Diocese of Chichester

A £5,000 National Churches Trust Cornerstone Grant will help fund urgent work to St Bartholomew, Maresfileld and keep the church at the heart of the local community.

Broadcaster and journalist Huw Edwards, Vice President of The National Churches Trust, said:

“I’m delighted that the historic church of St Bartholomew, Maresfield is being helped with a £5,000 National Churches Trust Cornerstone Grant.”

“The grant will help fund the installation of a kitchen and toilet facilities, safeguarding the unique local heritage of this Grade I Listed church and help St Bartholomew continue to support local people.”

A total of 47 churches and chapels in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland will benefit from the latest grants from the National Churches Trust, the charity supporting church buildings of all Christian denominations across the UK. £155,700 of the £473,000 grant funding has been provided by the Wolfson Foundation.

This is the third round of grants awarded or recommended on behalf of other funders by the National Churches Trust in 2021, bringing the total support provided to the UK’s churches this year to £3.6 million. Last year the Trust awarded, or recommended on behalf of other funders, 260 grants amounting to £1.7 million.

The church

A church has stood on the current site since the 12th century, although only a small window remains from that original church.

The chancel was extended or rebuilt in the 13th and 14th centuries and a tower was added in the 15th century.

A more extensive renovation was undertaken by J O Scott in 1875-79, one of several he did in the district. He renewed most of the details in the tower and nave and rebuilt the chancel in 14th century style with transepts, thereby extending the nave to the east. During his renovation an original Norman window was uncovered and glazed.

The project

The grant will help fund the installation of a kitchen and toilet facilities, which will offer the church the opportunity of launching a series of community inspired projects and activities.

Angie Welton who is overseeing the project said:

“The National Churches Trust has greatly assisted St Bartholomew's Church to preserve its heritage by making a very generous donation of £5000.”

“St Bartholomew's is situated in the small village of Maresfield, East Sussex which is very close to the Ashdown Forest, which holds links to the ancient iron industry.”

“Fundraising has been going on for a number of years and we have now reached a stage where we will shortly be in a position to finish phase one of our project, namely, the provision of amenities enabling a more comprehensive use of the building.”

“Our local council and conservation group are amongst the list of contributors to this scheme and a great deal of fundraising efforts have been deployed, including involvement with the local community with our Buy a Brick campaign.Combined with this grant, we believe this will enable us to preserve our heritage by making the church available to a wider section of the community who would otherwise be unable to attend for a variety of reasons.”

“Our aim, from the start of our fundraising campaign was to provide toilets, including disabled, plus kitchen area to enable many more groups and organisations to congregate at our building. Thereby bringing in some much-needed revenue which is badly needed to assist us in the maintenance of the old building, some of which dates back more than 1000 years.”

“There is a huge amount of history embedded within St Bartholomew's Church, including, a Norman Window. This window, now filled with Victorian Glass remained hidden for hundreds of years, but in 1879, when the church was being restored, it was rediscovered. Its shape tells us that there was a stone church here in Norman times, dating from 1100 or even earlier. The tower is 20 feet square and was built after 1412 by the local lord of the manor; the walls are 4 feet thick! We have a great deal of information which is available for interested persons, additionally we have a small book written more than a 100 years ago which gives historic details about the building and fascinating information regarding persons buried in the churchyard.”

Church Warden, Richard Newman, said, "This is a fantastic, much needed, improvement to our building which will enable us to preserve our heritage and offer an improved range of facilities to a much wider group of people"

ENDS