Church grant after masonry chunks fell from tower

A church has been granted funding after chunks of masonry fell from its tower.

Father Ben Thompson, from St John's Church in Workington, said volunteers had to manage safety concerns instead of supporting charitable activities after large pieces of stonework were discovered in its churchyard last autumn.

Thompson, the rector at the church, said they would combine £708,310 in government funding with the church's own savings to tackle longstanding structural problems.

He said the church had already been struggling financially before having to put up protective scaffolding, costing £2,000 a month, so "without this funding we'd be looking at a very slow decline of the church and its resources".

"Unfortunately bits of it [stonework] are falling off and last autumn we discovered large lumps of masonry in the churchyard," he said.

Thompson said previous repairs had provided only temporary solutions and the latest work was intended to address the underlying problems.

He also said the congregation had endured a difficult period, including the deaths of several members.

The church runs activities including a community choir, green spaces project and warm space hub.

Thompson said the struggling church's resources had been spent managing safety rather than voluntary causes, which could have resulted in withdrawing community support before potentially closing altogether.

The funding will allow volunteers to concentrate on community work and potentially expand the church's activities, he said.

The grant is part of a funding scheme of more than £18m being awarded to 51 places of worship across England through the government's Places of Worship Renewal Fund, administered by Historic England.

It is hoped the repairs will be completed by the middle of 2027.

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