ONE of York's most distinctive churches has been saved from decay by a landmark English Heritage grant.

St Laurence's Church, in Lawrence Street, was today awarded £264,000 to save its internal roof structure, which is beset by dry rot and in danger of collapse.

The grant is one of the biggest of its kind, and was made by English Heritage under the Joint Places Of Worship Scheme, which uses Heritage Lottery Fund cash to protect Grade II Listed churches.

Churchwarden Brian Fletcher said: "This grant is absolutely crucial and means we can start down the long road of restoring the church's interior. Our ambition is to make it usable for the next 100 years and tap the potential of the building to host all manner of activities, together with all year-round worship.

"We still need to raise a significant sum of money locally to achieve our dreams, but this is an excellent way to start the New Year."

The 800-seater church was dubbed the "Minster outside the city walls" when it was built in the 1880s to replace a small building from Norman, Medieval and later periods, the tower of which still stands in the churchyard.

But its gutters were poorly designed, prompting a £200,000 re-roofing project seven years ago to stop moisture from entering the interior. These repairs uncovered extensive water damage to the supporting timbers, stonework and plaster, and it was feared that the church might be bulldozed.

English Heritage stepped in to secure the future of St Laurence's two years ago, but the grant initially offered has been substantially increased as the scale of the damage has become clear.

Vital restoration work to replace rotten timbers, re-point masonry and tackle crumbling plaster can now begin later this month. It is likely to last six months.

Funding for further repairs is still being sought and total restoration costs will be more than £720,000.

Plans are also being drawn up to install modern lighting and heating systems, so that St Laurence's will become a venue for the community.

City of York Council is carrying out public consultation into an application by T-Mobile to install three mobile phone transmitters in the spire of St Laurence's. Mr Fletcher told the Evening Press last month that the deal could be an important source of income for the church.

Updated: 13:49 Wednesday, February 02, 2005