Repairs to start on High Toynton tower-collapse church

The tower at St John the Baptist, in High Toynton, collapsed in January 2020

A church that was left badly damaged when its tower collapsed more than three years ago is soon to be repaired.

St John the Baptist, in High Toynton near Horncastle, Lincolnshire, made headlines in January 2020 when the Victorian-built structure fell down.

The work, which is being part-funded by a £200,000 National Lottery Heritage Fund grant, will begin next week, though the tower will not be rebuilt.

It is hoped the church will reopen in September 2024.

Recounting the collapse, Reverend Charles Patrick said: "It was very dramatic, the tower had completely collapsed at the west end of the church.

"It came down very quickly, people in the village probably thought it was an earthquake."

He said the tower, which housed the church's porchway, had been a Victorian addition to the church which "from the beginning was too big for the building" and had been "held tight" by metal braces for many years before being underpinned at a cost of £30,000 in the late 1980s.

Reverend Charles Patrick said the site had remained largely untouched since the collapse

"Right from a very early stage, we realised it was going to be very difficult to rebuild the tower," he said.

"So what will happen is the rebuilding of the structure of the building and a new, more discrete, porchway put in."

He said the work was estimated to cost between £250,000 and £300,000, adding that to rebuild the tower would have been "several hundred thousands of pounds more".

Repairs to the church are set to cost between £250,000 and £300,000

Repair work at the church had been "stymied" by Covid, he said, adding that he was delighted to see work finally starting at the site.

"It will be fantastic. We are really looking forward to next week where people in hard hats come on site and physically start moving things about," he said.

"It's going to be quite a process, it's not going to be rebuilt anytime soon, but it's a start."