£3m grant funding for repairs to Catholic churches announced

St Mary's, Great Yarmouth

Source: CCN

Following the award of a grant of £3m from the Government's Culture Recovery Fund, the Patrimony Committee of the Catholic Bishops' Conference is delighted to announce that funding has been offered to 29 Grade I and Grade II* listed churches and cathedrals throughout England. Churches in England were eligible to apply, and applications submitted, together with those submitted for Church of England churches and cathedrals, were presented to an Expert Panel comprising a range of national heritage specialists, and also reviewed by Historic England.

This grants programme is part of the government's Heritage Stimulus Fund, administered by Historic England and is aimed at supporting major repair projects which either stalled earlier this year because of Covid -19, or where loss of income due to many months of closure put urgently needed projects on hold. Architecturally outstanding Catholic churches and cathedrals are being supported across England, many in areas of severe deprivation where funding for repairs is beyond the means of the local congregation.

As well as seeing roofs, gutters and stonework repaired and churches made watertight, the grants will support many jobs in the historic buildings and conservation sector and protect much needed craft skills. The focus of the grants is on urgently needed repairs and works to enable buildings to remain open and in use for worship and as places of prayer.

Westminster Cathedral is to receive nearly £300k for brickwork conservation and to address urgently needed repairs. St Chad's Cathedral in Birmingham will be able to install a much-needed new fire alarm system with a grant of £92,900 and Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral will be able to restore the stained glass of its beautiful Blessed Sacrament Chapel designed by Ceri Richards. Other Cathedrals being supported include Nottingham where a 40-year-old boiler urgently needs replacing and Norwich Cathedral which has a number of targeted repair projects including the long overdue renewal of its main power supply cabling. In Preston, the Cathedral of St Alphonsa - formerly the Jesuit church of St Ignatius where the priest and poet Gerard Manley Hopkins once served - is to receive just over £135k for urgent roof repairs and to address a serious outbreak of dry rot. St Alphonsa is the Cathedral of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Eparchy.

Churches where repairs are being supported include the beautiful Georgian church of St Patrick's, Toxteth, built in 1821; EW Pugin's masterpiece, All Saints, Barton-upon-Irwell at Trafford Park, Manchester; the magnificent St Michael's, Elswick in Newcastle-upon-Tyne; St Joseph's, Pontefract; St. Mary's, Great Yarmouth where water is getting in through a failed valley gutter and damaging an important mural of Our Lady of Yarmouth; the much visited Shrine of Our Lady and St Simon Stock at Aylesford in Kent and churches in Bournemouth, Lyme Regis, Torquay and Launceston. Every one of these has an important and unique story to tell about their history and the contribution these glorious buildings continue to make to their congregations and to the wider community.

In welcoming the announcement of these grants, The Most Rev George Stack, Archbishop of Cardiff and Chair of the Patrimony Committee of the Catholic Bishops' Conference, said:

"It is marvellous that so many of our outstanding historic churches will be helped with the cost of much needed repairs through the award of this grant. We are deeply grateful to the Government and Historic England for awarding the funds to make this happen. It is enormously reassuring to those charged with the privilege and responsibility of caring for these outstanding buildings which are so much part of our heritage, that the urgent work of repairing leaking roofs and failing gutters may begin. The much-needed protection measures to the fabric of these "glimpses of heaven" is a challenge and reassurance in these complex times."

The full list follows:

Historic England Heritage Stimulus Fund: Grants for Programmes of Major Works

Grants awarded to Catholic Churches and Cathedrals - Listed by Historic England Region

North West

Cathedral of St. Alphonsa of the Immaculate Conception, formerly known as St Ignatius' Church Preston, Lancs.
Urgent works to address serious dry rot in roofs and aisle arches
£135,880.40

St Peter's Cathedral, Lancaster
Cathedral internal emergency lighting scheme
£16,029.00

St Patrick's, Toxteth, Liverpool
Urgent external & internal repairs following outbreak of dry rot
£78,524.00

St Philip Neri, Liverpool
Side aisle roof covering replacement and Crypt waterproofing works
£30,448.00

Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King, Liverpool
Replacement of leaking rotunda roof to Crypt entrance
£20,896.00

Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King, Liverpool
Urgent repairs to Blessed Sacrament Chapel windows
£10,480.00

Church of the Holy Name, Oxford Road, Manchester
Roof repairs to Sacred Heart Chapel and Holy Souls Chapel in South Transept
£102,765.00

All Saints Church, Barton-upon-Irwell, Trafford Park, Manchester
de Trafford Chapel and North Porch urgent roof repairs
£84,956.80

Cathedral of St John the Evangelist, Salford
Re-roofing of War Memorial Chapel
£83,840.80

North East and Yorkshire

St Michael's, Elswick, Newcastle on Tyne
Re-roofing of North Aisle and associated timber repairs
£37,040.00

St Mary's Church, Hexham
External repairs including timber windows
£20,765.00

St Mary's Cathedral Church, Newcastle
Repair to stonework of East window
£24,000.00

St Joseph's, Pontefract
Urgent repairs to gutters and rainwater goods
£35,660.00

St Anne's Cathedral, Leeds
Replacement of fire alarm system and repair of damaged stonework
£50,000.00

St Wilfrid's, Ripon
Repair of high level windows
£75,000.00

Ampleforth Abbey, Yorks.
Repair of aisle roofs
£175,209.00

Midlands

St Chad's Cathedral, Birmingham
Renewal of fire alarm system
£92,900.00

St Barnabas Cathedral, Nottingham
Renewal of 40 year old boiler and repairs to belfry floor
£70,000.00

East of England

St Mary's RC Church Great Yarmouth, Norfolk
Re-roofing of sanctuary side chapels and old sacristy
£148,598.00

St John the Baptist Cathedral, Norwich
Repairs to North transept roof
£73,854.00

St John the Baptist Cathedral, Norwich
Urgent replacement of stolen rainwater goods.
£98,071.00

St John the Baptist Cathedral, Norwich
Urgent replacement of unsafe electrical supply cables and distribution panels.
£142,146.60

St Peter's RC Church, Gorleston, Norfolk
Replacement of tower windows and transept windows
£136,882.00

London and South East

Metropolitan Cathedral of the Most Precious Blood, (Westminster Cathedral), London
External brickwork conservation and repairs. Urgent conservation and repairs arising from the 2018 QI report
£299,908.00

Shrine of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and St Simon Stock, Aylesford, Kent
Reroofing of the Shrine and associated Chapels
£209,745.00

South West

The Annunciation and St Edmund Campion, Bournemouth
Urgent external masonry repair works
£203,270.00

St Mary's, Cricklade, Wiltshire
Urgent underpinning and repair of north wall due to ground movement.
£64,500.00

Our Lady of the Annunciation (Woodchester Priory), Glos.
Urgent repairs to listed boundary wall
£58,200.00

St. Michael and St. George, Lyme Regis, Dorset
Urgent external repair works
£140,800.00

St. Cuthbert Mayne, Launceston, Cornwall
Re-roofing of church
£200,000.00

Our Lady Help of Christians and St Denis, Torquay, Devon
Urgent roof repairs
£77,750.00