Church Appeals

LIKE many parish churches in Britain, Wardour chapel is appealing for a large sum of money to make building repairs. The fabric of a church remains the financial responsibility of the parish and, its congregation. Some dioceses, but not all, can be approached for loans. Many small congregations struggle to help their church, but finally depend on outside support.

Approaches to grant-making sources are not always successful - even when a church meets the necessary criteria. As a Grade I listed building, Wardour chapel has been given grant aid by English Heritage, the government-funded grant-making commission which spent pounds 10.5m on church buildings last year. The commission will consider repair applications from churches which are listed Grade I and II*, and Grade II listed when situated in a conservation area. Demand within these categories is high and last year about half only of the 500 applications were successful. During the last few years English Heritage has spent more on grants to churches than to secular buildings.

If an application to English Heritage fails, a church can approach the Historic Churches Preservation Trust, another, smaller, grant-making organisation working with the Incorporated Church Building Society to help churches of historic interest over 100 years old. Last year 389 churches were so assisted. In January the trust created a 'Friends' group: members receive the Historic Churches Review twice a year and information on events throughout the country. For further information, contact: The Historic Churches Preservation Trust, Fulham Palace, London SW6 6EA, telephone 071-736 3054.

Wardour chapel is built within the west wing of Wardour Castle, a neoclassical house designed by James Paine for the Arundell family in the late 18th century. The chapel was enlarged by John Soane and its interior embellished with marble, silver and gilt from Rome. It serves one of the oldest Catholic communities in Britain and since 1898 has been administered by a charitable trust. It is appealing for pounds 200,000, a third of the total cost, to mend crumbling stonework and a leaking roof. For further information, contact: The Wardour Chapel Appeal, Fisherton de la Mere House, Warminster, Wiltshire BA12 0PZ, telephone 09856 252.

St Mary the Virgin, Ingestre, Staffordshire. Built 1675: possibly designed by Christopher Wren - the only church outside London connected with his name. Its exterior reminiscent of St Bride's, Fleet Street, its interior featuring a baroque plasterwork ceiling over the nave, a carved reredos and chancel screen, and pulpit in the manner of Grinling Gibbons. Appeal: pounds 75,000, for general restoration of the church's fabric. - Ingestre PCC Treasurer, 3 Cliff Road, Great Haywood, Stafford ST18 OSZ, telephone 0889 881194.

St Peter and St Paul, Eckington, Derbyshire. Early 12th century. Norman arcading in the nave; 13th-century west tower topped with a spire in the 14th century. Chancel, rebuilt 1907, retains funerary monuments of the Sitwell family from nearby Renishaw Hall. Appeal: pounds 50,000, to restore weatherbeaten tower and roof of south aisle. - Eckington PCC, The Rectory, 17 Church Street, Eckington, Sheffield S31 9BG, telephone 0246 432196.

St Helen, Stickford, Lincolnshire. 13th century. Fine 15th-century octagonal stone font with carved panels. Appeal: pounds 42,000, to restore the west tower's unusual brick parapet. - Stickford PCC Treasurer, Green Roofs, Stickford, Boston, Lincolnshire PE22 8EP, telephone 0205 480209.

Holy Trinity, Southport, Merseyside. Early 20th century. Cathedral-like, Grade II listed building; flying buttresses, pinnacled tower with an open-work lantern, elaborately carved oak screen and organ-case. Appeal: pounds 230,000, second phase - to repair tower and north turret - of five-phase restoration plan. - Appeal Director, 79 Cornwall Way, Ainsdale, Southport, Merseyside PR8 3SH, telephone 0704 78178.

Chantry Chapel of St Mary the Virgin, Wakefield, West Yorkshire. Built 1340-56. One of four surviving bridge chapels, forming a buttress to a medieval stone bridge crossing the River Calder. Appeal: pounds 100,000, for repairs to roof timbers and stonework. - The Hon Treasurer, Friends of the Wakefield Chantry Chapel, 37 Greenhill Road, Wakefield WF1 4LY, telephone 0924 383889.

St Andrew's, Scredington, Lincolnshire. Medieval with Victorian additions. The north aisle contains two ancient tombs. Appeal: pounds 20,000, for general repairs and to restore the bells and clock. - The Rev Paul Masterton, 2 Vicarage Lane, Helpringham, Sleaford, Lincolnshire NG34 ORP, telephone 0529 21435.

St Chad's, Woodend, Coventry, West Midlands. Built 1961. A church serving a severely deprived area with high incidence of crime. Appeal: pounds 30,000, to arrest deterioration and to improve facilities. - Canon GF Warner, Stoke Rectory, Walsgrave Road, Coventry CV2 4BG, telephone 0203 635731.

St Margaret's, King's Lynn, Norfolk. 12th-century priory church, with later additions. Nave rebuilt in 1725 after the south-west tower's spire collapsed. Appeal: pounds 300,000, to complete exterior building restoration programme. - The Appeal Director, St Margaret's Vicarage, King's Lynn, Norfolk PE30 5DL, telephone 0553 631422.

Kirkcudbright Parish Church, Galloway, Scotland. Built 1838. Two pulpits, one for the precentor who led the singing before the organ was installed in 1878. Appeal: pounds 200,000 over 10 years, to clean and replace parts of the sandstone exterior. - The Rev Stewart Wilson, 6 Bourtree Avenue, Kirkcudbright, Galloway DG6 4AU, telephone 0557 30489.

St Margaret's, Ilkley, West Yorkshire. Built 1879, designed by Richard Norman Shaw. Ornate carved painted screens, some by Edward Burne-Jones. Appeal: pounds 100,000, to replace the roof. - The Treasurer, 3 High Wheatley, Ilkley, West Yorkshire LS29 8RX, telephone 0943 607027.

St Andrew's Cathedral, Inverness, Scotland. Built 1866, designed by Alexander Ross. First cathedral to be built in Britain since the Reformation. The font is a copy of Thorvaldsen's Kneeling Angel in Copenhagen. Appeal: pounds 80,000, to overhaul the clerestory, tower windows and some stonework. - The Treasurer, Appeal Office, 15 Ardross Street, Inverness IV3 5NS, telephone 0463 73444.

St Paul's, Stalybridge, Cheshire. Built 1839, in what was the centre of a cotton-mill-owner's urban development for his employees. Grade II listed. Appeal: pounds 500,000, to redevelop and refurbish the church, which has had its lead stolen and has dry rot. - The Rev Paul Robinson, St Paul's Vicarage, Huddersfield Road, Stalybridge, Cheshire SK15 2PT, telephone 061-338 2514.

St Barnabas's, Mitcham, Surrey. Built 1914. Grade II listed. Closely linked with the London City School, which has provided manpower and support over the years. Appeal: pounds 60,000, for rewiring, redecorating and repairs to the roof. - The Rev David Kirkwood, St Barnabas's Vicarage, 46 Thirsk Road, Mitcham, Surrey CR4 2BD, telephone 081-648 2571.

St Peter and St Paul, Butlers Marston, Warwickshire. 12th century, with later additions. Appeal: pounds 27,000, for external stonework, particularly to the 15th-century tower, and for organ repairs. - The Rev David Ching, Ettington Vicarage, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire CV37 7SH, telephone 0789 740225.

St Mary and St John, Hinxton, Essex. Built 1150, with distinctive candle-snuffer-shaped spire and sanctus bell, medieval choir-stalls and chancel screen. Appeal: pounds 90,000, to improve drainage and repair tower roof. - Mrs Julie Baillie, Church Warden, 9 High Street, Hinxton, Saffron Walden, Essex CB10 1QY, telephone 0799 30684.

Emmanuel United Reformed Church, Cambridge. Built 1874, on the site of the former Half Moon Inn, where worship had taken place for 200 years. Appeal: pounds 100,000, to improve access, with space for exhibitions and music and a quiet place for prayer. - The Rev Derek Wales, 8 Hurst Park Avenue, Cambridge CB4 2AE, telephone 0223 354725.

St Michael's, Beccles, Suffolk. Built 1369 in the Perpendicular style. Its detached 16th-century tower was purchased in 1972 by the then Beccles Town Council; the tower is still maintained by the council. Appeal: pounds 120,000 to restore the nave, the chancel windows and the double-storeyed porch. - Friends of St Michael's Church, 16 Fredericks Road, Beccles, Suffolk NR34 9UL, telephone 0502 711527.

St John the Evangelist, Old Trafford, Manchester. Built 1908, designed by RB Preston, with a noted east window. Appeal: pounds 90,000 over the next five years, for roof repairs. - The Rev CS Ford, St John's Rectory, Lindum Avenue, Old Trafford, Manchester M16 9NQ, telephone 061-872 0500.

St Andrew's, Colyton, Devon. Dates from Saxon times. Its 15th-century lantern tower built on top of a Norman tower was intended to guide boats up the Axe estuary. Appeal: pounds 85,000, to stabilise structural cracks in the lantern. - Joseph Webb, Appeal Chairman, 55 Burnards Field Road, Colyton EX13 6PE, telephone 0297 553388.

St James's, Longdon, Staffordshire. 12th century, with some fine Norman architecture. Appeal: pounds 60,000, for general restoration and repairs, including re-leading some stained-glass windows. - The Rev Peter Holliday, The Vicarage, Longdon, near Rugeley, Staffordshire WS15 4PS, telephone 0543 490307.

St Michael's, Church Stowe, Northamptonshire. Saxon tower and late Gothic nave thought to have been built on the site of a shrine attached to the local cult of St Alnoth and St Werburgh dating from the eighth century. Appeal: pounds 15,000, to repair the tower. - Mrs FM Blencowe, Treasurer, High Rising, Church Stowe, Northampton NN7 4SG, telephone 0327 40240.

St Michael's, Buckland Dinham, Somerset. Noted for its 12th-century font and 15th-century porch roof. Grade I listed. Appeal: pounds 20,000, for rewiring, essential repairs to the porch roof and to rehang the bells. - The Rev Dan Olive, The Rectory, Gay Street, Mells, Frome, Somerset BA11 3PT, telephone 0373 812320.

St Mary's, West Stow, Suffolk. Medieval with 19th-century restoration, in an Anglo-Saxon village. Appeal: pounds 60,000, to repair the tower which is so fragile it cannot support having the bells rung. - The Rev Robert Clifton, West Stow Rectory, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk IP28 6ET, telephone 0284 728556.

St Anne and St Laurence, Elmstead, Essex. 11th-century; Grade I listed, with an open medieval chancel including a three-seater sedilla and a piscina. Appeal: pounds 103,000, to repair nave ceiling and roof, for a new heating system and redecoration. - E. Newcomb, Chairman of the Buildings Committee, Tudor House, The Green, Elmstead Market, Colchester, Essex CO7 7AG, telephone 0206 824041.

St Mary and St Michael, Trumpington, Cambridge. Late 13th century, with the oldest stained glass in Cambridgeshire and an early brass of Sir Roger de Trumpington (c1290); also a memorial tablet by Eric Gill. Appeal: pounds 90,000, for restoration of the church and its hall. - The Rev Nicholas Thistlethwaite, The Vicarage, Trumpington, Cambridge CB2 2LH, telephone 0223 841262.

St Mary the Virgin, Witney, Oxfordshire. Norman, with 12th-century porch; tower and spire in Early English style. Appeal: pounds 175,000, for re-roofing, general repairs and to restore the organ. - The Rev Roland Meredith, The Rectory, 13 Station Lane, Witney, Oxfordshire OX8 6BH, telephone 0993 702517.

St Mary Magdalene, Taunton, Somerset. Late 15th century with distinctive Perpendicular-style tower. Appeal: pounds 135,000, to repair the tower's stonework - two pinnacles have fallen through the roof. - Peter Bettesworth, Church Warden, St Mary's Vicarage, Church Square, Taunton, Somerset TA1 1SA, telephone 0823 272441.

Thrumhall Methodist Church, Rochdale, Lancashire. Built 1972. Appeal: pounds 30,000, to make the building more accessible to elderly and disabled people. - Thrumhall Methodist Church, c/o 38 Shawclough Way, Rochdale, Lancashire OL12 7HF, telephone 0706 352494.

St Peter's, Greenhill, Sheffield. Built 1967, designed in the shape of 'onion rings' with a pyramid-shaped spire. Appeal: pounds 400,000, to build a parish centre. - Fr Roy Pannell, St Peter's Clergy House, Reney Avenue, Sheffield S8 7FN, telephone 0742 377422.

St Michael and All Angels, Waddesdon, Buckinghamshire. 11th century, Grade II* listed, restored in 1862; unique steel bells and a 300-year-old clock. Appeal: pounds 32,000, to re-roof the nave and the north aisle, and restore the bells and clock. - Richard Skym, Church Warden, 37 Frederick Street, Waddesdon, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire HP18 0LU, telephone 0296 651337.

St Mary's, Totnes, Devon. 11th-century priory. Became a parish church in the 15th century; a rare stone screen was built in 1459. Appeal: pounds 70,000, to repair the north parapet wall, the roof, windows and the tower. - The Rev Roger Smith, The Rectory, Crosspark, Totnes, Devon TQ9 5BQ, telephone 0803 864836.

St James's, Bramley, Hampshire. 11th century, Norman Transition style; main building 12th century; 17th-century west tower. Renowned for its medieval wall-paintings, hidden by limewash until 1880: the oldest - 13th century - depicts the martyrdom of Thomas a Becket; the most elaborate - early 16th century - is of St Christopher. Appeal: pounds 20,000, to uncover and restore further paintings. - Cliff Wallis, Bramley Wall Paintings Restoration Appeal, Oakview, The Street, Bramley, Basingstoke RG26 5BO, telephone 0256 881689.

Pershore Abbey, Pershore, Worcestershire. Founded in 689 as a Benedictine monastery, much of which was destroyed following the Dissolution of the monasteries in the late 1530s: afterwards the inhabitants of Pershore paid pounds 400 to save the transepts, the tower and the Early English choir. Appeal: pounds 1m, to save the Norman south transept and for essential repairs. - Pershore Abbey Appeal Trust, PO Box 37, Pershore, Worcestershire WR10 2YA, telephone 0386 860801.

St Mary's, Kyre, Tenbury Wells, Worcestershire. Tiny 12th-century church in the Kyre valley, noted for its medieval wall-paintings. Appeal: pounds 10,000 to pay for rebuilt tower and spire, and to restore paintings. - Professor Gordon Lawrence, Little Netherwood, Stoke Bliss, Tenbury Wells, Worcestershire WR15 8RT, telephone 0885 410272.

LONDON

St George's, Hanworth, Middlesex. Built 1812 (by James Wyatt), replacing the medieval church. Reputed to be the smallest parish in the Diocese of London. Appeal: pounds 150,000, for general restoration, mainly stonework. - The Rev Paul Williamson, The Rectory, 7 Blakewood Close, Hanworth TW13 7NL, telephone 081-844 0457.

St Mary's, Primrose Hill. Built 1872. Birthplace of the English Hymnal. Appeal: pounds 50,000, for restoration of the original 1873 Hill organ. - The Secretary, Organ Appeal Committee, St Mary's Church, Elsworthy Road, London NW3 3BP, telephone 071-722 3238.

St John the Evangelist with all Saints, Waterloo. Built 1822-24. Bombed in 1940 and restored in 1950, it was rededicated in 1951 as the Festival of Britain Church. Appeal: pounds 1m, an extensive restoration programme now concentrated on the exterior and the spire. - The Appeal Co-ordinator, 1 Secker Street, London SE1 8UF, telephone 071-928 2003/4470.

St Anne's, Limehouse. Completed 1730, one of six churches designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor under the 1711 Act for building 50 new churches in London. Grade I listed. Burnt to a shell in 1850 and restored. Recent restoration to exterior. Appeal: pounds 1.5m, for major interior restoration. - Appeal Administrator, The Rectory, 5 Newell Street, London E14 7HP, telephone 071-987 1502.

St Michael's, Chester Square. Built 1846, with a Memorial Chapel added after the First World War. Appeal: pounds 325,000, to complete the present interior refurbishment. - St Michael's Appeal Office, 9 Hillier Road, London SW11 6AX, telephone 071-223 5761.

All Saints Church, Marylebone. Built 1850-59, designed by William Butterfield. Renowned for its music and liturgy, with a professional choir of 12 men and women. Appeal: pounds 400,000, to safeguard the choir's future. - The Senior Trustee, All Saints Church Marylebone Choir and Music Trust Fund, 7 Margaret Street, London W1N 8JQ, telephone 071-636 1788.

Methodist Central Hall, Westminster. Built 1905-12. Headquarters of the Methodist Church, where services are held each week. Grade II* listed. Appeal: pounds 1m, towards refurbishment of the building and mission work of the church. - The General Manager, Twenty-First Century Fund, Westminster Central Hall, Storey's Gate, London SW1H 9NH, telephone 071-222 8010.

St Mary's, Hampstead. Built 1745, on the site of a medieval church and re-named St John-at-Hampstead. Rededicated again to St Mary in 1816, as a Roman Catholic church: disguised as a house until 1850, when Catholics were allowed to organise themselves more freely, and the present stucco facade was built. Appeal: pounds 567,000, to banish dry rot and prevent further damp penetration. - The Rev Michael Brockie, 4 Holly Place, Hampstead, London NW3 6QU, telephone 071-435 6678.

St Cyprian's, Clarence Gate. Built 1900, designed by Sir Ninian Comper. Gothic revival, with a light and colourful interior. Grade II* listed. Appeal: pounds 125,000, to repair roof, stonework and the Spurden Rutt organ. - The Rev Peter Harding, St Cyprian's Church, Clarence Gate, Glentworth Street, London NW1 6AX, telephone 071-402 6979.

St Mary's, Hornsey Rise. Built 1860, designed by AD Gough. Distinctive spire, completed in 1869. Appeal: pounds 120,000, for refurbishment, re-ordering and new halls for activities. - The Rev Malcolm Colmer, 3 Highcroft Road, London N19 3AQ, telephone 071-272 1783.

Downsview Methodist Church, Downsview Road. Built 1930, to serve housing development in the area. Appeal: pounds 200,000 to provide facilities for the disabled and a new meeting hall. - The Rev Elizabeth Cresswell, 1 Waddington Way, Upper Norwood, London SE19 3XJ, telephone 081-653 6701.

A further instalment of Church Appeals will be published on the Gazette page next Saturday, 1 August. Unfortunately, no more submissions can be accepted, but we will be repeating the feature later in the year. Details will be provided in the autumn.

(Photograph omitted)