Thousand-year-old church launches £400k roof appeal

After almost 1,000 years of history the roof of a Saxon church in Hurley ‘urgently’ needs replacing in an ‘epic project’ costing £400,000.

St Mary the Virgin Church in Hurley High Street is a grade II* listed building – a higher tier of historical importance than regular grade II-listed ones.

Hurley village grew around the church and remains a site with many interesting historical features, including Monks’ Barn, also a grade II* listed medieval building.

Still a functioning church with Sunday services, St Mary the Virgin Church also holds music events, comedy nights and is the centre of the village fete.

According to local historian David Burfitt, the first version of the church was probably built in about 700AD.

This was when St Birinus – the bishop instrumental in converting the West Saxons to Christianity – passed up the Thames.

After the Norman Conquest in 1066, King William I confiscated all the lands at Hurley and gave them to his supporter, Geoffrey de Mandeville, the first sheriff of London and Middlesex.

The rebuilt church later became a Benedictine Priory, serving as a cell of Westminster Abbey.

Hurley Priory grew in importance during the 11th and 12th centuries, and in the 14th it was enlarged to double its present size. But a large part of it was demolished during the 1536 Dissolution of the Monasteries by Henry VIII.

At the turn of the 17th century the bell turret was installed, and a major restoration took place in 1852 in which the east end of the church was completely rebuilt.

Coming to the present day, surveys have revealed tile slippage and deterioration – and without prompt action, further damage could befall the church.

Thus, a full roof replacement is scheduled to begin in early 2026 and is expected to take around four months to complete.

It is hoped the new roof will preserve the church for at least another century – but it’s an expensive job, about £400,000.

A large chunk of this is fees to specialist architects and builders who sensitively restore historic structures – and towards sourcing materials that will match the church’s historic fabric.

While about 70 per cent of the funds can come from grants and suchlike, around 30 per cent must be raised by the community via events such as the Hurley Charity Gala.

Helen Ballard-Weiss, part of the Gala committee, said: “It’s quite an epic project.

“It’s a beautiful church and the whole village is very historical, so [the rules] are more stringent on how everything has to remain in the same aesthetic condition.”

The community has rallied around; gala tickets sold out within a week, and businesses in Hurley, Marlow and beyond have donated generous prizes for an auction.

The Olde Bell pub, hosting, is also donating a percentage of its bar profits towards the cause.

The black-tie event will feature a ‘red carpet arrival’, and entertainment from magician Etienne Pradier and the Maidenhead based Voltage Jazz Trio.

The ‘Raise the Roof’ fundraising gala is taking place on October 11, 6.30pm-11pm, in The Tithe Barn at the Olde Bell in Hurley High Street.

Donate to Raise the Roof at hurleygala.com/donate