St Margaret's Church in Blackfordby is facing a £300,000 bill after damage to the building suffered in the storms that hit the region last February.

An update on the current state of the church says it is in 'very poor order' and a plan is being produced 'for the building's survival'.

St Margaret's vicar Fr Michael Fish posted on Facebook on Sunday to reveal a 'worse than expected result' following an architect's inspection.

But they have applied for a Government 'heritage at risk' grant which, if successful, would contribute £25,000 towards the £30,000 needed just to make the structure safe.

Problems stated when Storm Ciara caused part of the church to fall to the ground six months ago Blakfordby vicar was 'dumbstruck' by church damage.

The repair bill was estimated in March to be around £100,000 Village church is facing huge bill.

But now the bill appears to have tripled and a Just Giving page is likely to be set up once St Margaret's hears if it will receive Government money.

Fr Fish posted: "For those interested a bit of an update on the current state of play regarding St Margaret's Church, Blackfordby.

"The church has been inspected now by our architect which produced a worse than expected result.

"We are now working with the diocese to try and produce a plan for the building's survival.

"I would also like to thank everyone who has helped and raise money for the church so far and, hopefully, will continue to do so.

'The inspection of the church has revealed several issues with the building, which are expensive issues because of the building.

"Whilst, currently, the building has been declared safe for use it will remain under constant review.

"The inspection has shown up the following ( plus others that are to numerous to mention):

•The obvious one is the west wall in urgent need of attention.

•The roof over the nave (main body) is in need of replacement and the chancel (small bit at the east end) needs taking off and re laying.

•The east wall between the nave and chancel is beginning to lean outwards and needs repair.

•The spire, as you can see, is growing it's own woodland out of the roof and tower. This will get into the stonework and begin to pull it apart.

"To be blunt the church is in very poor order.

"The architect's estimated costings for the immediate necessary work is about £300,000!

"This will obviously have to be piecemeal and from grants. The church has been put on Heritage England's list for buildings that are at extreme risk."

Fr Fish said that measures had been taken to make the building as safe as possible for the moment.

He added: "We have secured permission to make safe the west wall. This will involve covering the west end with sheeting to prevent rainfall entering the building and scaffolding on the outside to hold everything in place, safely.

"The Government has allocated monies for 'heritage at risk' affected by the Covid pandemic. We have applied for a grant from this fund to help pay for the making safe of the wall.

"The maximum grant under this scheme is £25,000 - the estimated cost of making safe is £30,000.

"We have cleared the first hurdle and we should hear by mid-September whether we have secured the grant.

"Once all this has been done and in place we can then look at the rest of the building.

"Hopefully, if we have been successful with the grant work should start in about October, but I'll put another update on here nearer that time.

"Thanks for your concern and help so far. I intend to put another 'Just Giving' page to go with the building appeal but am waiting to see if we have secured the grant."