PRESS RELEASE FROM THE NATIONAL CHURCHES TRUST – 16 DECEMBER 2016
Christmas funding boost for All Saints, Bolton Percy
All Saints, Bolton Percy, on the Historic England ‘At Risk Register’, is set to benefit from a £596,000 rescue funding package from the National Churches Trust, the UK’s church repair and support charity.
The church has been awarded a £20,000 National Churches Trust Repair Grant to help fund a project to re-roof the nave and aisles, and to repair roof timbers, parapets, gutters and flashing. The work will protect the interior of the building from damage by the elements and therefore preserve the many historic features including monuments, furniture and the stained glass windows.
A total of 36 churches and chapels in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland will benefit from the latest grants from the National Churches Trust, the UK church repair and support charity.
Top of the 2016 list of funding requests received by the charity include repairs to roofs, stonework and drainage and the provision of toilets and kitchens.
“Everyone can make a contribution to the future of the UK’s church and chapel buildings. That could be by helping to clear drains and gutters to help keep churches watertight or by keeping an eye out for vandals or thieves.”
“Churches and chapels may be historic buildings, but they can be part of our future, too.”
YORKSHIRE: All Saints, Bolton Percy YO23 3TX,
Diocese of York – Anglican – Grade I
On the Historic England ‘Heritage at Risk’ Register
www.allsaintsboltonpercy.co.uk
Awarded a £20,000 National Churches Trust Repair Grant to help fund a project to re-roof the nave and aisles, and to repair roof timbers, parapets, gutters and flashing.
Nestled in the quiet North Yorkshire village of Bolton Percy, All Saints is an old church with a long history and a big heart. Set in a peaceful, tranquil churchyard All Saints’ was erected in the 15th century on the site of an earlier church and consecrated in 1424.
Notable features within the church include: a Jacobean pulpit and oak box pews; a font that originates from Norman times with a Jacobean cover; numerous monuments around the walls and set into the floor, notably commemorating the Fairfax family, prominent members of the nobility in the 17th and 18th centuries. Visitors come from far and wide to view the church’s fourteen stunning stained glass windows. All are beautiful works of art in themselves but the East Window and the Millennium Window attract the most attention.
The project will include recovering the roof over the nave, aisles, and tower together with repairs to roof timbers parapet gutters and flashings and structural oak timbers. The work will protect the interior of the building from damage by the elements and therefore preserve the many historic features including monuments, furniture and the stained glass windows. It will also ensure that the building can be removed from the Historic England at Risk Register.
Broadcaster and Journalist Huw Edwards, Vice-President of the National Churches Trust said:
“I’m delighted that this Christmas the future of All Saints, Bolton Percy, is being safeguarded by a National Churches Trust grant to fund roof repairs. This funding will help ensure that this historic place of worship continues to serve local people for many years to come and that the building can be removed from the Historic England ‘At Risk Register’. Churches and chapels are some of the UK’s best loved buildings. But their future is not guaranteed.”
“This Christmas, when people visit a church or chapel for a carol service or even just walk past a church on the way to do the Christmas shopping, I urge them to think about how they can help ensure that churches can remain open and in good repair.”