TWENTY-TWO cathedrals will be given a total of £4.7 million by
the Government, to pay for repairs. This is part of its First
World War centenary programme.
In March, the Chancellor, George Osborne, announced a
£20-million fund for cathedral repairs (News,
21 March), and the first tranche of grants was revealed on
Tuesday. Eighteen Church of England and four Roman Catholic
cathedrals will benefit from grants of up to £535,000.
The rest of the fund will be allocated over the next two years.
The chairman of the Cathedrals Fabric Commission for England, Frank
Field MP, said: "Through this move the Government has offered
taxpayers the most public and tangible way to remember the
sacrifices of the dead and wounded in the Great War. English
cathedrals embody much of the image of England the men and women
took to the Front, and for which they risked their lives."
Among the larger grants announced this week were £438,000 to St
Albans Cathedral for stonework repairs; £325,000 to Southwark
Cathedral, to repair gutters on the nave and the nave aisle; and
£535,000 to Derby Cathedral for new heating and lighting.
Carlisle Cathedral is to receive £195,000 for conservation
and repair of masonry of the South Porch.