A 13th-CENTURY church has been given a new lease of life after it was offered £84,000 in lottery funding.
St John the Baptist Church, at Okewood Hill near Ockley, received the offer from English Heritage in order to cover essential works on the Grade II* listed building.
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St John the Baptist Church in Okewood Hill will benefit from an £84,000 grant to part-fund roof and spire repair work. Parishioners must raise the rest Photo by Mark Percy
The grant will be made available in two stages, with a first instalment of £21,000 being paid to fund research into repairs for the roof and spire, as well as investigations into the preservation of medieval wall paintings and conservation of historic stained glass.
The second stage, for which an “in principle” grant offer of £63,000 has been made, will enable all works identified in the first stage to be carried out.
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“We are so pleased,” said churchwarden Tony Godby.
“St John’s is at the very heart of worship in the parish.”
The congregation must still raise funds to gain enough money to complete all the work needed on the historic building, which will amount to around £140,000.
“We couldn’t possibly have raised the full amount ourselves so this is a great kick-start,” added Mr Godby.
“It’s very exciting, although at the same time quite challenging, because we have got a fair amount of money to raise,” said Reverend Nigel Knights Johnson, minister for the parish of Ockley, Okewood and Forest Green.
“But what it does do, providing it all comes together, is give a future to that church.”
Acts of worship have been taking place at the Church Lane site for almost 800 years.
“The last two winters have been very severe, which has been hard on the roof,” explained Mr Godby.
“There are a few places where people have been getting some raindrops on their head, although they say they don’t mind.”
The grant is reliant on the church taking the most environmentally friendly approach possible to the works, including carrying out an investigation to establish if bats are nesting in the historic building.
If they are found, adjustments must be made to ensure they are disturbed as little as possible.
Additionally, the first stage of the process must be completed by November.
“This goes a long way towards helping us to meet our stewardship obligations in preserving this ancient building for future generations of worshippers,” said Mr Godby.