Works needed to stabilise Lincolnshire church

As part of regular monitoring, it has been found that the ancient structure of one of our churches, St Boltolph's, Skidbrooke in Lincolnshire, has moved notably over the last few months and urgent works to stabilise the building are needed. 

CCT are urging people to heed warning notices, respect safety fencing and stay away from the church due to concerns about the condition of the building.

Craig McHugh, Conservation Projects Manager at CCT explained, "The building has shifted periodically since it came into our care in 1975 and it's almost certainly been moving for longer than that. Changes made to enlarge the church in the past and the draining of the marshes in the last century have combined to make the building vulnerable to subsidence after periods of dry weather, a pattern that is now fuelled by climate change". 

Mark Sproat, Interim Head of Region, North at CCT said, "St Botolph’s is a beautiful and peaceful church, set in magnificent isolation in the Lincolnshire marshland. Unfortunately, its isolated location has led to antisocial behaviour resulting in damage to the historic fabric of the building. CCT cares for 357 buildings across England and St Botolph’s is our most vulnerable and vandalised church. We are now having to take emergency structural stabilisation measures to secure the building until further investigations and repairs can be carried out.  

We have informed Lincolnshire Police of the situation who we hope will carry out extra patrols in the area to ensure public safety.  We’d also like to ask local residents to be extra vigilant and report any activity at the site to CCT or Lincolnshire Police.  The risks both to the person and the building are very real, so please stay away.”   

For more information or to report concerns to us, please contact msproat@thecct.org.uk

The continued care of historic church buildings is central to everything we do. Alongside empowering communities, the CCT, and its dedicated heritage partners, strive to lead the way in caring for our churches. If you would like to donate to support St Botolph's Church, or the wider work of the Trust, please click this link Donate Today.