CONGREGATIONS at three West Devon churches will be 'raising the roof' after hearing of big grant awards to repair their sacred buildings.

They are three of a group of 23 churches in the Diocese of Exeter to receive grants totalling more than £1.25-million from the Roof Repair Fund for Listed Places of Worship.

More than a third of the Devon churches that applied for funding received a grant from between £10,000 and £100,000 towards the urgent repair of roofs, gutters and drains.

The fund is administered by the National Heritage Memorial Fund on behalf of the Department for Culture Media and Sport.

Among the successful applicants are the Church of St Michael de Rupe, Brentor, which has been awarded £83,500 and St Leonard's Church at Sheepstor, which will receive £36,500.

The maximum grant of £100,000 went to the parish church in St Dominick in South East Cornwall and there was a bumper award of £48,700 to St Bridget#'s Church, Bridestowe.

The Rev Preb Nick Shutt, the rector of the West Dartmoor Mission Community and the vicar at St Leonard's Church, Sheepstor, was 'absolutely delighted' with the news and commended the hard work of churchwarden Richard Bayly on the application.

'Trying to repair a Grade I building such as this is a constant battle and they are a real money pit,' he said.

'Such a small congregation raising an amount like this would be an enormous task so I say a big "well done" to the folk of Sheepstor.'

Churchwarden Richard Bayly was also delighted with the news that the St Leonard's application had been successful.

'I would love good news like this everyday,' he told the Times.

'We are a tiny church serving 43 people in the village. You don't get much smaller than that.

'Like a lot of old churches we have a lot of damp.

'We have an architect survey the church every five years and he recommended there was an urgent need to repair.

'So this award is very welcome, it is a one-off and not likely to happen again, so we are absolutely delighted.'

Mr Bayly explained that St Leonard's was hoping not only to carry out the necessary repairs, but also build a visitor centre.

'We feel very gratified and hope when the repairs are completed and we have a new visitor centre, we can ensure that the church can continue to be there, not just for the local congregation, but also to welcome visitors to the moor.'

The monies will go towards repair of the tower roof, a porch roof, guttering and downpipes.

Churchwarden of the iconic Church of St Michael de Rupe (St Michael of the Rock) at Brentor, Kate Kelly, said she was 'absolutely thrilled to bits' at the news of the grant — as were fellow churchwarden David Harris and all the active Friends of the church.

She said: 'In the winter of 2013 storms blew off a tranche of the south side of the church roof and architect Simon Cartlidge recommended that the roof needed urgent repairs with in 12 to 18 months.

'The opportunity to apply for this grant suddenly came up. Simon pushed us in that direction and we had to have the application in by December 2014. Without Simon's hard work it would not have happened.'

The amount asked for by St Michael's was exactly the amount awarded.

Kate told the Times that the church now had to apply to the Exeter diocese to 'obtain the faculty' (planning permission) to go ahead. Hopefully the work, once permission was granted and tenders awarded, would start this time next year.

The Rev Adrian Brook, vicar at St Bridget's, Bridestowe, praised the work of the Friends of St Bridget in their work to secure the grant by filling out the 'quite complex application forms'.'

'St Bridget's is a quiet and serene building which is an important part of the village and not just for our small congregation, but for everyone to enjoy.

'Many people, whether they worship here or not, just like to sit in the pews to experience peace and quiet and I think it is very important that such sacred places are kept open.

'Churches and buildings like St Bridget's are very much part of our heritage and they belong to everybody, not just the church.

'This money will help us keep such buildings in good repair and open to many to enjoy.'