St Dubricius Church in Porlock has received initial support from The National Lottery Heritage Fund for the Porlock InSpired Project. Made possible by National Lottery players, the main aims of the project are to repair the spire and roof, and promote heritage awareness in the community.
Commenting on the award, the Rector Reverend Ann said: “We’re delighted to receive this support thanks to National Lottery players. he church has been at the centre of village life for centuries and is a beacon for both visitors to the village and residents. The last re-shingling was done by village craftsmen using timber from just up the combe. We intend to replicate that as far as is practical, and also to use the project to promote the local heritage, not only of our church building, but of the wider community.”
Development funding of £179,335 has been awarded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund to help St Dubricius Church progress their plans to apply for a full National Lottery grant at a later date. There will now be two further years of planning and organising the detail of the project and related activities, culminating in a round two application to The National Lottery Heritage Fund, for funds towards the implementation of the works, which we hope will begin in earnest in 2026 or 2027.
The project aims to replace the oak shingles on the iconic truncated timber framed spire, re-slate the chapel roof and one face of the main church roof possibly including the addition of solar panels, and undertake some other related conservation repairs to the building. A programme of heritage themed activities and workshops is also planned to highlight, publicise and celebrate the ancient heritage of the building and to promote and encourage some of the craft skills needed to undertake the preservation work. These are proposed to be developed to include local groups, organisations, and partners, and will be run with the help of volunteers.
The current mainly stone building dates from the 13th century, and it is believed it is built on the site of earlier church buildings, which were probably entirely timber built. One of the yew trees in the churchyard is understood to be over 1000 years old so it will have seen many changes on the site over the years. The spire is one of very few oak clad, oak framed spires in the country, and even fewer are truncated. Theories abound on the reason, some more fanciful than others, but the most likely seems to be that the spire was damaged in the great storm of 1703 and it was capped off rather than re-built. Other options include angry giants, distracted builders, and lack of money. The shingles on the spire were last replaced 90 years ago, using local timber. The intent is that local timber will be used again, using local craftsmen.
St Dubricius have been fund raising for the spire project for several years and donations to date have covered the majority of the cost of determining the extent of the works needed and preparing the round one application. If the round two application to The National Lottery Heritage Fund is successful this will cover most of the cost of the planned works and activities, but some further fund raising will be needed over the next few years to cover the balance.
National Lottery Heritage Fund grant applications over £250,000 are assessed in two rounds. Porlock InSpired has initially been granted round one development funding of £175,335 by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, allowing it to progress with its plans. Detailed proposals are then considered by The National Lottery Heritage Fund at second round, where a final decision is made on the full funding award towards the total project cost which is currently expected to be around £1.5million.
