COME RAIN or shine, climate change has made its presence felt nearly every day this summer. What is difficult for people is also difficult for heritage buildings.

And the churches we look to as shelters from storms metaphorical are struggling to cope with storms actual. High temperatures can cause materials to crack; heavier rain creates its own problems. “The gutters and the downpipes can’t handle the intense rain,” says David Lynch, a support officer for Scotland at the National Churches Trust. “As opposed to it just raining for days on end, it just all comes at once. So they’re having to upgrade them, make them deeper, make them wider.”

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