Abseilers assess Shrewsbury's historic St Chad's church

The 18th Century Shropshire church where Victorian naturalist Charles Darwin was baptised is to get a £750,000 refurbishment.

Experts are abseiling down the bell tower at Saint Chad's in Shrewsbury to film the masonry and assess what work needs to be carried out next year.

The church was opened in 1792 and is one of only a few Georgian buildings to have Grade I listed status.

Darwin, born in 1809, spent the first 27 years of his life in Shrewsbury.

Rob Elliott, one of the overseers of the project, said: "Scaffolding is quite unsightly, it can take a long period of time to scaffold the whole building and take it down.

"With rope access we can come in with little disruption to the workings of the building."