£15k to help repair Pip and Jim’s

A CHURCH in a Bristol Channel resort is to share in a £584,000 funding payout from the National Churches Trust.

A £10,000 National Churches Trust Cornerstone Grant will help fund urgent repairs to the tower of the church of St Philip and St James in Ilfracombe and keep the Grade I-listed building, nicknamed ‘Pip and Jim’s’, at the heart of the local community.

The church also receives a £5,000 Wolfson Fabric Repair Grant from the Wolfson Foundation on the recommendation of the National Churches Trust. St Philip and St James has stood on a prominent position on the seafront, weathering the effects of Atlantic gales, for over 150 years. The tall and imposing building was constructed in the Early English style over two phases in 1856 by John Hayward.

The church features a striking pyramid shaped spire roof with Welsh and Delabole banded slate roof. Extensive fractured stonework, though a natural feature of the local building stone, has led to rainwater entering the building.

The project will facilitate extensive repairs to the tower including repointing, stonework, roof repairs and leadwork to make this part of the building watertight and safe. These works comprise the first and second phases of a six part project.

Broadcaster and journalist Huw Edwards, vice president of The National Churches Trust, said: “I’m delighted that the delightful church of St Philip and St James, Ilfracombe, is being helped with a £10,000 National Churches Trust Cornerstone Grant and a £5,000 Wolfson Fabric Repair Grant.”