Three historic Derry churches granted £136k to carry out roof repairs
St Columba’s Church (pictured above), Long Tower, St Columba’s Cathedral and St Augustine’s Church are among 25 historic churches in the North sharing total of £1.2 million.
An extra £40 million for the scheme was announced in last week’s Budget.
Welcoming the awards and extra funding Environment Minister, Foyle MLA Mark H Durkan said: “This is a tremendous extra boost for our listed places of worship. I am delighted that there were over 100 local application and that 25 have been successful bringing over £1.2million of much needed investment for these buildings.”
He said the extension of the fund provided a further opportunity for new bidders and also those who had been unsuccessful in the initial round to apply for support.
He added: “The North has some very attractive listed church buildings but many are in need of urgent repair to roofs and guttering.”
Mr Durkan concluded: “Furthermore I will once again bring the good news of this potential funding to congregations of all faiths and denominations and urge them to prepare to make an application when the scheme reopens later in the year.”