Newcastle Cathedral has been awarded £305,463 from Historic England’s Places of Worship Renewal Fund for urgent repairs and accessibility improvements.
The money will pay for roof and floor repairs, toilet upgrades, a replacement lift and feasibility studies for future works, including renewable energy.
The Grade I-listed Cathedral Church of St Nicholas began as a parish church, likely founded around 1180, and became the cathedral for the new Diocese of Newcastle in 1882. Its best-known feature is the Lantern Tower, which once guided ships along the Tyne. The tower now gives its name to the Lantern Project, which supports people with addiction, asylum seekers and those who find themselves homeless.
The cathedral is one of two places of worship in the North East funded in this round, alongside the Catholic Church of Our Lady and St Columba in Wallsend.
The fund, worth £92 million over four years, replaces the VAT-refund Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme. Its first round shares more than £18 million between 51 places of worship in areas of greatest need, including 37 Church of England churches, two of them cathedrals.
Others include Catholic, Methodist and Jewish sites. A second round will be announced later.