Launceston's beloved St Mary Magdalene Church is to undergo restoration work to its rare decorative timbers after a survey found that many of them were not safely secured.

The survey was prompted after one of the bosses and attached rib on the vaulted ceiling fell to the floor in 2013 during a service — fortunately, no-one was harmed. Three of the carved angels were also found to be unsafe and the church was forced to close for several weeks.

After consultation with conservation experts at Saltash-based Le Page Architects, a second phase of work is due to begin at the 16th century church to re-secure all the timbers with new screw fixings replacing nails that date from Victorian times and previous restoration work. It was a case of square nails in square holes and over time these had started to become loose.

The work will secure 162 shield-carrying angels, 405 bosses, many featuring carved Tudor roses, and a variety of faces, and 891 ribs.

The church has launched a 'ceiling fund' with the original target of raising £7,500 but the need for extensive scaffolding has seen this rise to £22,000 and there is still a £5,000 shortfall.

The Rev Mary Williamson said: "We receive around 10,000 visitors each year, the majority in the summer months with many trying to trace their ancestry, so it is very important to us to remain open at this time.

"The first phase of work involved tower scaffolding and it was simply not possible to allow the public access to the church for safety reasons. The new work has been arranged so that we can cordon off areas of scaffolding and continue to open for the public to enjoy this wonderful building and to continue worshiping. They will also be able to come along and see the work in progress."

For the full report, and a round-up of the area news and sport, see this week's edition of the Post.