Christmas boost for 49 churches

St Mary the Virgin in Whissonsett - image NCT

Source: NCT

The future of 49 churches, chapels and meeting houses in the UK is safe thanks to £421,000 of funding awarded by the National Churches Trust.

One of the Catholic churches receiving a grant is Grade II Listed St Ethelbert in Leominster, in the Archdiocese of Cardiff. Leominster's first post-Reformation Catholic church was in fact a former Wesleyan chapel. But in 1888 Fr Athanasius Rogers, with financial help from a local benefactor, was able to open the present St Ethelbert's Church. Built in Gothic style, it was designed by P P Pugin, the son of the Augustus W Pugin, a well known and ardent advocate of Gothic revivalism.

A sculpture of St Ethelbert was added in 1908, created by William Storr-Barber - a Leominster sculptor who caved several First World War memorials. It also contains a memorial plaque by Eric Gill to Richard and Geoffrey Snead- Cox, local brothers killed in the Great War. As well as celebrating local culture St. Ethelbert's has a rich intangible heritage of welcoming migrant communities.

Early priests Canon James Byrne and Fr Edmond Mottay were Irish and French respectively. The ethos of welcoming migrants extends to this day where the parish includes a large Polish community.

The church receives a £5,000 National Churches Trust Foundation Grant to fund urgent repairs to a half-timber porch. The structure is no longer watertight, allowing rainwater to pool on the decorative Victorian tiled floor creating a slip hazard. This causes anxiety and physical difficulties for the elderly, those with mobility difficulties and parents with pushchairs

Other churches receiving supporting include:

A £30,000 National Churches Trust Cornerstone Grant will pay for urgent repairs to St Mark's church in Shelton, Stoke on Trent. Dubbed 'The Potter's Cathedral', the Grade II Listed church includes precious Victorian Minton tiles manufactured close by and three teracotta reliefs by renowned English ceramic artist George Tinworth.

His Place Community church in the centre of Hastings receives a £27,000 National Churches Trust Cornerstone Grant to help fund urgently needed tower repairs. The Grade II Listed building, designed in 1885, features a superb horseshoe gallery which seats 700 people and retains many of its original features.

Crawshawbooth Quaker Meeting House in Lancashire benefits from a £10,000 National Churches Trust Cornerstone Grant to help fund new accessible toilets and a kitchen to enable wider use by the local community and visitors. Built in the early 18th century, much of the interior of the Meeting House survives, providing insights into the way space was used for worship by Quakers in the past.

St Mary's Church Room, in Cobham, Kent, a rare surviving example of a 'Tin Tabernacle' receives a £15,000 National Churches Trust Cornerstone Grant to upgrade the interior and provide new community facilities. This 'Tin Tabernacle' was produced in kit form by Norwich based Boulton & Paul in 1889 and served as the mission hall for St Mary Magdalene church in Cobham. Dating from the 1290s, Grade II* Listed St Peter and Paul in Wincanton, Somerset, has suffered from severe water damage in recent years. The church receives a £5,000 National Churches Trust Cornerstone Grant and also a £10,000 Wolfson Fabric Repair Grant from the Wolfson Foundation.

Two churches in Northern Ireland, Ebrington Presbyterian Church on the Waterside of Derry/ Londonderry and Kilhorne Parish Church, Annalong, County Down, receive grants thanks to our Treasure Ireland project which is supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, the Pilgrim Trust and the Department for Communities.

The grants are made possible thanks to NCT friends and supporters including the Pilgrim Trust. Thanks to a partnership with the Wolfson Foundation, support of £137,000 for 15 churches is provided by Wolfson Fabric Repair Grants which support repair work at Listed churches in the UK.

Paul Ramsbottom, chief executive of the Wolfson Foundation said:

"As well as being places of worship and buildings of beauty, churches sit at the heart of the community. In many ways they stand between the past and present. We are thrilled to continue our partnership with the National Churches Trust to support the preservation of these significant, much-loved historic buildings across the UK.

Broadcaster and journalist Huw Edwards, our Vice President, said: "The latest funding from the National Churches Trust is a tremendous boost to 49 of the UK's places of worship. Coming just in time for Christmas, the grants awarded will help fund urgent repairs and installing modern community facilities. This will safeguard unique local heritage and keep churches open and in use for the benefit of local people.

"The National Churches Trust helps hundreds of historic churches each year and with the support of local people keeps them thriving today, and tomorrow."

LINKS

For more information about the National Churches Trust visit: www.nationalchurchestrust.org

Ebrington Presbyterian Church:
www.locaji.co.uk/northern-ireland/londonderry/ebrington-presbyterian-church/380922/