’s Church.
In 2017 he was quoted as saying, with a measure of understatement: “I have long admired that building. I always thought it would make a good model … but I knew I was letting myself in for a massive task.”
Those maths skills became all important as the numbers involved in the project were staggering.
Dean started by taking thousands of measurements and almost 680 photographs of the church’s interior and exterior. Without old plans to reference, he measured the weatherboards and counted them in photographs to determine the height.
He managed to fit in 1376 of around 2000 pipes channelling sound from the church’s pipe organ. The main altar is made up of 238 pieces and most of more than 24 pews have 49 pieces each. Extraordinary detail went into replicating the carved wood around the pulpit; his tiny piano, miniature bishop’s chair, soaring roof beams and tiny working chandeliers are genius.
The soaring wood beams and some of the organ pipes seen through the hinged roof. Photo: Viv Posselt
The miniature roll of honour beneath the replicated stained-glass windows. Photo: Viv Posselt
The carpet was replicated in Cambridge, and Dean’s talented son-in-law scaled down the stained-glass windows. Dean also etched as many original names or initials into the two rolls of honour commemorating both world wars. His hinged roof, allowing people to see inside, posed one of the greatest challenges.
“I tried copper shim but it was too heavy, I couldn’t get it to crimp,” he said at the time. “On and off it went, then I tried lemonade cans but they didn’t curve properly.”
In the end, he used the lemonade cans for the vestibule roofing, and brass shim for the main roof and spire, shaped to look the part using a paper crimper he found on Google.
In 2019, Dean took second place at the National Woodskills Competition, WoodFest, for his hand-crafted wooden milking system. He had been inspired to make that after visiting the Agricultural Heritage Village at Mystery Creek and spotting a milking system he used as a young man in the United Kingdom.
Now in his 80s Dean remains an active member of both the Hamilton and Cambridge Woodturners clubs. He is keen to know where to display the St Andrew’s Church model.
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This picture, taken in 2017, shows Dean with the inner workings of the model, including the hinged roof.
Roger Dean pictured in 2017 with his still unfinished model of St Andrew’s Church. Photo: Viv Posselt
Roger Dean pictured in 2017 with part of the organ pipes section of his model. Photo: Viv Posselt
Woodturner Roger Dean pictured with some of his work at this year’s Cambridge Autumn Festival. Photo: Viv Posselt
Roger Dean with his replica wooden milking system that took second place in the 2019 WoodFest national competition. Photo: supplied
