Networx3 UAV are using their 21st century technology to capture the history and heritage of a 12th century church.
The firm’s pilots have deployed one of their cutting-edge drones to take photographs and shoot high-definition video inside the Grade I listed St Gregory’s Church, Bedale, North Yorkshire, during lockdown.
The footage gives a unique aerial viewpoint on many of the ancient church’s gems as they’ve never been seen before - including its rare medieval St George and the Dragon wall painting, stunning stained glass windows and ancient woodwork.
Networx3’s drone footage will be part of St Gregory’s Heritage Lottery Fund bid to secure £200,000 to create a state-of-the-art heritage centre in the church.
The heritage centre will tell the story of the church with glass display cabinets, Networx3’s drone video footage on TVs and historic artefacts like strongboxes that are currently not on public display.
The Gothic-style parish church, which normally has more than 20,000 people pass through its doors annually, has been closed since the lockdown began on March 23.
But this gave Networx3 UAV a one-off opportunity to access an empty St Gregory’s, originally mentioned in the Domesday Book, without disrupting the schedule of a busy church.
Networx3 founder and managing director Ian Ashworth and commercial director Caroline Earnshaw teamed up to guide the DJI Mavic 2 Pro drone – which is no bigger than a football - down the nave, 30ft above the ground before gliding through St Gregory’s many archways filming as it went.