Oxfordshire’s iconic churches are being targeted by thieves. Since the middle of the year  twenty villages have woken to find that lead has been ripped off the roof of their church.

The lead is not worth enormous sums but modern technology has made it easy for them to target vulnerable churches – and the damage they do can be massive.

Devastated local communities are now facing months or even years of fundraising for repairs which may well be £50,- £100,000 per church.  

Many churches have fitted roof alarms. These are an effective deterrent. St Kenelm’s Church at Enstone was attacked recently but it has an alarm. The thieves set off sirens, strobe lighting and the (pre-recorded) “Voice of God” telling them that the authorities had been informed and that they should leave at once. They did so!

But there are still too many churches and chapels of all denominations which do not have roof alarms despite having significant amounts of lead or copper on their roofs.

So the Oxfordshire Historic Churches Trust (OHCT) is launching an urgent “Alarms for Churches Appeal”, to help villages and local communities install alarm systems to protect their church roofs as quickly as possible. The Appeal aims to cover half the cost involved in installing an alarm, up to £2,500 per church. OHCT’s Trustees are guaranteeing to pay this for the first twelve churches who apply and are appealing urgently to the public for more funds so that all the most vulnerable churches can be helped.

“If a suitable alarm is not installed, most church insurance policies will only pay the first £7,500 of a claim when the lead is stolen,” explained Basil Eastwood, the Chairman of the Trust. “Churches and chapels may feel they cannot afford the cost of these alarms but if they are attacked local people are faced with massive repair bills”,

Background

OHCT was established in 1964. It gives some £200,000 a year in grants to Oxfordshire churches and chapels of all Christian denominations to assist with essential repairs (including increasingly following lead theft) and the installation of facilities to make the buildings more usable for community activities.  It is often the first funder of such projects and acts as a catalyst encouraging other support.

The following churches in Oxfordshire have suffered lead theft attacks since mid 2016:

Wigginton St Giles

Chipping Norton St Mary the Virgin

Chadlington St Nicholas Church (twice)

Drayton St Peter

Great Tew St Michael (three times)

Kingham St Andrew

Childrey St Mary the Virgin Church

Souldern St Mary

Spelsbury All Saints

Harwell St Matthew

Kingston Bagpuize St John the Baptist

Lambourn St Michael and All Angels

Kirtlington St Mary the Virgin

West Hanney St James the Great

Shennington Holy Trinity Church

Ewelme St Mary the Virgin

Lyford St Mary

Lower Heyford St Mary

Bampton St Mary