RESIDENTS of a village with a population of just 220 have hailed a £169,000 grant to rescue and improve a 13th-century church as a godsend.

After months of deliberations, the Heritage Lottery Fund has confirmed the funding for work at the grade II*-listed St Wilfrid’s Church, at South Kilvington, near Thirsk following English Heritage placing the building on its at-risk register.

Extensive work to shore up the structure is due to start in January and see the community hub closed until May.

It will involve the replacement of buttresses to stabilise the East wall, interior and exterior rendering, lime mortar replastering and the installation of a new cedar shingle-clad bell tower.

The funds will also be used to improve replace badly eroded sandstone mullions in the windows, update the lighting and sound system and install a disabled toilet at the church, which is the only meeting place for residents in the village other than the primary school and pub.

Church warden Terry Cussons said despite previously receiving a grant for structural surveys, residents had not been certain whether the necessary amount of funds, which would have been impossible for a small village to raise, would be awarded.

He said: “We’re delighted that the Heritage Lottery Fund has given us this grant. It will enable us to preserve the building for many years to come, and be a refuge for the village of South Kilvington."

Mr Cussons said it was possible a further phase of work would be needed as it remained unclear what would be revealed when the render was removed.

Residents' enthusiasm for the project had been reflected by the £4,500 raised through coffee mornings, raffles and a school concert.

He said the church would be closed during the building work and Sunday services would be held at the school, while community organisations who regularly use the venue, including reading and sewing groups, had found temporary alternative places to meet.

The work follows moves to keep the building watertight, preserving features such as its gothic stalls, which were carved by the Rev WT Kingsley, who became the oldest rector in England while serving at the church from 1859 to 1917.

On the Rev Kingsley's 99th birthday in 1914, The Northern Echo's sister paper, the Darlington and Stockton Times, reported that he counted John Ruskin, the leading English art critic of the Victorian era, and the celebrated landscape artist JWM Turner as friends.