Repairing the Roof

“Honouring the past – Embracing the future”

The church of St Peter, Kirby Bellars, is a 13th Century Grade I listed parish church built alongside the former Augustinian priory, forming a unique example of a rural Leicestershire church building. Constructed using golden ironstone, the tower is capped with an ashlar broached spire, with lucernes set in all cardinal directions. The North Aisle was demolished under a licence in 1690, with the arcade still visible. The Nave dates to early 13th Century.

The church houses alabaster effigies c.1360-70 of a knight and a woman; one of Sir Roger de Beler II (who gave his name to the village) with the lion rampant of his Arms on his breast, and one of his four wives. There are reused Saxon stone elements, and the stained-glass windows have 14th Century fragments in two of the Nave windows.

The village is named in the Domesday Book as ‘Chirchebi’. During Edward II’s reign, Roger de Beler founded a college with a warden and twelve priests. In 1359, it was made conventual for a Prior and Canons of St Augustine’s order, lasting until the dissolution of the monasteries. The earthworks near the church are the remains of the former Priory.

In Nicholas Orme’s book Going to Church in Medieval England (2021), St Peter’s has multiple entries. In particular,

“A visitation of Lincoln Diocese in 1519 heard complaints from … Kirby Bellars in Leicestershire that ‘children there make a noise so it is hard to hear divine service’.” (p.150).

“There were four kinds of unpopular in church. First there were the restless, who walked about even once the building was largely full of seats… Men in particular rise up and down or wander from altar to altar showing off their clothes or the hawk on their wrist, setting a bad example to the young. Next there were the gossips, male or female, who disturbed other people with their chatter. Kirby Bellars in Leicestershire had as many as five such men in 1518.” (p.168-9).

The church is a major landmark in the Wreake valley, visible from the Leicester to Melton Mowbray road (A607) and the Salt Way, an ancient route running from Lincolnshire across to Barrow upon Soar, Leicestershire. The Church Architect describes St Peter’s as ‘archaeologically speaking one of the most fascinating churches I look after’. St Peter’s is the custodian of a Quern stone and there is an ancient stone cross in the churchyard.

The river Wreake runs within the grounds. The Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust have initiated a scoping project to enhance wildlife in the catchment, in particular, focussing on water voles and the river environment. St Peter’s achieved the EcoChurch bronze award (November 2024), further building our relationship with the environment.

The church supports heritage activities including tower-bell and hand-bell ringing. St Peter’s has a full-circle six bell ring, cast between 1614 and 1999. There are regular Friday practice sessions attracting 12 ringers. The hand-bells are owned by the church and are 130 years old, again with weekly practices and regular performances.

Between 2015 and 2017 the church suffered metal theft in three separate incidents, where all of the copper roofs to the Nave, Chancel, South Aisle and North Transept were stolen. This left the building in an incredibly vulnerable state, with the South Aisle, Nave and Chancel drenched in water every time it rained. This, in combination with deteriorating stonework on the exterior and drainage issues, resulted in the church being added to Historic England’s Heritage at Risk register.

Kirby Bellars received a small amount of funding from the Covid Recovery Fund which allowed them to do some emergency repairs to windows and to have the condition of the temporary roof coverings surveyed in 2021. At the same time, the condition of the roof timbers was assessed for fungal damage, with the creation of an outline of the remedial work needed. The temporary roof coverings, with a lifespan of 3+ years, were found to be deteriorating prematurely, and having been exposed to water ingress for a significant period of time, the roof is severely affected by wet and dry rot. 

Now, three years later, there is a desperate need for structural repairs, timber treatments and re-covering with the permanent, solution of terne-coated stainless steel. Work is ongoing to raise the funds necessary for this solution, and to prepare St. Peters for the next 700 years.