This week

In April 2017, thieves removed lead from the small parish church of Inglesham, Wiltshire, managed by the Churches Conservation Trust (CCT). It’s a remarkable building that preserves a complex overlay of at least seven schemes of wall painting dating from the 13th century onwards and was restored by William Morris in the 19th century.

In the immediate aftermath of the theft, water ingress caused staining both to the paintings and to an Anglo-saxon sculpture in the church. The roof was first covered with plastic and, more recently, has been felted at a cost of £33,000. Its full restoration, however, will cost £450,000, of which only £20,000 has so far been raised.

Lead thefts are on the increase once more and the experience of Inglesham is merely representative of the problems they pose for parish churches generally. Where insurers will give a quotation at all for insuring against such theft (and they have been known to refuse), they only pay a fraction of the full and prohibitive cost of replacement.