Listed building scheme gives English churches a new lease of life

Almost 400 listed churches in parts of England have been patched up against the ravages of time and weather over the past two years, under a government pilot scheme to protect treasured historic buildings.

The churches in Greater Manchester and Suffolk have been given expert advice and grants for repairs, maintenance and ideas for wider community involvement as part of a £1.8m pilot funded by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and run by Historic England.

Almost half of all Grade I-listed buildings in England are places of worship. Across the UK as a whole there are almost 15,000 listed places of worship, many in need of complex and costly repairs.

The pilot scheme was launched as a result of the Taylor review, an independent investigation into the sustainability of English churches and cathedrals, which was commissioned by the government and published in 2017. It found that the care, maintenance and repair of such “heritage assets” represented an enormous task.

It said: “A common assumption, that [churches] are managed and maintained by well-resourced and endowed bodies needs to be countered. In reality, for the majority of churches the exact opposite is the case: local people bear the full responsibility for repair, maintenance and security.”

Under the pilot scheme, grants worth £1m were given to 65 churches in Greater Manchester and 71 in Suffolk. Most of it was spent on minor but essential repairs, such as leaks. Other places of worship were given specialist advice on maintenance plans and community partnerships.

The Grade I-listed Church of St Mary, in Nettlestead, Suffolk, dates from the 12th century and sustained severe bomb damage in the second world war. It was given almost £9,000 to repair gutters, replace roof tiles and fill cracks in the walls. The church warden Jeanna McCarthy said the support “enabled us to carry out essential repairs, buying us time to fundraise” to fix a large hole in the chancel roof.

A £3,500 grant allowed the Grade II-listed Monton Unitarian church in Salford, Greater Manchester, to repair vandalism and cracks to stained-glass windows. Advisers helped the church develop a five-year maintenance plan.

Duncan Wilson, the chief executive of Historic England, said: “This pilot has proved how a ‘stitch in time’ approach really works. Addressing small repairs has increased understanding that doing even the smallest job makes a big difference to keeping these extraordinary places running.”