Churches to get £15m lottery aid

London, UK - Historic churches around the country will receive over £15m of lottery funding to pay for essential maintenance work.

One hundred and sixty religious buildings will benefit English Heritage and the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Diana Evans of English Heritage said: "These buildings make a vital contribution to our national heritage."

Many churches are maintained by voluntary contributions from local communities.

The money, awarded to Grade I and II listed buildings, will be used for a variety of repair work from re-roofing to masonry work on many of the churches, some of which are hundreds of years old.

'Time-worn treasures'

English Heritage chief executive, Dr Simon Thurley added: "Today's grant will go some way to providing much-needed support."

"Many of these time-worn treasures are only maintained through the hard work of small and hard-pressed communities."

The grants include £37,000 for repairs to 12th century St Martin's church in Ancaster, Lincolnshire, built on the site of a Roman temple and £123,000 for St Mary's, West Somerton, Norfolk.

The funding also sees £114,000 going to All Saints Greek Orthodox church in Camden, London, which will receive a new roof and have the front of the church cleaned.

The move is part of English Heritage and the Heritage Lottery Fund's joint Repair Grants for Places of Worship scheme which has already given £118m in grants since 2002 and is reportedly oversubscribed.

Last month, English Heritage awarded more than £2m to help 28 cathedrals under its joint cathedral grant scheme with the Wolfson Foundation.