| MORE than £15 million was allocated in grants to 160 historic churches across England this week to fund repair and conservation.
English Heritage and the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) provided the funding under their Joint Repair Grants Scheme for listed places of worship. This has totalled nearly £120 million since 2002.
Most recipients are Anglican churches, though others, such as All Saints’ Greek Orthodox Church, Camden, north London, have also benefited. But the scheme has to turn down as many applications each year as it approves.
Crispin Truman, chief executive of the Churches Conservation Trust, called for more state funding. “These grants are most welcome, as it is a lot of money, and will help address vital restoration work,” he said. “And it’s very significant that English Heritage and the HLF have been able to safeguard the fund. However, conservation costs are spiralling, while grants have remained static over the past ten years or so.” Adaptation for community use could be costly. “Churches are missing out on money for regeneration,” he said.
Dr Simon Thurley, chief executive of English Heritage, welcomed the grants to protect England’s “time-worn treasures”.
English Heritage and the HLF have committed to a joint budget of £25 million, covering all listed places of worship, for 2008-09.
St Margaret of Antioch, Rainham, in Kent, is one of the 160 churches to benefit from a grant. Its Vicar, Canon Alan Vousden, said that he was delighted that it had received an initial grant of £25,000, and was to receive a further £190,000 in the second phase of the scheme.
The church is Grade-I listed, and dates from 1360. Canon Vousden said: “The roof is weatherbeaten and worm-eaten. You name it: it’s up there. And the roof is falling down. We discovered the problem when plaster started falling down in 2005. We’ve put in two bids for the Lottery funding; so it was third time lucky.
“We were only one of seven out of around 25 churches who were successful in our round of bids. Some of the Lottery funding is being siphoned off to pay for the Olympics, and our MP raised the issue in the Commons. A lot of people are worried that money for historic buildings is going in the wrong direction.”
The Grade-I listed, 11th- or 12th-century St Lawrence’s, Warkworth, in Northumberland, will receive £300,000 to repair its north wall. The Vicar, Canon Janet Brearley, said: “English Heritage put the church on the Buildings at Risk list. . . The wall is leaning outwards and accelerating; so we’re delighted to get the grant. But it’s disappointing more money is not available to save these wonderful buildings.”
All Saints’, Brandon Parva, in Norfolk, will receive £175,000 to repair its 14th-century tower. The Revd Douglas Alexander, Team Rector of 15 churches in Norfolk including Brandon Parva’s, sympathised with those who missed out on grants. “Our churches are like the British Museum in miniature, with their range of art and craft. It’s living heritage, and churches are sometimes the only public buildings left in our villages.”
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