Six churches in the Diocese of Truro are among 300 nationwide to benefit in the latest round of awards from the Listed Places of Worship Roof Repair Fund.

The Church of St Mary and St Julian in Maker, St Budoc Church near Falmouth, St Senara’s Church Zennor, St John the Evangelist Church Treslothan, St Catherine Church in Temple and the Parish Church of St Gregory in Treneglos near Launceston will share £376,400 which has been given in the second round of awards for urgent repairs to their church roofs.

Awards of between £10,000 and £100,000 were awarded towards the urgent repair of roofs, gutters and drains, failure of which is the principal cause of decay in historic churches. In total, 401 listed places of worship will benefit from awards from the £25 million funding package given by the Treasury. This follows the 501 awards announced in the first round in Spring 2015.

The largest grant in the Diocese of Truro will go to the Parish Church of St Gregory in Treneglos near Launceston which will receive £99,400. St John the Evangelist Church in Treslothan will receive £93,000 with £70,300 going to St Catherine in Temple. St Budoc Church near Falmouth will receive £69,700 with £27,700 going to St Senara’s in Zennor. Maker’s St Mary and St Julian will receive £15,900.

The Ven Audrey Elkington, Archdeacon of Bodmin, said: “It is a great encouragement to these six churches that they have been awarded grants from the Listed Places of Worship Roof Repair Fund. The grants will make a huge difference to those seeking to raise the funds to repair their historic church buildings. Keeping the roofs and rainwater goods of our churches in sound order is so important because of the damage to historic interiors caused by water ingress. Our rural churches do not have huge populations from which they can seek financial support, and often make considerable efforts to raise funds – so these grants are very welcome indeed.”

The selection of six churches in the Diocese of Truro highlights the success of our parishes in funding applications. This latest round of grants represents a 28% success rate for Truro Diocese compared nationally with a 26% success rate.

The Rt Hon Canon Sir Tony Baldry DL, Chair of the Church Building Council, said: “It is fantastic that almost 300 more church buildings will receive significant help with roof repairs from government and we are hugely grateful to the Chancellor. We now need to ensure a sustainable way of funding church buildings in the future and this is a question which I hope the government’s English Churches and Cathedrals Sustainability Review will find viable and deliverable answers.”

The fund, administered by the National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF) on behalf of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, was announced by George Osborne in the 2014 Autumn Statement and subsequently extended for a second round due to heavy oversubscription. Overall, the Treasury has allocated £55 million to the scheme.