THE congregation of a West Devon church must be saying a small prayer of thanks after hearing news that a £124,000 grant has been confirmed towards the building's urgent repairs.
St Thomas a Beckett Church in Sourton, which dates mainly back to the 15th century, has secured an award towards the cost of works desperately needed to the Grade 2 listed building.
The grants were awarded by English Heritage and the Heritage Lottery Fund under the organisations' joint 'Repair Grants for Places of Worship' scheme.
St Thomas a Beckett, named after the Archbishop of Canterbury who was murdered in 1170, is a medieval church on the edge of Dartmoor. It comprises a chancel, nave and north aisle, with a three stage western tower and south porch.
The walls of the church and tower are of local granite from the moor nearby, but the tower walls are missing chunks of pointing and have ferns growing.
Inside, some of the tower walls are green with algae growth and in one joint a plant is growing. A central beam in the bell chamber is rotten, with a hole through its centre, which is leaking onto the floor below.
The grant will help fund urgent repairs to the roof, beams and walls.
English Heritage granted £25,000 for stage one for exploration works and preparation to see what repairs were required. Health and safety, archaeological and conservation reports have to be paid for and the cost of this stage, including VAT, is £41,000.
English Heritage awarded a further £99,000 towards stage two — the actual building costs. The total cost of repairs is estimated to be around more than £180,000.
The Rev Geoff Harris, curate at St Thomas, is delighted with the windfall.
'We are quite excited about it. The majority of the congregation are quite excited about it but one or two understandably are concerned about the money we still have to raise, but it is possible.
'My view is that if God wants to find a way of keeping this church going, then he will.
'Sourton is a small community and there are many people who work very hard to keep and maintain St Thomas a Beckett for the present and future generations to worship and enjoy.'
The congregation will still have to raise more than £40,000 towards the project, much through activities organised by its members.
The Rev Stephen Cook, who is in charge of the Northmoor team which includes the church, is also pleased for the the congregation and parishoners.
He said: 'It's great news. St Thomas a Beckett is a delightful, stunningly beautiful church and it is well deserved.'
St Thomas's is among the beneficiaries of almost £2.5-million going to 19 Grade 1 and 2 churches in the South West, including £1,650,000 for eleven churches in Devon and Cornwall.