St Peter’s Church in the historic centre of Chester has been awarded two large grants to enable it to carry out major repairs and keep the iconic, 700 year old building open.
A detailed survey carried out in 2023 had revealed that the east wall was bulging outwards making part of the building potentially structurally unsafe. A temporary repair, which involved strapping the central column in the east wall and anchoring it to the tower pillar, was carried out immediately. A proposal for the permanent repair work was also quickly agreed between St Peter’s, their church architect and the conservation engineer who carried out the survey. However the projected cost was put at around £150,000 meaning that the major part of the cost had to be raised externally.
Following the award of a grant for the repairs from UK Shared Prosperity Fund of £80,860, along with an additional £13,000 to develop plans to improve access to the building and the Watergate Street Rows, and a grant of £40,000 from National Churches Trust, the church is now in a position to move ahead with the repairs.
The vicar of St Peter’s, Reverend Jonathan Phillips, said “This is fantastic news. We are enormously grateful to UK Shared Prosperity Fund and National Churches Trust for their wonderful support. Without these grants we were facing the real prospect of being forced to close this beautiful and historically significant building which has been a site of Christian worship for over 1,000 years. We can now look forward to continuing to welcome visitors from all over the world and to serving the city of Chester for generations to come.”