Funding boost for project to restore church

A project to restore a church currently closed for urgent repairs and renovations has received a funding boost.

St Mary Magdelene, in Newark, Nottinghamshire, shut its doors in November, with repairs to the leaking roof being a priority.

The entire cost of the scheme is estimated at nearly £4m, with grants coming from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, support from Historic England and the Church of England.

This has been boosted with two new grants from the National Churches Trust (NCT) and Wolfson Foundation totalling nearly £19,000.

Parts of the Grade I listed building on Church Walk date back to the 12th Century and its 236 feet (72 m) high spire is believed to the fifth highest in England.

As well as being a historic place of worship, the church functions as community space, hosting toddler groups, youth hangouts, a community cafe, library group, flowers festivals and regular concerts.

But the building, which features on Historic England's Heritage at Risk Register, is now closed until November 2025 while restoration work is carried out.

The NCT funding is specifically for work on "crumbling" external stone work.

Andrew Fearn, church warden and lead for the Reawakening project, said: "If you look down at the roof from the tower you can see where parapets have come adrift.

"As they have come adrift they have been place on the roof for safety, to prevent them falling off.

"And one of the first tasks for the masons is, where the parapets are in place, repair them, and where they are not, replace them."

Claire Walker, chief executive of the NCT, said: "We are delighted to be able to support St Mary Magdalene church to enable them to carry out urgent repairs to their beautiful building.

"Not only will this protect this important heritage, but it will help to keep the church building open and serving local people."

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