From bird nests to bees: bringing better broadband to St Mary Magdalene’s Church

For many rural churches, broadband is no longer just useful. It helps keep the building active, accessible and connected to the people who rely on it.

At St Mary Magdalene’s Church in St Clears, a reliable connection means the church can better support everyday life. From admin and online services to community activity, meetings, events, visitors and staying in touch, strong broadband helps the church continue serving its local community in a modern way.

But bringing fast broadband to a listed rural church is not always simple.

A beautiful building with a few practical challenges

St Mary Magdalene’s Church needed a reliable broadband service. The aim was to provide the connection the church needed while protecting the building, the grounds and the character of the site.

Because the church is listed, drilling into the stonework was not allowed. That meant the installation had to be planned carefully, with a solution that respected the building from the start.

The first idea was to place the broadband equipment on top of the church tower using a mount that would not damage the roof or stonework.

Then nature had other plans.

Access to the roof from inside the church was blocked by a bird’s nest after a hatch had been left open. Vehicle access was also tricky, as the only route was through a neighbouring plot. With the ground wet, bringing in heavy lifting equipment would have been difficult, costly and likely to disturb part of the graveyard.

So, a different approach was needed.

Looking for the right route

After another look at the site, a new option was explored using the church’s water down-pipe. The hope was that this would give a clear signal to connect the church.

Unfortunately, that route did not work.

Then came another unexpected challenge: a large bees’ nest in the wall near where ladders would need to be placed. That made the area unsafe for the installation.

There was even a brief attempt to find protective clothing for the bees, including a hazmat suit that turned out to be better suited to fancy dress than actual bee protection. Sensibly, that idea was dropped, the bees were left alone, and the search for a safer solution continued.

The breakthrough

The next idea was to place a small pole in the hedgerow and run a cable back to the church.

But during those conversations, an important discovery was made. The existing telegraph poles within the church grounds belonged to the church.

That changed everything.

Instead of using heavy equipment, disturbing the grounds or drilling into the listed building, the connection could be delivered using one of the existing poles. From there, a protected cable could be carefully run to the church through a shallow dig.

Even better, an existing duct through the wall could be used to bring the cable inside. Once in the church, the cable was routed discreetly behind the wooden pews.

No drilling into the listed building.
No damage to the stonework.
No heavy equipment across the graveyard.
No disturbance to the bees.
No messy cabling inside the church.

Just a practical, careful solution that worked for the building and the people who use it.

What the church now has

Once the installation was complete, the connection was tested, and the results were even better than expected.

The church had ordered a 250/250 Mbps service. Testing showed speeds of 289 Mbps download and 267 Mbps upload.

For a rural church with a listed building, limited access, wet ground and a few surprises from local wildlife, that is a brilliant result.

More importantly, St Mary Magdalene’s Church now has reliable broadband.

That means the church can do more online, support day-to-day admin, help visitors and community groups, and make better use of the building for modern needs. It gives the church more flexibility, more opportunities, and a stronger connection to the surrounding community.

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