£356k lottery fund windfall helps save local churches
Four churches in south Norfolk and north Suffolk are among important Grade I listed churches nationwide to share in £3.6 million windfall of lottery funding to help carry out urgent structural repairs.
Vital funding totalling £356,000 will go to the churches of St Mary at Forncett St Mary, All Saints at Laxfield, St Margaret at Hardwick and St Margaret at Syleham.
The money comes from the Repair Grants for Places of Worship scheme funded by Heritage Lottery Fund and administered by English Heritage. St Mary’s at Forncett St Mary will receive £148,000. The church was redundant until June 2012, but following many hours of work by volunteers from the 130-strong Friends of Forncett St Mary Church to clear the churchyard and repair what they could in the building, it was re-opened as a place of worship and community building. Project co-ordinator Graham Prior said: “We are absolutely thrilled. A lot of work has been done on a voluntary basis and this will enable us to finish the work so that the church becomes a real community asset to the village.”
The grant will be used for structural repairs to the chancel, walls, windows and drainage throughout the building.
All Saints in Laxfield will receive a grant of £127,000 for urgent repairs to its tower. A previous repair project dealt with the effects of erosion on two of the elevations of the tower and the new funding will tackle the north and east sides where masonry details are detaching from the walls.
St Margaret’s at Hardwick has been awarded £55,000 for retiling of its nave and chancel roofs along with masonry and carpentry repairs, improvements to drainage and holding repairs to its wall painting and screen; and St Margaret’s at Syleham will receive £26,000 for urgent repairs to its tower, particularly to the flintwork.
Greg Luton, of English Heritage, said listed places of worship were “part of the historic fabric of England” and thanks to the grants “these wonderful buildings, which mean so much to so many, will remain part of our story for years to come.”
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