King's College Chapel needs £10m

The chapel is known all over the world for its Christmas Eve service

Cambridge University's famous King's College Chapel needs £10m for restoration work.

Dr John Barber, director of development at King's College, said plans were being made to apply to the Heritage Lottery Fund to help pay for work on the roof and masonry of the 16th Century chapel.

News of the plans emerged as queues formed for the annual Christmas Eve carol service of nine lessons and carols in the chapel, which was completed in 1537.

"There is a substantial amount of work that needs doing on the structure of the chapel, on the roof, on the masonry, on the windows, on the heating and various parts of the chapel," said Dr Barber.

"At the moment we are in the process of trying to raise money for surveys to be carried out.

Carol service

"We are planning to make a bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund but that may be a year off."

He said they estimated they would need between £8m and £10m but the college authorities would not be asking for lottery funding for all the work.

He added: "The work will probably take five to 10 years to complete.

"The carol service wouldn't be affected. Services would be able to go on as normal while the work was carried out."

A queue for Wednesday's traditional Christmas Eve service of nine lessons and carols began to form on Tuesday.

The service, first broadcast from the chapel 75 years ago, is on BBC Radio Four at 1500 GMT.