A CHURCH in Blackmoor is facing a £180,000 repair bill following the collapse of its chancel floor.

The disaster occurred just a month into a 20-week programme of work to shore up the chancel at St Matthew’s Church Blackmoor and Whitehill.

This had been estimated to cost £125,000 and work had begun following an appeal for £80,000 made last April by the vicar Rev Alice Wood.

Grants had been secured from the All Churches Trust, the Hampshire and the Islands Historic Churches Trust, the Garfield Weston Foundation, The Wolfson Foundation and the Worshipful Company of Tylers and Bricklayers.

St Matthew’s, a Grade II* listed building which celebrated its 150th birthday last year, is currently closed and services are taking place in the village hall.

Spokeswoman Jocelyn Morgan said: “The chancel floor has collapsed, dropping more than six feet and putting this much loved and used church out of action for the parishioners of Blackmoor and Whitehill.

“After much consultation with many experts, the estimated cost to repair the church will be in the region of £180,000-plus. This has stunned the parishioners and all those who love and care for St Matthew’s, who are now trying desperately to raise funds to cover the costs.”

Problems with the chancel end of the church were noticed when the centre of the floor sank around six inches over a number of years and a hole appeared in front of the altar.

Investigative work carried out through the hole in 2018 found that the chancel was constructed over a man-made void and supported by three arches which were crumbling into the sand on which they were built.

At the time of making her appeal just under a year ago, Rev Wood said: “If nothing is done the church will eventually collapse.”

St Matthew’s has secured an £80,000 loan from an Anglican churches organisation to start the repair work but this will have to be repaid eventually.

Rubble has been used to fill up most of the void but steel girders will have to be locked into place before the decorative floor of the chancel can be reassembled on top.

All of the floor tiles had to be rescued from the hole and numbered so the floor can be put back together correctly, and broken tiles will have to be repaired.

Jocelyn said: “It’s going to take a long time to get it all done.

“All sorts of fundraising things are going on but it’s a small community and it’s so tragic that this has happened to such a beautiful church.

“We are trying to get the message out there because every pound we raise will help towards getting it fixed.”

The church was built in the Gothic Revival style by the architect Alfred Waterhouse, who designed the Natural History Museum in London, for Sir Roundell Palmer and was consecrated on May 18, 1869.

It is built from pale grey malmstone from a local quarry, with fine-grained Bath stone for the dressings and quoins. A plaque on a white marble pillar on the north side of the chancel was dedicated by the village to Palmer and his wife.