Heritage Lottery Fund Church project

All Saint’s Church in Slingsby | Photo by Steve Allen

[Posted 12 September 2019]

Our major repairs to the roof of All Saints church are well underway (as you may have noticed!) The CCTV system and alarms are installed and we are about to start work on the roof. Unfortunately, this has resulted in yet further costs, including the installation of temporary CCTV cameras on the scaffolding as well as the roof. Unfortunately, we are not eligible for the new grants available from the Church of England because we have already installed the system (and they cannot fund retrospective installations or temporary systems on the scaffolding), and because the priority is being given to churches vulnerable to ‘hate crime’. So we have only another £1,700 to find!

On a more positive note, our HLF activities are ongoing and have included a visit to Newcastle to see the work of Robert J. Johnson, of Austin and Johnson Architects, who had a hand in rebuilding Newcastle Cathedral church. We admired its fancy woodwork and architectural details and then had a great open-top bus tour of the city. Meanwhile, our wonderful carpenter, John Apps and heritage consultant, Mike Oakenfull are working away on designs for interpretation boards inside and outside the church with fantastic input from Local History members. If all goes well, we hope to re-open the church on the 3rd November with a service led by the Bishop of Selby, but all this depends on what we discover when we undertake the roof repairs!

In October we hope to run a volunteer training session and Hard Hat Tours with Dr Dav Smith, whose PhD research highlighted Slingsby’s significance as an example of an archaeological approach to Gothic Revival restoration. Please watch the website for further details about these events and in the meantime, here is a summary of the 150th anniversary of the rebuilding.

150 years since the rebuilding of Slingsby Church
All Saints, Slingsby was rebuilt between 1867-69 to a design by Robert J. Johnson,. The patron for the rebuilding was Admiral Edward Granville Howard (later Baron Lanerton), brother of the 8th Earl of Carlisle, whose principal seat was the nearby Castle Howard Estate. Admiral Howard’s wife, the Hon. Mrs Diana Howard, laid the foundation stone on 24th September 1867. The ceremony appears to have one of great pomp and celebration, with flags, banners and streamers adorning the scaffolding poles and fixed to the highest branches of the surrounding trees. It was as part of this ceremony that the glass time capsule was placed beneath the foundation stone, which contained the only known photograph of the medieval church. Excavations several years ago discovered to have been made of glass and to have shattered soon after it was buried. A new time capsule was buried in the same location and you can find out more about it and its contents in a file at the back of the church.

Although the original intention in 1867 was to rebuild the nave of the church, the rebuilding rapidly extended to include the chancel, which had been the subject of a rather unsatisfactory restoration in 1835, and the Tower. Services were relocated to the Tithe Barn (located to the north east of the church on the site of the present garden of Mr and Mrs Shepherd).
The reconstruction of the Victorian church, which cost ~£5000, was paid for by subscription with the vast majority (£4575) covered by the patron, Admiral Howard. Contemporary sources provide the names of many of the key contractors involved in the 19th-century construction of the church. For example, the clerk of works was Mr Ware, of Castle Howard; the contractor was Mr John Brown, the mason Mr Bailey, and the plumber and glazier a Mr Hodgson, all of York and the carved capitals and figures were created by Mr John Raddis, of Birmingham. The church reopened amidst much celebration and ceremony on Wednesday 2nd June 1869.

[Posted 17 June 2019]:
All Saints Church Council has recently announced the award of a large Heritage Lottery Grant to enable it to repair the roof using theft-proof materials and install an effective and insurance approved security surveillance system. (See our website post of 30.5.2019 here)
The total cost of the project is £317,443.00. This still leaves more money to be raised to add to the Lottery Grant award of £232,700. To do this we have applied for over 45 grants, and have been successful with smaller awards from the Yorkshire Historic Churches Trust, York Diocese, the All Churches Trust, the Sir John Priestman Trust and the Garfield Weston Foundation. There have been some generous individual donations as well as some well-supported fundraising, such as the recent bridge evening.
The grant award means that the church and village community will not have to bear the full brunt of the disastrous lead theft and that the church can remain open for the services which mean so much to the community. However, there is still money to be raised, particularly the sum of £6,800 to cover the cost of the CCTV security installation. We need this funding in place before we can go ahead with the project.
Please support our fund-raising efforts.
If you cannot come to any of the events and would like to make a donation, please put it in an envelope marked ‘Church Roof Fund’ and put it through the letterbox of Porch House, The Green, Slingsby.
All Saints’ Church is a historic Grade ii* listed building, parts of it dating back to medieval times. It is a substantial well-built building which will be there to serve the community for many years into the future. It is little used for church services now as it is part of a large group of churches served by a single priest. It is, of course, available to everyone for baptisms, weddings and funerals and is open to visit at any time, as is the churchyard. Additional use as a local history centre, including facilities for exhibitions, are planned as part of the current project, and other uses to support its future are always under consideration. The Church of England does not fund repairs and the church council and village community it serves have responsibility for its care.
Margaret Mackinder

[Posted 30 May 2019]:
Onwards and upwards: Local History centre and urgent roof repairs at All Saints’ church, Slingsby – National Lottery funding award
All Saints’ Slingsby is delighted to announce that it has been awarded a confirmed grant of £232, 700 by the National Lottery Heritage Fund to carry out urgent repairs to the roof, following lead theft two years ago over the course of Summer 2019.
A new CCTV system has already been installed and the new roofing will be in terne-coated steel. A major benefit of the project for Lottery players is the creation of a new Local History exhibition space and resource centre in the aisles of the church. The exhibition will feature a permanent display about Slingsby Castle and provide temporary exhibition space for Slingsby Local History Group, Slingsby Community Primary School and other local groups. A series of activities in the churchyard is also planned in collaboration with the AONB, mapping flora and fauna, helping to enhance natural as well as local history knowledge in the community.
The first church at Slingsby is recorded in the Domesday Book, but the present building was rebuilt between 1867-1869 by the architect Robert James Johnson of Newcastle for Admiral Howard, of Castle Howard. It is hoped that the project will be completed in time to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the rebuilding in September 2019. Commenting on the award, “Onwards and Upwards” project officer, Dr Kate Giles said, “Slingsby Church was rebuilt thanks to the efforts of the community 150 years ago and it’s great to think that thanks to the National Lottery, it will continue to serve the needs of the local community and our many visitors for generations to come.”

[POSTED 12 April 2018] Following the theft of lead from the roof of All Saints’ Church, probably during the last week of August 2016, a range of measures have been put in place to prevent any recurrence.

An application for funding was made to the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF). In November 2017 the HLF gave its initial support for a project called “Onwards and Upwards” aimed at carrying out urgent repairs following the lead theft. It also awarded development funding of £11,100 to help the church progress its plans to apply for a full grant at a later date. The project aims to replace the lead stolen from the roof with theft-proof materials and install a new CCTV security system.

The project will also create a new Local History Resource Centre and exhibition area in the church, opening up the church to new uses. An educational programme of lectures and workshops will offer training and opportunities to volunteers of all ages, so they can share their discoveries and help care for the building in the future.

In March 2018 we received permission to start the development phase of the project to replace the roof of All Saints with theft-proof materials and create a local history resource in the north aisle. In the next few months of 2018, we will be appointing a lead architect and commissioning reports on ecology (bats!), archaeology, drainage and glazing, to inform the next phase of our funding bid for Stage 2 and the delivery of the work. This involves further form-filling for Kate and the team, but also funding applications to major charities who we hope will be persuaded to support us.

A campaign for match funding, of £30,000-£40,000, is already underway. The first major fundraising event was a concert by the Terrington Choir on 3 December 2017. A Gourmet Evening comprising a 4-course French-themed dinner with musical entertainment took place in the Village Hall on Saturday, 24 March 2018.

About the Heritage Lottery Fund
Grants for Places of Worship (GPOW) applications are assessed in two rounds. A first-round pass is given when HLF has endorsed outline proposals and earmarked funding.

A first-round pass may also include an immediate award to fund the development of the project. Detailed proposals are then considered by HLF at second-round and as long as plans have progressed satisfactorily and according to the original proposal, an award for the project is confirmed.

The Project Coordinator for Onwards and Upwards is Dr Kate Giles ([email protected]) 07973826032
Kate Giles