THE CITY cathedral’s ruined crypts are set to benefit from a £50,000 refurbishment thanks to a national grant.
The ruins of St Michael’s Cathedral will be using the national Heritage Fund money towards ensuring repairing the floor of the ruins which is currently open to the elements and water is seeping through the stone floor into the crypts below, making them inaccessible.
The grant will finance urgent work to prevent further erosion to the medieval stonework floor and ensure that the crypts underneath the main floor remain watertight, which will then allow the public to safely visit the underground crypts again as part of a guided tour.
The cash injection of £51,550 is part of an annual fund of almost £1 million which helps the repair, maintenance or restoration of a building or structure of historic or architectural importance.
This latest funding follows an earlier grant of £66,000 from the not-for-profit business WREN, which went towards the restoration work on the ruined Cathedral Tower in 2012.
Nick Molyneux, English Heritage Principal Inspector of Historic Buildings and Areas for the West Midlands, said: “English Heritage is pleased to see that Coventry’s St Michael’s Cathedral is gaining more support to look after this important part of the city’s heritage which stands as a moving memorial to the effect that World War II had on the city.”
The medieval cathedral, which now stands as a permanent memorial, was destroyed by the German bombs dropped on Coventry in 1940.
Three churches in Warwickshire are among 17 projects awarded funding from the Hertiage Fund scheme this year to carry out vital restoration works – Warwick’s Collegiate Church of St Mary, Dunchurch’s St Peter’s Church, and St Michael’s Cathedral.
