Kimpton Parish Church Restoration Trust

Kimpton Parish Church Restoration Trust (Registered Charity No 1216579) was set up in April 1984 as a registered charity, with the aim of funding maintenance and restoration work on the Church, thereby assisting the Parochial Church Council to carry out these tasks. Under the terms of the Restoration Trust, monies raised or donated can only be used for this purpose and cannot be used for the day to day running expenses of the church. KPCRT set up a Charity Incorporated Organisation in January 2026.

Since its formation the Restoration Trust has been involved with a number of projects costing the best part of £1m to date. This essential work was funded from various sources including donations from individuals and national organisations of which English Heritage was a major contributor. The Trustees have also organised fund raising activities of which the annual Kimpton Art Show is the main event although the Kimpton May Festival, which was started in 1965 to raise money for the replacement of the Dacre Chapel ceiling, also makes a similarly significant contribution to funds. Whatever the source of income, the Restoration Trustees are hugely grateful to all those people who have, in whatever capacity, contributed or raised money to fund the ongoing maintenance of our historic church building.

History of the Church

Since the 12th century, a church has stood on the present site with any alterations and additions overlaying and extending the original structure. Inside, the pillars and arches of the nave date from around 1200 AD in the Early English style, and the remains of the two lancet windows, either side of the present chancel east window, also date from this period. The left-hand lancet contains a faint image of an angel indicating that the church at some time was decorated with wall paintings. The external features of the Church date from the 14th or 15th century perpendicular style. Major interior changes were made by the Victorians, replacing the box pews with the present bench pews, removing the minstrels’ gallery at the west end and rebuilding the chancel arch and relocating the wooden rood screen across the Dacre Chapel arch.

Changes in the 20th century have included moving the organ from the left-hand chancel transept to its present position and inserting a raised ringing floor in the tower with a glazed screen to the nave. In the 1970s the altar and reredos (an ornamental screen) were moved from the east end of the chancel with a movable altar and rails brought closer to the congregation; the reredos is currently sited in the north transept. In 1982 the old 6 bell oak frame was replaced by a cast iron frame from a redundant London church, allowing the number of bells to be increased from 6 to 8 with the two new bells cast at the Loughborough bell foundry.

To celebrate the millennium an etched glass screen was placed across the arcade in the north-west corner of the nave to form a small multi-purpose area funded by an anonymous donation. Following on from that and, after the withdrawal of a village mobile library service, the south-west area of the nave was also adapted to form a book corner to accommodate a book/jigsaw swap facility to parishioners. Both are proving very popular within the village. A food table is also set up to the rear of the church for any village residents who might need to use it.

Maintaining the Church Fabric

The Church is a Grade 1 listed building. Because of the lack of suitable building stone in the area the Church fabric consists largely of flints imbedded in lime mortar which requires constant vigilance and maintenance. Currently the fabric is in excellent condition as a result of considerable expenditure over the years since the formation of the Restoration Trust. However a building of such age and construction needs constant monitoring in the form of a regular and extensive inspection every five years by a specialised architect. The next inspection is due in 2027 and the report will provide the basis for any future work.

Between the formation of the Restoration Trust and 2005, work on the Church was largely concerned with essential exterior stonework including the rebuilding of the tower, re-slating of the nave and chancel, improving the ground drainage around the building and electrical rewiring, all of which totalled some £610k. During this time English Heritage was actively supporting parish churches and we were fortunate then to receive some significant grants to help. However it is pertinent to note that little grant funding has since been available and the Trust is now almost entirely reliant on donations and local fund raising activities in order to generate income. The Kimpton May Festival, inaugurated in 1965, has been a particularly important source of funding in that context and we owe huge thanks to all those people who have worked so tirelessly to make that event a success. As part of the Festival, the Kimpton Art Show, which was originally incepted by the Trust, has also blossomed enormously, become widely known throughout the region, and is now a hugely important event in the village calendar. Again, we owe a huge debt of thanks to all those people who make the Art Show such a fantastic success.

The money which these local events bring to the Restoration Trust are substantial and now form the bedrock of our funding. Projects funded since 1984 are detailed below and total almost £1m with some £177k spent over the past five years alone following extensive repairs to the fabric of both the main body of the church (notably a structural repair to the SE buttress to the South Aisle) and restoration of the tower’s stonework.

Restoration Projects since 1984

Kimpton Parish Church Restoration Trust CIO