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New data from the National Churches Trust (NCT) reveals England’s church heritage ‘danger zones’ and shows the number of churches at risk in MP’s constituencies. Find out how many churches, chapels, cathedrals and meeting houses are at risk in your constituency and what you can do to save them.
The National Churches Trust writes:
A new map, from the National Churches Trust, shows that Lincolnshire, Shropshire, Herefordshire, Devon, Cornwall, inner and central London, parts of Manchester and the East Midlands contain the largest numbers of historic churches on Historic England’s Heritage at Risk Register.
Historic England’s Heritage at Risk Register includes churches that are listed as being of historic or architectural significance. Many of the churches are hundreds of years old and are some of England’s most important architecture containing beautiful stained glass, monuments and woodwork. All of which could be lost forever if the church falls into disrepair.
Show me the heritage that is a risk
You can view our interactive map, which shows the MPs with the largest number of historic churches at risk in their constituencies. More than 60 per cent of all the MPs in England – 336 MPs – have a church, chapel, meeting house or cathedral on the Historic England Heritage at Risk Register in their constituency. They include the leaders of the main political parties including Sir Keir Starmer, Kemi Badenoch and Ed Davey.
The top ten constituencies and MPs are:
- South Shropshire, Stuart Anderson, Conservative, 19
- Louth and Horncastle, Victoria Atkins, Conservative, 19
- Melton and Syston, Edward Argar, Conservative, 17
- Torridge and Tavistock, Geoffrey Cox, Conservative, 14
- South West Norfolk, Terry Jermy, Labour, 13
- North Devon, Ian Roome, Liberal Democrat, 13
- South Devon, Caroline Voaden, Liberal Democrat, 12
- Newark, Robert Jenrick, Conservative, 12
- North West, Norfolk, James Wild, Conservative, 11
- North Herefordshire, Ellie Chowns, Green 10
The leaders of the main political parties representing English constituencies all have historic churches at risk in their constituencies:
- Kemi Badenoch, North West Essex, Conservative, 3
- Ed Davey, Kingson and Surbiton, Liberal Democrat, 1
- Keir Starmer, Holborn and St Pancras, Labour, 10
54 places of worship added to the Heritage at Risk Register in 2024.
There are 969 places of worship on Historic England’s 2024 Heritage at Risk Register. 23 were removed but 54 added, an increase of 26 over the total on the 2023 Register. 958 of the 969 places of worship are cathedrals, parish churches, chapels and meeting houses, with the Register also including a small number of buildings belonging to other faiths. With an estimated 3,500 churches having closed in the last ten years, and an increasing number under financial strain due to falling numbers of worshippers, the increase in the number of churches on the Heritage at Risk Register sends an urgent warning to all those who care about England’s historic churches.
We must save our heritage before it’s too late
‘England has some of the most historic and beautiful churches to be found anywhere in the world. But this priceless heritage is in danger as never before,’ shares Sir Philip Rutnam, Chair of the National Churches Trust.
‘53 cathedrals, churches, chapels and meeting houses were added to the Historic England’s Heritage at Risk Register this year. Our fear is that many of the new churches and also those already on the Register will be simply left to rot and decay as there is a desperate shortage of money to look after this heritage. The crisis affecting church heritage could even get worse in the coming months if the Government refuses to renew the Listed Places of Worship Grants Scheme, a financial lifeline which allows historic churches to claim back the VAT on the cost of repairs,’ [he said] ‘We understand that a decision about the future of the scheme will be made by The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) in the next few months. The spending settlement that the DCMS received from the Chancellor in the Budget is less generous than some other Government departments and tough spending decisions have lie ahead. If the VAT scheme, which has been in place in its current form since 2004, is not renewed, the costs of repairing a historic church to enable it to stay open would increase by a fifth. We fear that if the scheme were not renewed, more historic churches will close. There is already a major financial crisis affecting church buildings: the Church of England alone has a backlog of repairs to parish churches estimated at over £1 billion with the annual repair bill estimated at £150 million. I urge the Government not to make the situation even worse.’
