More than £6.8 for church works

Grade II listed churches and chapels across England have today received a £6.87 million package for essential repairs.

Announced by the Heritage Lottery Fund and English Heritage, more than £2.13 million of the funds will be dedicated to the north west.

The grants will help repair more than 70 historic places of worship - eight in Greater Manchester – that have gone into disrepair.

The funding will go to crucial works, from repairs to spires and roofs, to tackling dry rot.

Since 2002 more than £133 million of essential repair grants have been awarded to almost 1,500 historic places of worship through the joint HLF and English Heritage Repair Grants for Places of Worship scheme.