With a church building that dates back to 1305 there are always things that need attention.

The Tower

Progress on the church tower continues albeit slowly. There are essentially two problems that we need to address with the tower. The first is the cracking which was noticed quite some time ago but has now reached a state were the problem needs to be sorted to stop further deterioration. This cracking needs to be addressed by repointing and structural strengthening. The second problem is with the roof of the bell tower. The slates on the tower are fastened in place using lime mortar which has deteriorated with the result that the slates are slipping and water is seeping into the wooden structure supporting the tiles. We are advised that the slates need to be removed and the timber frame repaired where needed.

So far we have commissioned a report by a structural engineer to identify the cause and the extent of the problems. Permission has been sought from the Diocese to carry out the work. This is done through a Faculty process which is similar to applying for listed building consent for a house. The Diocese has granted the Faculty.

A condition of this approval was that we have a bat survey of the tower. This has now been completed and a report has been submitted to us. The bat survey essentially stated that there is no environmental reason why the work cannot be carried out.

We have also had been advised to appoint an architect and project manager for the work, which we have also done. The architect and project manager is Trevor Hewett of the Architectural Studio in Ludlow.

Trevor has put together a specification for the work to be done and we went out to tender to four builders, two of whom responded. Based on this we are now in further discussion with McMillan and Holder, who are a local company based in Leebotwood, about the details of work and how it will be carried out. At this stage it is our intention to issue a Statement of Intent to McMillan and Holder to carry out the work.

The missing part of the jigsaw is financing the work. The work will cost in excess of £60,000. Part of this we will fund from our building fund reserves, some from fund raising, and the majority from grants. We are in the process of applying for grants. You will see activities forthcoming focused on raising money for the bell tower which we would appreciate your support with. The 100 Club is another way to support us.

The current Church building was built between 1330 and 1350 and replaced a wooden structure. We do not know when the first church was built, but we do know that St Cuthbert’s is a central part of our village and I am sure that we would love to preserve it for generations to come. Please support us on this journey.

Eddie Gledhill.

The Church Tower Update

We hope to start work on the restoration of the Church tower in the Spring when the weather is more suitable for building work and doing lime mortar pointing in particular. We submitted a couple of applications for grants back in November and hope to hear from both bodies during January. The first to be submitted was to the Shropshire Historic Churches Trust. Many of you will know this charity because of their main fund-raising event, ‘Ride and Stride’. Clungunford has enthusiastically supported this event for many years and we have been the top contributor to it now for more than ten years. We hope that this will be a helpful factor in our application. The submission we are most reliant on is that to the National Heritage Lottery Fund. This was an in-depth submission, taking many hours to put together. We are grateful to the Hereford Diocese for their guidance in completing this. We hope to hear from the NHLF in the next few days. Clearly, we need to secure funding before contracting with our selected builder. Once the work has been started we will be unable to use the Church bells and unable to do so for up to nine months after the work has been completed. The reason for this is the nature of lime mortar which needs this time to go hard enough to stand the vibration of the bells. We do not yet know whether we will be able to allow the clock on the tower to chime. Currently it rings on the hour and the half-hour – thanks to Ennis Brown climbing the tower to wind it twice a week! The tower houses six bells which have been cast over the last 600 hundred years. The oldest of these was cast by the Gloucester foundry during the second half of the fourteenth century and bears an inscription (in Latin) ‘Sent from heaven, my name is Gabriel’. The Earl of Arundel, who was the custodian of Clun Castle, is thought to have paid for it. This might be seen as a very generous gesture, but bell was used as a ‘calling’ bell from the beginning. The ‘calling’ was not just to call people to worship but also to summon peasants to work. For the last six hundred years a calling bell has continued to make the people of Clungunford Parish aware of the time and today, thanks to Ennis, to within a second or two!

May Update

We are delighted to announce that St Cuthbert’s is the beneficiary of a grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to repair the walls and the roof of the bell tower. You will be glad to know there is no danger of the tower falling down, but there is a risk of rain penetrating the stonework and causing damage that will be more costly to repair in the future. The grant though, as the name suggests, is for much more than just the repair of the masonry. The Heritage Fund is designed to protect and preserve heritage issues of significance for future generations and has four main principles: Protecting heritage Protecting the environment Promoting inclusivity Promoting organisational sustainability. Our application covered all four principles. It was easy to address the first point, protecting heritage, as the repair work will ensure that the bell tower remains in good order for generations to come. The other three principles were a bit more tricky to pin down and we decided to use the AGM as a starting point to find out what role the people of Clungunford parish think the church plays in village life, which church activities are most appreciated and what else could we do that would be experienced and enjoyed by more people. This conversation is very important to us and will go on through the summer and beyond, giving as many people as possible the opportunity to express their thoughts and feelings about the church. The events we currently run are well supported and enjoyed, but it is important that we widen out our ideas pool! If you wish to have a say, and if you have any ideas for the way the church is used, please let us know. You can email [email protected], 
By the time you read this, you may have seen that scaffolding has already been erected around the tower. The repair work should start in early May and be completed by mid-July. However, our discussions on the other principles: environment, inclusivity and organisational sustainability will continue. We would love to be able to enable our beautiful church building to be appreciated by even more members of the community than at present – not only for worship and other religious events, but also for social gatherings and entertainment that is at the heart of village life. Please don’t feel shy about coming forward - our church is your church!