Catholic cathedrals are to benefit from an £8 million windfall for urgent repairs in the second round of grants awarded by the First World War Centenary Cathedral Repair Fund.
In total 31 cathedrals, of which six are Catholic, are to receive money, Culture Secretary Sajid Javid announced yesterday.
The fund was established in the 2014 Budget. Ten cathedrals were awarded grants amounting to £5 million in July, of which four were Catholic, and a final round of applications for money will close in January 2015.
Repairs to crumbling spires and roofs are among the projects to be funded at cathedrals in Lancaster, Arundel, Birmingham, Clifton, Southwark and Sheffield.
The Chancellor, George Osborne, spoke of the importance of cathedrals in the context of commemorating the centenary of the First World War.
“Many Britons will have visited a cathedral this summer to attend a remembrance service marking the Great War, and this £8m grant, part of £20m I announced at the last Budget, will ensure that these beautiful and historic buildings remain much loved places of worship and remembrance for another century to come,” he said.
Canon Gerry Breen, Dean of St. Chad’s Cathedral in Birmingham, the first Catholic cathedral to be built after the Reformation, said: “We are absolutely thrilled with this award of £227,000 from Her Majesty’s Government which will enable us to carry out important structural repairs to this historical cathedral.”
Loading ...
