GRANTS totalling £18,500 have been made to allow vital repair and conservation work to happen at St Hubert’s Church, Idsworth.

The 1,000-year-old ‘church in the field’ just north of Finchdean is both a working church and a popular visitor destination on the South Downs, with fine historic features and nationally-important medieval wallpaintings dating back to the 1330s.

Now grants from the National Churches Trust, the Wolfson Foundation and the Benefact Trust have been awarded, to enable vital repair and conservation work to be carried out in the late summer and early autumn of this year.

The grants will help to finance the major part of a multi-phase Repair and Conservation Programme which is being implemented as funds permit. This should ensure that the church is maintained for people to use, visit and enjoy for the next generation and beyond.

Churchwarden John Bannell said: “This is really excellent news. It is absolutely essential that we can improve the rainwater collection and dispersal arrangements in order to preserve the historic fabric and the wallpaintings. We are extremely grateful for these grant awards as they are taking us over the line from planning to implementation of the work.”

Guided tours of the church will take place on June 12 and July 10, both at 2:30pm. To sign up for those tours, click here:

• Wednesday 12 June, 2:30pm: sign up here
• Wednesday 10 July, 2:30pm: sign up here