A 1,000 year old church that found themselves in a “desperate situation” after facing closure due to bat faeces is celebrating the end of a scheme that saved the space.

Bats were using holes in the walls of the church to enter, and then leaving droppings.

The church was covered in faeces, with excrement found on most walls and floors, BBC News reports.

However, a £5m Bats in Churches scheme saw All Saints Church in Braunston-in-Rutland narrowly avoid closure.

All Saints was the first church to undertake the scheme, which saw holes permanently filled without disrupting the protected species.

The process has taken five years due to concerns over the wellbeing of the bats residing in the place of worship.

Initially, the holes were only boarded up temporarily, so ecologists could monitor the number of bats using the church.

After scientists declared the temporary work to have been a success, the holes were filled permanently.

Sue Willetts, churchwarden, said it was delighted to have been a pilot church for the scheme.

"Without the help from the project, it's very likely that the church would have been closed," she said.

"That's honestly how desperate the situation had become."