A much-loved Gloucestershire church is to share in a £520,000 funding payout from the National Churches Trust.
A £15,000 National Churches Trust Cornerstone Grant will help fund repairs to the tower roof at the Grade II listed St Bartholomew church, Redmarley D’Abitot, making the church watertight and preserving its historic fabric. The church is currently on Historic England At Risk Register.
Broadcaster and journalist Huw Edwards, Vice President of The National Churches Trust, said: “The UK’s historic churches and chapels are a vital part of our national heritage. But to survive, many need to carry out urgent repairs and install modern facilities. The cost of this work is far beyond what most congregations can pay for themselves.”
“I’m delighted that St Bartholomew church, Redmarley D’Abitot, a church packed with history, is being helped with a £15,000 National Churches Trust Grant. The work on the roof and tower will secure the future of this historic building and help to remove it from the Historic England ‘At Risk Register’.”
63 churches and chapels in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland will benefit from the latest grants from the National Churches Trust, the charity supporting church buildings of all Christian denominations across the UK.
In 2019, the Trust distributed over £1.2 million to help churches and chapels tackle urgent repairs, maintenance work and install modern facilities such as kitchens and toilets.
A wide range of grants from the National Churches Trust will be available to help places of worship in 2020 and full details can be found at www.nationalchurchestrust.org/grants
The church
There has been a church on this site since 1290. In 1553 the church built a tower surmounted by a steeple with four bells and one altar. In 1738 the upper part and steeple were demolished and a new bell tower, with six bells, was built.
There are examples of graffiti on the lead roof of the tower which is believed to date from the time this work was carried out.
The village became a battlefield for a Civil War skirmish during the siege of Gloucester in 1644, and the tower’s base bears the grooves where arrows were sharpened for use in the fighting.
In 1855 the newly appointed Rector rebuilt the church, which was almost double the size of the original building.
The project
The project will help fund urgent repairs to the parapet and rainwater chutes and also the repair and releading of the tower roof.
Hilary Morton Churchwarden at St Bartholomew’s said:
“We are very excited to have been awarded this significant contribution and are so grateful to the National Churches Trust. We, the community of Redmarley, have worked hard over the last three years to raise funds and this addition to our pot will ensure that the heritage of the tower will be preserved for future generations. Our contractors ‘Wall Walkers’ are doing an amazing job in doing the work, showing a real passion for helping preserve our historic building.”
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