Prayers answered with award of repair cash (From Gazette & Herald)

Prayers answered with award of repair cash

THREE historic Ryedale churches are among several in Yorkshire to benefit from a £1.37 million package of grants from English Heritage and the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The biggest sum of £159,000 goes to St Andrew's Church in the tiny village of Kirby Grindalythe to carry out repair work on the tower and parapets, and to do investigation and recording work on the stone and mortar in the Grade II listed church which has a tower that dates back to the 12th century.

Fragments of carved Anglian and Anglo-Scandinavian crosses are built into the walls, while the elegant stone spire was rebuilt in the 18th century. The remainder of the building being built in 1878 for Sir Tatton Sykes of Sledmere House.

Also benefiting from the scheme is St Michael's Church, Malton, which gets £63,000 to carry out repairs to the tower masonry, roof, drainage and west window, while St Andrew's, Rillington, received an emergency grant of £15,000 for work on the tower parapet stonework.

Experts said that close examination had revealed the stonework to be worse than originally thought, with the danger of stone facing being a potential health and safety risk.

Another ecclesiastical landmark to get help is Selby Abbey, one of the few great monastic churches to have survived the Dissolution of the Monasteries and one of the largest parish churches in England.

A grant of £417,000 is to be used for repair work to the stonework, roof, guttering and sacristy of the abbey.

St Martin-on-the-Hill, Scarborough, receives £41,000 for the conservation on its famous stained glass windows by Pre-Raphaelite artists. The windows are recognised as being the most important and complete 19th century glazing in the country.

Maddy Jago, the Yorkshire regional director for planning and development with English Heritage, said: "These grants aim to support urgent repairs and nip problems in the bud before their get more severe and far more costly to remedy."

She added: "Working with the Heritage Lottery Fund, we have offered £6.5 million to 60 churches in the region since the repair grant scheme for churches was launched in 2002.

"But even this support struggles to keep pace with the problem. The real heroes are the dedicated volunteers who strive tirelessly to meet costly maintenance bills.

"They are struggling to keep places of worship at the centre of our communities and care for their historic fabric."

Updated: 15:39 Wednesday, March 08, 2006