Stonework at St. Laurence’s Church

You may have seen workmen on the roof of the church recently.

Despite the extensive work, funded mainly by the Heritage Lottery Fund, that was completed in 2019, we were aware that further work on the North side of the church and parapets was needed, although not as extensive as the work on the East and South walls and the tower. One of the hazards of having ancient buildings to care for is that there is always work needed to keep them up to scratch.

St Laurence’s has been awarded a grant of some £10,000 from the government’s £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund to help fund repairs during the coronavirus pandemic. Lifeline grants from the Culture Recovery Fund are designed to protect heritage sites and ensure that jobs and access to culture and heritage in local communities are protected during the months ahead. 

This grant is enabling us to complete a major re-pointing exercise on the higher-level parapets and, some stonework repairs on the North face of the church, including pinning and filling an area where the outer and inner skins have separated. A pinnacle will also be se-reset to make it more secure. The works began in mid-March and is expected to last about 4 weeks, weather permitting. As this is all exterior work, the church will remain open for private prayer and Sunday services. Keep an eye on the calendar page of the website for weekday private prayer availability and for the service rota.

The church has played an important role in the community here for over 700 years, as records indicate that there was a building here around 1300. This Grade 2* listed building has beautiful medieval, Victorian and modern stained-glass windows.

The maintenance of our church buildings is the responsibility of the local congregation and we are grateful for this grant which enables the urgent repair to the stonework.

Grants of up to £25,000 have been allocated to cherished heritage sites, like St. Laurence’s across the country to cover urgently needed maintenance and repairs. This vital funding comes from a part of the Culture Recovery Fund called the Heritage Stimulus Fund and is administered on behalf of the government by Historic England. As well as rescuing precious heritage buildings in need, the injection of cash will protect livelihoods for some of the most vulnerable heritage specialists and contractors working in the sector.

Thanks to @Historic England and the government’s #CultureRecoveryFund, we can continue to be #HereForCulture