Creating A Warmer Building

When you stop and think about it, St Mary’s has been standing for hundreds of years and for most of that time, it had no heating at all! (And since the old boiler gave up in 2019, it’s been much the same story again). It’s pretty amazing that the place hasn’t crumbled away after all these centuries.

Our project team spent a lot of time thinking about what this beautiful old building needs. Not just to keep it standing, but to make it comfortable for everyone who comes inside.

We brought in professionals who know far more about heating historic buildings than we do. They explored all sorts of options; weighing up costs, emissions, and how to make things as environmentally friendly as possible without spending a fortune.

They looked at three main ideas:

Oil and an oil-fired boiler – quickly ruled out, as it simply isn’t eco-friendly enough.

Electricity (mains, solar, or battery) with an electric boiler – greener, but far too expensive to run for a large building like ours.

Heat pumps – either air source or ground source. Sadly, these weren’t suitable for St Mary’s. A ground-source system would have disturbed important archaeology beneath the churchyard, and even an air-source system couldn’t produce enough heat to overcome the natural heat loss in such a big, uninsulated space.

Gas and a gas-fired boiler – this became the most practical and affordable option, especially as we can run it on BioLPG, a renewable biofuel. BioLPG has much lower carbon emissions than traditional fuels and is cheaper to run than the alternatives. It’s made when plants, food waste, or other natural materials break down without oxygen, turning into a cleaner-burning gas.

One thing many people don’t realise is that the day to day costs of running the church — heating, lighting, activities and upkeep — are all paid for by the local congregation. Nothing comes from the Church of England or the Diocese of Chelmsford.

The grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund helped us to get the restoration work off the ground — and yes, it involved mountains of paperwork (including the heating report!) — but once the project is complete, it’s up to us to keep things going. That means regular fundraising and lots of local support.

And as for the roof… well, that’s a whole new project waiting to happen.  Anyone fancy taking that one on?