Helping Congregations to Help Themselves
English Heritage appreciates that viewing an historic building as an asset rather than a burden is easier said than done when water is dripping through a damaged roof, the drains are blocked and no-one is quite sure what to do or where to go for help.
To tackle this problem, we are encouraging denominations to create dedicated Historic Places of Worship Support Officers to advise congregations. We have already created and funded three such posts, in London, Manchester and Exeter Church of England dioceses, as pilots. The experiences have shown these to have been very helpful and so we want to create more around the country, at both regional and national level. The first task for these Support Officers will be to understand where the repair priorities are and then to help individual congregations to make the most of their buildings. These new posts need to be tailored to fit local needs.
Where to start?
We believe that the best foundation for a Support Officer is an audit of the historic or architectural significance of the buildings in a diocese or area. This would assess the relative merits of all that denomination’s buildings. Then well-informed choices can be made about those which are too important to lose, those which must be made a priority for repairs, those which might accommodate new uses and those which might be sold without serious consequences for their heritage value.
English Heritage has funded two pilot audits with the Catholic Church and one with the Church of England. From these we have developed a generic template for all denominations and faith groups to use. With new Government funding we could part-fund many more such audits.
Tim Hatton:
“I am a Historic Church Buildings Officer (HCBO) employed by the Church of England to help parishes in Manchester to care for their churches. My post is half-funded by English Heritage.
Most congregations do not have the specialist skills necessary to look after an historic church and, in the past, the maintenance of some important churches has been left undone, or perhaps worse, well-meaning volunteers have carried out poor repairs that have done more harm than good. Often what a congregation needs is someone to come alongside them and accompany them on their restoration journey.This kind of post liberates priests and congregations from the anxiety of being solely responsible for a listed church.
The project that has given me the most satisfaction has been the restoration of St Stephen & All Martyrs church in Oldham.When I first saw the building at the beginning of 2004, it had stood empty for five years and was a derelict eyesore.The congregation worshipped in the nearby school. Since then, an English Heritage/Heritage Lottery Fund Repair Grant has transformed the situation. Roof and timber repairs are nearly finished and the church will reopen this summer.
The biggest repair project that I have helped with is at Holy Trinity, the historic parish church in the small town of Shaw, on the edge of the Pennines, a fine piece of architecture in a dramatic setting but poorly maintained for many years.With help from English Heritage and others they have just finished the first phase of repairs that will total about £800,000! I work closely with English Heritage on training and guiding parishes through the grant process.This kind of role is a model of effective partnership between English Heritage and the Church of England. It is in the vanguard of national policy but I believe strongly that it is the way of the future.”
Historic Places of Worship Support Officers Job Description