St. Mary’s Church in Wirksworth has received initial support from The National Lottery Heritage Fund for the Faith Folk Foundation project, it was announced today. Made possible thanks to National Lottery players, the project aims to carry out repairs and improvement work to the church building and investigate the literal and historic foundations of the church and the town.
St Mary's is a Grade 1 listed building, and a member of the Major Churches Network, listed on English Heritage’s “Heritage at Risk” register and a much loved community building for the people of Wirksworth. Without this support from the Heritage Fund it would continue to deteriorate and the stories of local residents would remain un-investigated and unheard.
Development funding of £313,770 has been awarded by the Heritage Fund to help the PCC progress their plans to apply for a full National Lottery grant of £1.73million at a later date.
The project will enable extensive repair and restoration work to take place, including to the transept roofs, nave walls, windows and churchyard paths. It will also enable work to improve the lighting and heating systems and to provide a route to reduce the carbon footprint of the church community.
As a watertight, more easily accessible, better lit, better heated and lower carbon footprint building, the regular congregation will feel more comfortable, as will regular visitors, tourists and the many hundreds who join for our seasonal services and our many concerts and events throughout the year.
The project will also offer plenty of opportunities for local people in searching out the foundations of the church building, the origins of the town and the links through the ages between locals and the church community.
Rev Neil Griffiths, Team Rector at Wirksworth Team Ministry said: “We are thrilled to have received this initial support from The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Thanks to National Lottery players we can now develop our plans to repair our church and make it fit for the 21st century and future generations.”
