This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
£60,000 needed to renovate Kings Sutton church
21/04/2022
Years of damp and damage following the theft of the roof lead need to be addressed at beautiful 12th century church
Villagers in Kings Sutton have begun a fund-raising project to renovate the interior of their 12th century church. £60,000 is needed to restore the walls inside St Peter and St Paul’s.
Back in 2019 the lead of the church’s roof was stolen on the eve of one of the wettest weekends of the year. The damage added to years of problems with damp.
Over a period of around 200 years the walls have been painted over several times using a number of different types of paint. Many of these today are not seen as suitable for walls built of stone, which need to be able breathe.
With the roof now watertight the focus has turned to renovating the building’s interior walls by removing the flaking and stained existing paint and completely redecorating with suitable materials.
Father Matthew Robinson is the Parish Priest. He acknowledged the Kings Sutton community had stepped up to help when the lead was stolen in 2019. Father Matthew said: “People were extraordinarily generous and really rallied round to make it happen – we were very fortunate”.
St Peter and St Paul’s is a large building by Parish Church standards. The project will require scaffolding, specialist materials and careful workmanship to remove paintwork from previous years.
Father Matthew says volunteers have come forward to help raise the £60,000 needed to pay for the work: “We’ve got a good group of people both from the congregation and others that are interested that are in the village and they’ve got some terrific ideas for raising the money.”
A photographic treasure hunt around the village is amongst the fund raising ideas that are being planned. A prize of £400 is available for locating where in Kings Sutton the pictures in the treasure hunt were taken.
Another idea will see the interior wall of the church divided into notional squares with people encouraged to sponsor a square.
Father Matthew said: “People might have a particular affinity or connection with the church – maybe they were married there or their children were christened there.
“One of the great joys about the church here is that its open all day during daylight hours. I often pop in and find people who might have lived in the village or who’s parents, grandparents or great-grandparents lived in the village and they’ve come to find the church and have a look round.
“There’s quite a few people both in the parish and beyond who have a high regard for the church and for whom it matters, so we hope they will sponsor a square to enable the work to go ahead.”
A GoFundMe page has also been set up and other fund-raising events are also planned for the coming months.
St Peter and St Paul’s is a Church of England church but is also used for worship by the Roman Catholic community.
Father Matthew hopes people will support the project to renovate the historic and beautiful church.
He said: “It’s a remarkable place. It stands in the old part of the village and is open every day.
“Apart from being a place of worship it’s a community space. You often find people pop in just to take out five or ten minutes and enjoy the peacefulness of the building.
“The last two years has brought that home to me. I’ve met so many people from the parish who’ve just dropped in because of the need to just slow down for a minute and process what’s going on in the world. Its helped by having a space like that.
“I think it does play an important part in the life of the village.”
Published: by Banbury FM Newsteam