A much-loved Derbyshire church is to share in a £338,600 funding payout from the National Churches Trust.
A £10,000 National Churches Trust Cornerstone Grant will help fund work at Holy and Undivided Trinity and keep the church at the heart of the local community.
A total of 52 churches and chapels in England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland will benefit from the latest grants from the National Churches Trust, the charity supporting church buildings of all Christian denominations across the UK. Furthermore, £111,000 of the grants has been provided by the Wolfson Foundation.
This is the second round of grants made by the National Churches Trust in 2021, bringing the total support provided to the UK’s churches this year to £944,000. Last year, the Trust awarded, or recommended on behalf of other funders, 260 grants amounting to £1.7 million.
The present church, the third to be built in Edale, was consecrated by the Bishop of Southwell on 26 June 1886. The first two stood across the road within the old graveyard. The first chapel was built in 1633 and was consecrated on Trinity Sunday 1634 by the Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield. The chapel was rebuilt on the same site in 1812. The font from the original chapel still stands in the old graveyard.
The grants will fund the building of an extension for an accessible toilet and internal reordering. This includes some levelling and rearrangement of paths and steps to support disabled access and access for prams and buggies.
Some internal re-ordering at the back of the church of display and storage areas will create a better and more welcoming display, a hospitality area for use after services and during social events, and the restoration of the Vestry to its original use.
Robert Largan MP for High Peak said:
“I am pleased that Holy and Undivided Trinity in Edale are getting a £10,000 grant from the National Churches Trust to build an accessible toilet and improve the welcome area.
“I recognise the immense value churches, like Holy and Undivided Trinity, provide for local people across the High Peak, playing an important role in bringing communities and generations together.”
Huw Edwards, Vice President of The National Churches Trust, said:
“I’m delighted that Holy and Undivided Trinity in Edale is being helped with a £10,000 National Churches Trust Cornerstone Grant.”
“The grant will facilitate the building an extension for an accessible toilet and internal reordering.”
“It will safeguard unique local heritage and help Holy and Undivided Trinity continue to support local people as we begin to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Spokespeople, on behalf of the Edale church PCC, said:
“Edale church’s congregation would like to thank the National Churches Trust for their financial support. The provision of a wheelchair-accessible toilet facility together with a better welcoming area will help us to reach out to the wider community and our many visitors.”
“Project planning has been overseen by a member of our congregation - a former Churchwarden, who is also a professional construction project manager. The appointed architect is Mark Parsons RIBA AABC of Anthony Short and Partners who will provide full architectural services, including site inspections, valuation and payment certification.”
