ENGLISH Heritage funding is helping ensure that repairs to the stonework of Durham Cathedral continue.

The cathedral is getting £82,000, which will go towards work to the masonry on the North-East turret of the Chapel of the Nine Altars, and the installation of a new fire detection system.

Repairs to the cathedral's sandstone, which has suffered from erosion, has been going on for years. Chapter steward Anne Heywood said the work was being carried out by the cathedral's own masons.

The work is also being funded with money raised by the cathedral's friends, bequests and gifts.

"We appreciate this money from English Heritage because we get no Government funding," she said.

Richard Halsey, head of the cathedrals team at English Heritage, said: "Cathedrals form the architectural centrepiece of the historic cities which have grown up around them.

"They are important not only for their spiritual, architectural and historic interest, but for their works of art and the fine craftsmanship they contain.''