Prince Charles donates to medieval church appeal

Bothwell Parish Church

The Telegraph reports that the Prince of Wales has made a "significant" donation to an appeal by Bothwell Parish Church in Lanarkshire.

The church has raised £1.3m of its £2m goal to carry out restoration on the building, which dates back to the 14th century.

Bothwell Parish Church is the oldest Collegiate Church in Scotland in which worship is still held and is known locally as the "Cathedral of Lanarkshire" .

It started life as St Brides Catholic church until the Reformation when it had a brief spell as an Episcoplian place of worship, before becoming Bothwell Parish Church in the 1600s.

The exact sum donated by Prince Charles was not revealed but it is understood that he previously gave towards the upkeep of the church in the 1970s.  

Parish minister and chaplain to the Queen, the Reverend Jim Gibson, said: "This is a very special church and what we want to do is save this building given its historic and architectural value and the engineers and the architects want this done as quickly as possible."