A CHURCH in west Cornwall has been awarded the 2019 Friends of the National Churches Trust Grant.

St Just-in-Penwith is located at the very heart of the town seven miles west of Penzance.

The £10,000 grant will help to fund the church’s major repair project to re-roof the church, undertake masonry repairs and renew the rainwater goods – making it watertight and safe for worshippers, building users and visitors.

This will secure the building and protect early Christian heritage, which dates back to the 5th to 6th Centuries, including the unique Romano-Christian Selus Stone.

The church has on show the ensign of HMS Revenge, which was flown at the Battle of Jutland in 1915 during the First World War.

Four churches, which had been awarded a National Churches Trust Repair or Community Grant in 2018 and which needed additional funding prior to starting work on their projects, were shortlisted for the grant.

In a vote, Friends of the National Churches Trust selected St Just-in-Penwith as the church which should receive an additional grant of £10,000.

Other churches shortlisted were All Saints, Isle Brewers, Somerset; St Cynbryd, Llandulas, Conwy, and St Michael, Kirkby Thore, Cumbria.

Catherine Townsend, head of church support at the National Churches Trust, said: “I'm delighted that St Just-in-Penwith is to receive the 2019 Friends of the National Churches Trust Grant of £10,000 to help in the funding of the restoration of the church’s roof.

“We look forward to following the progress of the works and to seeing the benefits of the completed project in the coming years.”

“All the churches who were shortlisted for the Friends Grant have important projects to complete and I very much hope that they will be able to find any additional funding required to start on site as soon as possible.

“Through their support and generous donations, our growing number of Friends help us carry out our work of supporting churches in so many ways. Providing a direct way for them to help us select a church to award an additional grant of £10,000 is a great way to involve our Friends in our work.

“Many thanks to our Friends who took part in the vote, and congratulations to St Just for winning. We very much look forward to following their progress.”

Andrew Burt, secretary of the St Just-in-Penwith Parochial Church Council and project manager for the ‘Raise the Roof!’ Appeal, said: “We are genuinely overwhelmed by the news that so many of the Friends of the National Churches Trust thought our cause worthy of their personal vote and thrilled that we have been awarded the 2019 Friends of the National Churches Trust Grant of £10,000.

“The ‘Raise the Roof!’ Appeal volunteers and our congregation are jumping with joy that the plans to help secure the future of our church building have achieved such widespread national recognition. This additional grant will ensure we can make the whole of the church building watertight and safe for worshippers and visitors and safeguard its deeply important heritage for future generations. Thank you one and all.”

Rev. Karsten Wedgewood, Priest in Charge of St Just-in-Penwith Parish Church, said: “Many thanks for selecting St Just Parish Church for this award. Your generosity will bring us to the total we need to ensure that we keep our historic building watertight allowing future generations to enjoy our significant medieval frescoes and for everybody in our local community to continue to worship with us. We are all thrilled to receive this news.”