Benington All Saints - finding the key to the future

The Regeneration Taskforce is working closely with local trustees to secure a thriving heart for village life in this rural agricultural community in the Lincolnshire Fens

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A village with a problem? Or an opportunity?

In 2003 Benington’s 800 year old church closed. Set on the main road in the centre of this village it has been literally at the heart of this place for centuries.

But declining population, reduced church attendance and a mounting repair bill which had begun to exceed the ability of the remaining churchgoers to sustain, meant the church was put on the path to redundancy just a year into the new century.

This is not a situation that is uncommon. But neither is it permanent – the fortunes of such buildings have often ebbed and flowed over the centuries. What was different in this case was that the local community had already lost many of their other facilities over the last 30 years – their GP, the local school, the post office – and they weren’t prepared to let it continue.

Not willing to accept that closure was an inevitable and long-term outcome for such a beautiful building, local people came together to see what could be done to find a future which would see the building used again.

A local Friends group was formed in 2004 to fundraise for repair work and keep the building and its grounds maintained and cared for until a new use could be secured. They have done their best to ward off vandalism and theft but it has not been easy.

Partnering and structuring

A partnership of local people with the Diocese of Lincoln has been extremely supportive, offering favourable terms for taking on the building should a new use be found, and giving time and resource to the project to help it develop and work with local people to realise their ideas.

A planning brief for the building was produced in collaboration with the local authority around the time of closure, which aimed to clarify the situation for prospective new users as to what might be possible.

However, a brief spell on the open market with this as a guide failed to secure any interest. There was also a reluctance locally to see the building go beyond access by the public, particularly as the churchyard was still being used by local families.

In 2007, to focus their efforts onto securing a new use, Benington Community Heritage Trust (BCHT), a registered Building Preservation Trust, was formed from a small group of the Friends. This gave them membership to the Association of Preservation Trusts providing BCHT with access to a network of specialist support and advice and the opportunity to share experiences with other such organisations working to save and reuse heritage buildings - in particular the local support of Heritage Lincolnshire.

The trustees of the newly constituted BCHT also registered the body as a charity and a registered company, in order to have the appropriate legal set up to help secure sources of funding.

They also built a website to raise awareness of their cause - you can visit it here.

These were just the first steps in a journey of what will be many…

Joining up the options

There are a number of other local groups in the village which BCHT initially looked to in discussing the future.

Adjacent to the church are a set of almshouses and land bequeathed by one of Benington’s former local boys made good - a shopkeeper who went to London to make his fortune as a merchant – William Porrill. His gravestone in the churchyard is listed.

He endowed a small charity for the benefit of the poor of the village, which continues to this day, in combination with an endowment from another 18th century resident who founded a school in Benington, Richard Cowell - the Porrill & Cowell Trust - a board in the church details their legacies. BCHT have considered what partnering options there might be with this charity.

BCHT are also working with the Benington village hall committee to mutually consider the options for the future of the outdated village hall premises.

Redevelopment of this site could unlock funds for repair and adaptation works at the church, which would enable a transfer of the existing programme of events into a new and improved community space in the church building.

Tasking the Taskforce

Being a Grade I listed building, one of the early options for All Saints had been to recommend it for vesting with the CCT.

However, with CCT's limited financial capacity to take on new sites, and no clear future identified for the building, this was not an option that could have funded the work required to bring the building back into a useable condition, nor one which would have delivered the aspirations of the local trustees working hard to find a solution that kept it in active use.

In 2009, CCT’s Regeneration Taskforce were instead invited to form a working partnership with BCHT, bringing their expertise in finding new uses for heritage buildings across the country to the table.

The Regeneration Team have since been working closely alongside BCHT, meeting regularly, inputting their expertise and introducing their business process as a means of structuring the development of a project.

Creating ideas, sharing experience, growing confidence

With the generosity of Lankelly Chase, the Regeneration Taskforce helped secure funding for, and worked closely with BCHT to organise and publicise a celebratory and very successful open day in the spring of 2010 which attracted around 400 people – a day of fun activities, open thinking and reconnecting with the village.

We asked people if they “had the key” and sought their ideas and thoughts as to what the future should look like. A resounding response - that the building should be kept open to the people and used in some form as a community venue - was an excellent start in reassuring the trustees that they weren’t alone in their aims, and helping to form the basis for building a project proposal.

An Options Appraisal, made possible with a grant from the Architectural Heritage Fund (AHF), has been completed.

CCT have also researched and produced an Assessment of Significance on the Grade I listed building, to inform any potential adaptation work, and help identify why this place is special.

We have also spent time visiting other successful examples of church adaptations, to help local people involved see what opportunity there could be here for their village – and where there are creative ideas raised, researching and showing what has been achieved elsewhere.

BCHT are now working to prepare a Stage 1 HLF application for submission this summer. Keep checking this page and the project facebook page for further updates!