Lutton and Wigtoft in '˜big deal' with £131,000 church funding

St Nicholas Church, Lutton, and St Peter and St Paul’s Church, Wigtoft, were among 400 churches to share in cash towards roof repairs of nearly £23 million.

The money is from the Listed Places of Worship: Roof Repair Fund, run by the National Heritage Memorial Fund on behalf of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

St Nicholas Church was given £59,900 and parish priest, Father Jonathan Sibley, said: “We’re very lucky to get quite a helpful grant to repair the south roof which hasn’t had anything done to it for just over two years.

“It’s helped us having architects who are quite nationally known and this grant means we can go forward with the work to make the building watertight.”

Both grade I-listed churches were targeted by lead thieves recently, with St Nicholas having been one of 20 churches hit by a gang convicted of stealing 70 tonnes of lead in December 2012.

Meanwhile, St Peter and St Paul’s not only had lead stripped from its roof but the organ was damaged as well.

Treasurer John Craggs said: “We’re both extremely pleased and slightly amazed as we understood there were quite a few applications this year and, therefore, we were expecting to have to apply a few times.

“We had a number of lead thefts which led to leaks in the roof so this grant will help protect the building and pay for the first work to be done to it for over 50 years.

“For a fairly small village like Wigtoft this is going to be a big deal.”

Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne said: “Churches and cathedrals are a pillar of British life and we are committed to ensuring future generations will be able to admire and use these historic buildings.