Work begins to rebuild High Toynton church

​Back in 2020, High Toynton’s St John the Baptist Church tower dramatically collapsed and the committee and community in the village set about raising funds to rebuild the tower.

Work to make the building safe and reusable after the collapse - and two subsequent years of weather damage - will cost over £250,000, with plans for a new entrance and restored nave, built using the original stone.

In July last year, it was announced that more than £200,000 in funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund would be used to repair and rebuild the church, and on Monday (August 14) this work began on the church, with the aim to have the church open to the public again by September 2024.

Kevin Williamson, director of Jewills Limited which is conducting the work on the church, said that the plan this week is to sift through the rubble and support stones that can be salvaged and used in the rebuild of the church.

"We’re hoping to keep the corner stones and use as much of the original stones as possible,” he said, “Then there will be archaeology survey to put the tower back together.”

Kenny Bell, church warden of St John the Baptist church, said that the project will involve investigations into how the church came to fall down in the first place, and the new porch will hopefully be rebuilt using the white stones from the original tower.

There are also plans to create a new toilet and kitchen area to create an area where we can host events, and will have a small museum piece where people can do research into the history of the church and tower.

Further down the line, there are also plans to do research into some of the historic graves in the churchyard and find relatives of those buried there, as well as enhancing the wildlife project which has already seen wildflowers growing in the churchyard.

"We want to invite local children up here and teach them about how things grow and live with other animals and plants, and get together with the community.”