FIVE years after a fireplace devastated All Saints’, Mackworth, in Derbyshire, the primary phase of reconstruction is nearing completion. Despite its £11-million insurance cover, the Grade I listed constructing’s future was jeopardised by the arson in 2020 (News, 31 December 2020).
The Bishop of Derby, the Rt Revd Libby Lane, described seeing the ruined constructing as “absolutely heart-breaking” on the time. “This is an awful tragedy to have happened to the people of Mackworth, but I do know it’ll bring the community together stronger,” she told reporters.
The church was almost burnt to the bottom, but Ecclesiastical Insurance’s claims director, Jeremy Trott, said: “We know from experience that we will rebuild this church so it could actually over again be at the center of the Mackworth community.” The community witnessed what the Priest-in-Charge on the time, the Revd Jacqueline Stober, described as an “outpouring of affection and support”.
In September 2023, work began on repairing the partitions and chancel roof. Attention can now turn to the nave — still currently open to the weather — and, once the college has been granted, the inside reordering. The bells — the oldest of which dates from 1612 and is inscribed “Jhesus bee our speed” — weren’t damaged but were taken to the bell foundry while the church fund-raises for the £17,000 needed for his or her restoration.
The PCC can also be applying for grants towards the £300,000 needed for tower repairs that pre-date the fireplace. About £140,000 has been raised up to now.
A former Vicar of Allestree, seven miles away, Canon Chris Dyer, and her husband moved into the parish just weeks before the fireplace. Canon Dyer is a distinguished supporter of the rebuilding effort. She said on Tuesday: “We’ve got no Vicar, no churchwardens, and we go to our sister church at Kirk Langley — but now we’ve got a roof on the chancel: that’s an enormous step forward.
“Ecclesiastical Insurance have been absolutely good. And, while all this is going on, our parish is growing, with the addition of two large private housing estates. There are absolutely no public buildings where the community can meet, aside from the church; so the rebuild is an actual opportunity to create something for the entire parish.”
