St Peter’s Church, Haveringland, has been awarded nearly £200,000 by the National Lottery Heritage Fund for repairs and improvements as well as a range of heritage projects.
Haveringland residents celebrating their lottery heritage fund application success for repairs and improvements to St Peter’s Church. Photos: Haveringland Parochial Church Council/Nigel Boldero and Christopher Mander
Along with a number of other grants, the church, which has one of the oldest round towers in Norfolk, is to be made wind and weatherproof, together with the installation of automatic door opening, wheelchair access, heating and lighting, and a water supply.
Alongside the works, which will begin next summer, there are projects to research and present aspects of local history over the next three years.
These include “Victorian Village”, which will feature a local primary school making puppets and putting on a play about life in the 19th century, including reference to Haveringland Hall, which once stood close to the church.
Performances of a play that tells the story of “St William” of Norwich are also planned. William is thought to have been born and baptised in Haveringland in the 12th century. His mutilated body was found on Mousehold Heath in Norwich and his death was later (falsely) blamed on the local Jewish community in what became known as the first “blood libel”.
A new community group – Haveringland Together – is already looking at raising further funds to complete stage two of the overall project, which will see an internal all-access toilet and galley kitchen installed.
Commenting on the award, local vicar Revd Andrew Whitehead said: “This grant is fantastic news for our church. This generous award, made possible by National Lottery players, will help us to realise our exciting vision of a church serving its community in new ways, as well as securing a precious historic building for generations to come.”
Churchwarden Nigel Boldero, who led the funding applications, added: “It is fantastic to get this support, not only from the heritage fund, but also from a number of other sources. We can now continue our research into local history and start to tell these wonderful stories in a variety of ways to a wide range of people.”
The project includes a new “welcome area” just inside the main entrance to the church with space for information and souvenirs, such as a new church guide and an interactive console to enable people to access historical information.
The project is being launched at the church on Sunday 4 December at a carols and candlelight service commencing at 2 pm.
Revd Andrew Whitehead (right) and Nigel Boldero discussing the plans for the church.