[S]t Michael’s church has received an £8,000 National Churches Trust Repair Grant to help fund repairs to its structure and fabric including windows and surrounds.
The church is one of 70 churches and chapels in England, Wales and Scotland that are set to benefit from rescue funding of £522,241 from the National Churches Trust, the UK’s church support charity.
Huw Edward, Vice-President of the National Churches Trust said: “I’m delighted that St Michael, Lamplugh is to be saved for the future with the help of an £8,000 National Churches Trust Repair Grant. This will ensure that this important and historic church remains open and at the service of local people.”
The project
The repair project will secure and maintain the building’s structural integrity for the foreseeable future allowing people to continue to worship regularly, to hold weddings, baptisms and funerals and to continue to use the church for fellowship and social events including concerts. Currently the church can be used in its entirety but water ingress and obvious signs of damp or dripping water make the building unpleasant and unwelcoming to parishioners and visitors.
The church
St Michael’s is a Grade II* building remodelled by William Butterfield (completed in 1870) on the site of the ancient church (c. 1150). The church is the only example of a church in the former county of Cumberland completely designed by William Butterfield. Several of the windows are by Charles Eamer Kempe.
The church, which is located prominently in a dramatic landscape and set against the outlying western fells of the Lake District National Park, is valued by churchgoers and parishioners alike.
The church is a focal point of the scattered community of Lamplugh providing regular worship and a place for weddings, baptisms, funerals and burials. It is a building in which regular fellowship meetings are held together with concerts, coffee events, and flower festivals and is visited not only for its historical features but for family associations too by those who no longer live in the parish (including visitors from all over the world.)
Robin Megan, churchwarden, said: “We are extremely grateful for this very generous and timely grant offer from the National Churches Trust. It helps us greatly with our Restoration Project. Our church is beautiful and much-loved – but needs urgent repairs if it is to be saved for future generations. Thank you.”
