Crumbling old churches in the West Midlands are to get thousands of pounds to spend on urgent repairs thanks to a £2 million Lottery cash boost.
Nearly 40 dilapidated churches across the region will benefit from the funding which will focus on listed buildings. Individual awards range from £12,000 awarded to St Peter Church at Coughton in Warwickshire to £137,000 awarded to St Edith Church at Eaton-under-Heywood in Shropshire.
The cash was announced by the English Heritage and the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) at the Church of St Peter ad Vincula, in Hampton Lucy,Warwickshire, which is to get £123,000.
It is part of a £15 million package to support urgent conservation work in 160 Grade I and II-listed places of worship across England.
Tim Johnston, English Heritage regional director for the West Midlands, said: "The site of an imposing church on the skyline, such as that at Hampton Lucy, is a quintessential feature of the English landscape.
"However, many of these time-worn treasures are only maintained through the hard work of small and hard pressed communities. Today's grants will go some way to providing much-needed support."
Grade I-listed St Peter's church is typical of the kind of building the English Heritage is keen to preserve.
Described as an "architectural gem" by the organisation, its elegant tower culminating in high, decorative pinnacles is visible for miles around the Warwickshire countryside.
It was built between 1822 and 1826 and is considered by many the finest designed by Thomas Rickman and Henry Hutchison, who specialised in church design.
However, in recent years its high level stonework and roof has fallen into disrepair and there are leaks in the chancel. Its total estimated repair cost is more than £243,000.
Elsewhere, St John the Baptist Church in Coventry has been offered £75,000 from the cash pool. The attractive Grade I church is a rare example of medieval Coventry, with parts of the building dating back to the 14th Century.
Recently, however, it has suffered from subsidence.
Shropshire's Grade II St George's Church at Pontesbury is to get £106,000 to address crumbling masonry at the tower and west elevation of the nave.
The Church of St Deinst at Llangarron, Herefordshire - the only church in England dedicated to the unusual Celtic saint - is to get £22,000 for urgent structural repairs to the roof, guttering, stonework and internal walls and floor to make it "weather-tight" again.
