SELBY Abbey which has historic connections with America is in trouble.

A national appeal has been launched after an architect's report revealed that over £4 million is needed to restore crumbling stonework.

One of the abbey's most famous features is the 14th century Washington Window, which is to be found high up in the choir area near the high altar.

John de Washington was a Prior at the abbey, and can be traced from the same family tree as George Washington, the first President of the United States.

The stained south clerestory window which bears the Washington family coat-of-arms forms the model of the present day American flag.

Fundraisers now have to find more than £4 million to restore the deteriorating stonework at the 10th century abbey, recognised as one of England's architectural gems.

The Archbishop of York, Dr David Hope, has been informed and has given the national appeal his blessing.

Abbey officials were taken aback by the architect's initial findings which revealed that much of the ancient stonework was all failing at the same time.

Chief fundraiser Jeremy Gaskell has already responded by submitting an application to the Heritage Lottery Fund for a "substantial" amount of money.

He said their application was being backed by English Heritage and he was hopeful it would be successful.

"We have all been taken aback, but there's no point in burying our heads in the sand," said Mr Gaskell.

"It is a challenging amount but we will do everything we can to restore the abbey to the state such a magnificent building should be in."

Abbey officials asked for a full survey of the building two years ahead of schedule because of recent storm damage.

A stone pinnacle on the central tower crashed down on to the south transept roof and sev-eral other pinnacles were found to be loose.

A £100,000 appeal was launched to cover the damage - only to be overtaken by the multi-million-pound stonework shocker.

Abbey vicar, the Reverend Keith Jukes, said the final figure could be as high as £5 mil-lion, but they were determined to get there.

"It came as a shock and our appeal will now have to be on a national scale to find this amount of money," said Mr Jukes.

"The stonework is in the fairly urgent category and needs to be done within the next five years, which means we need £1 million a year."