A TAVISTOCK church is counting its blessings after receiving a £35,000 grant towards the costly upkeep of its building.

The Church of Our Lady and St Mary Magdalene in Callington Road received the boost from grants awarded by the the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and English Heritage as part of its joint 'Repair Grants for Places of Worship scheme'.

The organisations announced last week that £479,000 is going to six grade one and two listed places of worship across Devon and Cornwall.

The joint scheme is the largest single source of funds to help congregations to care for historic churches, chapels, synagogues and other historic places of worship.

St Mary's was built in 1865 as a chapel of ease for the western part of Tavistock, commissioned by the Duke of Bedford during the extraordinary expansion of the town in response to the boom in the copper industry.

It was designed by Henry Clutton, the Duke's architect. It is Italianate in manner with a strikingly tall, almost-detached tower. The detailing is a mixture of Romanesque arcading and Gothic capitals.

Despite the economic climate, HLF and English Heritage have been able to maintain the planned level of funding and support for places of worship in the current financial year.

The HLF has provided an extra £9-million to maintain the £25-million value of the total grants budget for 2010.

There will be no reduction in the expert advice English Heritage staff and local support officers give to congregations all over Devon and Cornwall.

Andrew Vines, South West director of English Heritage, said: 'Thanks to the generosity of the Heritage Lottery Fund, and ultimately, therefore, of lottery players, our historic places of worship in direct need still have the vital safety net of the Repair Grants scheme.

'Without it, many brave but struggling congregations would be faced with watching their beloved churches and chapels falling into ruin.

'Instead, the combination of Heritage Lottery Fund money and English Heritage advice is seeing these wonderful buildings revived and restored and becoming ever more central to their communities as places of prayer and celebration and as a hub for local services.'