English Heritage plans guide to help churches shoulder burden of maintenance

English Heritage has announced plans to compile a new guide to help congregations look after their historic church buildings.

The guide will be drawn up based on the findings of its first national survey of places of worship at risk. The results of the survey, to be published on June 30, will shed light on the condition of England’s listed religious buildings and how many of them are at risk of serious decay.

Around 85 per cent of the 14,500 listed places of worship in England belong to the Church of England. The rest belong to other Christian denominations and faiths and include buildings that were originally built as schools, cinemas or shops before being turned into places of worship.

The survey will look at a representative sample of 10 per cent of the listed worship buildings, while English Heritage is inviting congregations to tell them about their challenges and successes.

The guide will contain information relevant to all faiths and provide help on maintenance, fundraising, welcoming visitors, widening use, making changes, security and sustainability.

Dr Simon Thurley, Chief Executive of English Heritage, said the survey would give a snapshot of the national picture for the first time and help the organisation develop viable local solutions.

"Congregations up and down the country are shouldering the huge responsibility of maintaining our historic religious buildings for present and future generations,” he said.

"Increasingly churches and other places of worship are being recognised for the role they play in the wider community as the home to and inspiration for a range of voluntary services.

“In helping to maintain historic churches, we are not only preserving beautiful buildings which have been the focus of community life and the repository of local memory for generations past, we are ensuring that they can continue to provide this wide public benefit for generations to come."