BURNSALL'S historic church will get a much-needed facelift after a grant worth more than £100,000 was secured.

Parishioners at St Wilfrid's, a grade one listed building which dates back to Anglo-Saxon times, currently have to contend with water dripping into buckets from a leaky roof.

The grant, which could total £130,000, will be used to replace the lower roof - part of which has collapsed - solve damp problems and install new drains.

The money was secured from English Heritage and the Heritage Lottery Fund.

George Burfitt, a churchwarden at St Wilfrid's, explained that £13,000 would be spent on stage one of the project.

"Then we will find out what really needs to be done," he added.

Archaeologists will be keeping a watchful eye over all the groundwork and will be hoping to unearth more ancient treasures.

Already, 11 Viking tombstones have been discovered on the site, some of which are displayed in the church.

It is believed that nowhere else in the country has so many tombstones discovered in one location, suggesting that Burnsall was an important Viking settlement.

It is thought the church started out as a simple wooden building, dedicated to St Wilfrid who became Bishop of York in 669. Tradition has it that he visited Burnsall and preached from a rock at the edge of the River Wharfe, still known as St Wilfrid's Pulpit.

Surveys have shown historic places of worship in England will face a repair bill of nearly £1 billion in the next five years.

Mr Burfitt said: "The problem with churches in the countryside is that they have quite small congregations."

He explained that the congregation at Burnsall paid for the maintenance of the building "We were finding it increasingly difficult to keep on top of maintenance, let alone repairs," he said.

But he added that the village's community spirit shone through when cash was needed.

Fiona Spiers, Heritage Lottery Fund manager for Yorkshire and the Humber, said: "Our historic places of worship are enormously important in the life of communities and give character to towns and villages the length and breadth of the country.