Craft Industry: Support

Lord Bishop of Southwark Excerpts

Thursday 12th June 2025 Grand Committee

[The Lord Bishop of Southwark]

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Freyberg, for securing this debate and for his expertise.

Like the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Chichester, who will speak later, I believe that cathedrals and churches are some of our nation’s most significant and tangible assets, shaping our history and identity, as well as being the beating hearts of our communities. I regret, therefore, that the Government’s decision to curb support for the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme affects our ability to maintain and renew this precious inheritance. I hope this has been recognised in the spending review.

The reality is that the Church of England cares remarkably well for the biggest portfolio of listed buildings in the country thanks to local parish endeavour. That is why the decision to cap support, even for projects that are already contracted, budgeted and otherwise funded, is a real body blow. In my diocese, the impact for Holy Trinity Clapham amounts to £1 million, which puts at risk a programme of works that is already in progress. Another large fabric project has been paused.

Church buildings, as your Lordships may imagine, support a bewildering array of craft skills. Should churches cease to do so, many skills would atrophy. I am thinking of masonry and stone-carving, the intricate textiles of altar frontals, banners and vestments, the ceramics of tiles, painting, stained and engraved glass, and all manner of metalwork in buildings, utensils and liturgical objects, as well as woodwork, both functional and artistic. What would become of the sole remaining bell foundry in England were it not for orders such as that from Holy Trinity Church, Roehampton, in my diocese, for the casting of four bells in 2023? How would the skills needed to repair great organs flourish without the refurbishment of the organ at St John the Divine, Kennington, which is also in the diocese of Southwark? It has a massive local music outreach programme for children, with beneficial social impact. Organ-building is a heritage craft at risk.

Again in my diocese, at All Saints Church in Kingston upon Thames—the place of coronation for West Saxon kings including, in this anniversary year, that of Æthelstan, the first king of all England—there is an ambitious and contemporary textile project depicting seven Anglo-Saxon monarchs. How will contemporary embroidery fare without the commissioning of large and challenging works such as this; or traditional stonemasonry without commissions such as the repair of the tower and wall at St Mary’s Church, Beddington? Indeed, how will any of these skills survive without this activity? Every bishop in every diocese can recite many telling examples. Yet the Department for Culture, Media and Sport does not list bell-founding, organ-building, stone-carving, stained or engraved glasswork, masonry or wood-carving as core craft activities. I ask the Minister to explain this and expand the current list.

In summary, the reduction in the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme announced in January and concerns over its future beyond March will have a direct effect on commissions and contracts awarded to skilled craftspeople and artists. It will inhibit apprenticeships and dampen economic growth. As a final point, I ask the Minister, if only on grounds of economic utility, to please guarantee an expanded future scheme.