The generous grant from the Trust was to help with repairs following the quinquennial inspection which highlighted a number of building and stonemasonry repairs. The cost of this work was estimated at £42,000 and we, therefore, had to fundraise for enough money to complete the work. The fundraising was well underway when the Covid pandemic struck, and progress to raise the necessary funds needed slowed to a crawl. It was not until May 2021 that we had reached our target figure.
We thought that raising funds would be the difficult part, but sadly, it wasn’t. We were advised by our contractor they would be able to commence work at the end of August 2021, so we were hoping for completion within three months from that time. Unfortunately, Covid and Brexit caused severe problems with manpower shortages, i.e. high levels of sickness and an exodus of skilled Eastern European workers. At the time, we found that the whole building industry was affected by shortages of various materials and, of course, our own contractor was not immune to these problems.
We completed all works in early September 2022 and must say that we are very happy with the final results.
The church was originally built in the 11th century, but a pair of Romanesque windows indicates that there was probably a Saxon place of worship here prior to this. At this time, it consisted of a nave and possibly a small chancel. Since this time the chancel was added/enlarged in the 13th century, and the south chapel, north aisle and tower were added in the 14th century. A porch was added in the 18th century, a vestry in the 19th century and a kitchen annexe was added in 2013.