Churches to get £1.535m blessing

The Princes Road Synagogue is due to get a grant

Details of a £1.535m blessing for North West religious buildings are due to be announced on Tuesday.

English Heritage and the Heritage Lottery Fund will announce the grants repair package for the region's Grade I and II* listed religious sites.

Among those to benefit will be St Vincent de Paul RC Church, Liverpool. which will get £157,000 for specialist repair work and restoration.

The church was desined by noted 19th Century architect E W Pugin.

Timber investigation

St Vincent's, which was built in 1856-7, is to receive an initial grant of £16,000 to fund a specialist timber investigation and repair of gutters.

Another grant of £141,000 will fund extensive repair and restoration work.

The latest round of funding has also helped places of worship such as Liverpool's Princes Road Synagogue, a Grade II* listed building.

The synagogue, built in 1874 with a fine painted and gilded interior, has been offered £84,000 for re-slating of the roof and eradication of dry rot. Other places in Merseyside to benefit include St Clement's Church, Toxteth, St Christopher's Church, Norris Green and Holy Cross Church, Wirral.