Churches get £1m lottery blessing

Fifteen historic churches in the North West are getting more than £1m in grants from English Heritage and the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The latest round of funding is announced under the Repair Grants for Places of Worship scheme.

A total of £1,295,000 has been awarded to churches in Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester and Lancashire.

Individual grants to churches from the joint fund range from £11,000 to £353,000.

It is part of a £17m package which will see improvements to churches across the UK.

'Stunning interior'

The package includes £57,000 funding for St James Church, Whitehaven, a Grade One listed building described as having a "stunning interior" dating back to Georgian times.

It was recently hailed in a book of England's 1,000 best churches.

St Mary's, Widnes, gets the largest single grant of £353,000 to pay for structural repairs and stonemasonry refurbishment.

Tony Jones, Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) North West regional manager, said: "Standing as a focal point of communities for generations, our places of worship still play a vital role in towns and villages across England."

He said the announcement demonstrate HLF's commitment to safeguard these "cherished buildings."

The rest of the churches to receive money are:

Cheshire: St Peter's, Aston, Vale Royal (£35,000); St James, Christleton (£19,000); St Oswald's, Backford (£58,000); St Mary's, Widnes (£353,000).

Cumbria: St Mungo, Bromfield (£41,000); St John the Baptist, Ulpha (£10,000).

Lancashire: St Wilfrid, Ribchester (£34,000); St Saviour, Stydd (£91,000); St Peter's, Darwen (£38,000).

Greater Manchester: All Saints, Wigan (£137,000); All Saints, Stand, Bury (£249,000); St Edmund, Falinge, Rochdale (£11,000).