This campaign runs until 31st March 2027, or until we reach our target. Every donation, legacy and grant we receive will be doubled. Whatever you can manage will be put to work the day it arrives. 9/10

Our last match funding campaign in 2024 helped us rescue four churches: St Deiniol’s, Worthenbury; St Twrog’s, Bodwrog; St Andrew’s, South Runcton; and St Doged’s, Llanddoged. With your help, St Helen’s and St Tyfi’s will be next. 8/10

The combined repair bill for these two churches will be in excess of £1 million. Thus, we are delighted that this year, a generous donor has agreed to make your support go twice as far, matching every pound you give, pound for pound, up to £500,000. 7/10

Along with St Tyfi’s, Llandyfeisant in Carmarthenshire, we hope to be able to restore St Helen’s, Biscathorpe with the money raised from our ‘A Victorian Revival’ match funding campaign. 6/10

Also, in the chancel, the 19th-century east window contains a much faded glass panel thought to be a copy of Rubens’s “Descent from the Cross”. 5/10

The interior of the church has some wonderful features which are at risk of being lost forever. In the nave, there are 19th century benches with delightfully carved poppy head ends. 4/10

However, sadly the fabric of the church has reached a state of serious decay: the ceilings are collapsing, there are significant water ingresses, the external render has cracked and blown, and the chancel arch is suffering from structural movement. 3/10

This Lincolnshire church was built in 1847 by local architect W. A. Nicholson and is a wonderful example of 19th-century Gothic Revival architecture. 2/10

St Helen’s, Biscathorpe is one of England’s most endangered Victorian buildings and, this year, we are trying to raise the money to save it from dereliction. 1/10

Dr David Carrington talks about the conservation of the monument of the Walker family from Old St Matthew’s, Lightcliffe, Halifax.

After we took St Mary’s into our care in 1999, we had copies of the sole surviving bench made to repopulate the nave of this austere medieval church. 9/9

The incredibly simple wooden benches at St Mary’s, Tal-y-Llyn were installed in the 18th century. Unfortunately most of these were stolen while the church stood abandoned in the 1990s. 8/9

Then, after the Reformation, benches and box pews became ubiquitous in churches across England and Wales. 7/9

Nevertheless, it is certainly true that there weren’t benches in churches for most of the medieval period. As, it was only by the 15th century that they became common place, largely due to the rising popularity of sermons. 6/9

However, the less than ideal position of these stone benches for viewing the elevation of the host during Mass casts doubt on their assumed function. 5/9

Supposedly, these stone benches that run along the walls of medieval churches are the origins of the phrase “the weakest go to the wall” as this limited seating was said to be reserved for the frail and elderly. 4/9

Sometimes there were a few portable stools for those that couldn’t stand or, as at St Mary’s, Tal-y-Llyn, there were narrow stone benches built into the walls of the church. 3/9

It was only in the late 14th century that benches - as we would recognise them today - started appearing inside churches. Before that, the laity would either stand or kneel in the nave during services. 2/9

For most of the medieval period there weren’t actually benches inside churches and a small detail at St Mary's, Tal-y-Llyn on Anglesey alludes to this fact. 1/9

We need your help to save two remarkable Victorian churches that are at risk of being lost forever.

St Beuno's, Penmorfa came into our care in 1999 and, in 2023-4, we were able to carry out some minor repairs to the church, including fixing the roof, overhauling the rainwater goods, and renewing the windows. 9/9

Finally, there’s the font, installed in memory of Marian Owen in 1887, and its extravagant eagle cover, which is an addition from the late 1950s. 8/9

During this restoration, the pews were replaced with new oak chairs and the floor renewed using petrifite. The old pews, pulpit, and reading desk were cut up and reused as dado boarding around the nave. 7/9

The installation of Constance’s amazing pieces of woodwork was part of a broader programme of refurbishment of the church at the end of the 19th century. 6/9

Then, as a backdrop to these two wonderful carvings, there is Constance’s remarkable chancel screen. Carved in a Jacobethan style, the screen has ionic pilasters and riotous strapwork. 5/9

Next to the lectern is the richly decorated pulpit, which features a panel depicting St Beuno’s, the medieval saint to which the church is dedicated. St Beuno was a 7th-century Welsh saint, abbot, and confessor. 4/9

The finest piece of Constance’s work has to be the angel lectern, for which it is said that she had a live model. Her skill is truly breathtaking as there is such an ethereal beauty and solemn innocence to this captivating depiction of this mediative angel. 3/9

That woman was Mrs Constance Mary Greaves, the wife of Richard Methuen Greaves, a slate quarry proprietor. Constance spent almost three years carving the angel lectern, pulpit, and chancel screen ahead of the grand opening of the church in April 1900. 2/9

Skilfully produced by one woman over several years at the end of the 19th century, the woodwork inside St Beuno's, Penmorfa, Gwynedd is both intricately detailed and emotionally powerful. 1/9

If you want to learn more about the various connections between our churches and the United States of America, then the summer 2026 edition of our members magazine includes several such stories in celebration of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. 9/10 📷 Summer 2026 Magazine