SCAFFOLDERS working in York Minster have been enjoying an inspiring start to their working day.

Instead of listening to crackly pop tunes from a tinny transistor radio the six-strong team from CSL Scaffolding are serenaded each morning by the Minster Choir.

The advanced scaffolders enjoyed a privileged birds' eye view of the cathedral's interior as they installed more than five miles of poles inside the Great East Window, to enable it to be cleaned and repaired, panel by panel.

They had to individually hand-cut more than 1,000 metal tubes to form the 100ft-high construction, wrapping sections of scaffolding in carpet to ensure there was no damage to the precious window, the largest single expanse of medieval stained glass in the world.

Its restoration is part of the £19m York Minster Revealed project, which eventually will offer worshippers and visitors a fresh perspective of one of Yorkshire's most important buildings.

In the meantime it is more a case of York Minster Covered Up, as craftsmen and women continue the 10-year project to restore the stonework of the cathedral's East Front and its spectacular glazed centrepiece.

When scaffolding went up outside the East Front in 2003, York residents were told the facade would remain out of sight for at least five years.

Now the internal view of the Great East Window will be obscured for six years while its glass and lead is restored, but a screen printed with the window's design - the Biblical story of the Apocalypse - will cover the scaffolding as a reminder of the treasures beneath.

The window, completed in 1408, is the earliest known example of English visual art by a named artist, John Thornton, of Coventry, and at 78ft tall and 31ft wide, is as big as a tennis court.

In the 600 years since its creation some of the window's 301 panels have buckled and it stands almost nine inches out of line from the vertical.

Many panels were patched with glass which does not match the original and reinforced with extra lead which obscures the detail of the glass.

More video: How they're restoring the Minster »