£1 million repairs to Shropshire church on track

St. Bartholomew's Church in Tong, near Shifnal, is undergoing massive restorations to its spire, windows and vestry among other things, equating to months of costly work.

The staff at the 15th century landmark, sometimes referred to as the Westminster Abbey of the Midlands, have managed to raise around £500,000 for work to be done but still have a long way to go.

Pippa Thorneycroft, the Reverend at St. Bartholomew's, said: "The scaffolding is right to the top of the tower at the moment – they've had to put scaffolding inside and out to do work on the spire.

"The clock was given to us by Lord Bradford in 1892, I believe to make sure his workmen were on time – that needs to be removed and restored which will cost around £4,500.

"There's also scaffolding inside the church by the alter to repair the windows. The ironwork has gone all rusty and we found quite a big piece of rock on the floor so they need to be repaired.

"Finally there's the vestry which we use to lock things away and we're digging up the floor."

To afford these restorations, a monumental effort was required by the church, but they have only raised half the funds required for the project to be completed.

Reverend Pippa added: "We're hoping the parish council will pay for the clock because Lord Bradbury gave it to them originally but on top of the £500,000 already spent, I think we will probably need to raise that amount again by 2020.

"We employ a fundraiser and she's very good and has been working very hard. We also received grants from Heritage Lottery and various trusts which was extremely helpful, if you don't get any funding it's simply not going to happen.

"Then I think it will be time for me to retire for a second time, either that or I'll keel over, whichever comes first."

Report by Aidan Short