Cathedral Funding Boost to help in Recovery

St Paul’s and Durham Cathedral are to receive grants in the highest available category to help them recover from the ongoing impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

Durham Cathedral has been awarded £1.9m grant funding to cover staff costs and install essential safety measures, and St Paul’s, which usually relies on visitors for 90 percent of its income, has received a grant of £2.1m to provide stability.

28 of our cathedrals get funding boost to help them in recovery

The grants from the Government’s #CulturalRecoveryFund (CRF), administered by the National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) and Historic England, were the latest grants announced by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) over the weekend, as part of its £1.57b rescue package to safeguard cultural and heritage organisations across the UK from the economic impact of COVID-19.

The Very Reverend, Dean of Durham, Andrew Tremlett said:

“We are delighted to receive such a significant level of support through the Cultural Recovery Fund. Durham Cathedral has served its community as a place of worship, learning, and wonder for almost 1,000 years, and this grant will ensure that the doors of one of the most iconic buildings of the North remain open to all. This year has been challenging for so many, and we are grateful to the Government and the National Lottery Heritage Fund for their support and investment in the cultural sector.”

Durham Cathedral said the grant would be essential in the Cathedral’s recovery, restructure and its wider reopening plans – as and when Government guidelines allowed.

Gaye Kirby, Head of Development at Durham Cathedral said:

“The temporary closure of the cathedral earlier this year prompted us to create a new vision for the cathedral; one which recognises the changes we need to make to ensure we continue to meet the needs of our visitors and worshippers. The Cultural Recovery Fund grant will be instrumental in helping us to make those changes, putting people at the heart of everything we do and becoming a more responsive, collaborative and resilient organisation.

28 of our cathedrals have been among nearly 100 Anglican churches to benefit from a total of £24.8m of government investment from the Cultural Recovery Fund.

Other grants announced at the weekend, from the Heritage Stimulus Fund administered by Historic England, are intended for capital projects and range between £20,000 and £640,000; Blackburn, Bradford, Canterbury, Chester, Derby, Ely, Ripon, Southwark, St Paul’s and Truro Cathedrals are amongst those to benefit.

See the full list here.

The Heritage Stimulus Fund is a £50m grant scheme designed to support organisations in England from across the heritage ecosystem that have suffered severe loss of income as a result of Covid-19. It was awarded to organisations with a responsibility for important collections of historic buildings.

The cash injection differs from previously announced funding from the CRF of £10.8 million which benefited 70 Anglican churches and cathedrals to support organisational resilience and recovery.

Becky Clark, the Church of England’s Director of Cathedrals and Church buildings said:

“We are delighted to confirm the beneficiaries of this investment.

“This money goes into the very heart of local communities, preserving architectural and cultural heritage for a new generation while safeguarding highly-skilled jobs in a volatile economy.

“Investing in these projects is an investment in people’s lives. Whether that’s those who rely on tourism, heritage-specific employment, or people who enjoy the peace and serenity offered by these buildings.

“This money is a welcome move from the Government and Historic England which will allow the buildings to continue to be centres of their communities.”