PARISHIONERS raised the roof of a 500-year-old Lake District church as they celebrated its expert restoration which uncovered some fascinating discoveries.

The ancient 'heart of oak' timbers of St Cuthbert's, in the Kentmere valley, have been conserved into the next century thanks to a £241,000 fund-raising drive.

An 'extremely skilled' team of contractors from Heritage Conservation Restoration Ltd, of Ashton-under-Lyne, started work in March 2016, and the work threw light on the landmark church's history.

A thermal imaging camera detected a hidden 'devil's door', blocked up after consecration to stop the devil re-entering, and the 1.2 metre-thick church walls were shown to be built castle-style, from solid boulders.

A decorative Victorian stencilled frieze emerged from layers of paint, and the original turfs on which unseasoned, green roof timbers were laid in Henry Vlll's reign were rediscovered. Tree-ring dating shows the trees were felled locally between 1511 and 1516.

Benefactors gave generously and children even sold roadside refreshments to help pay for the work. Its successful outcome has now been toasted at a joyful service of celebration, led by the Bishop of Carlisle and the Rev Shanthi Thompson, priest-in-charge of Staveley, Ings and Kentmere.

Tomorrow (Friday) the parish will find out if its project has won a prestigious prize at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors' 2017 North West awards, in Liverpool.

Churchwarden Iain Johnston told the Gazette the choir and congregation tested the newly-restored roof with their rousing hymns at the recent celebration. The bishop, the Right Rev James Newcome, cut a cake iced with St Cuthbert's cross, and the Ings Occasional choir sang William Boyce's Alleluia.

"This tremendous project will keep St Cuthbert’s Church alive and active as a building which dominates the landscape, as a refuge, as a place of pilgrimage and as an ever-present symbol of God’s work within this beautiful Lakeland valley," Mr Johnston told the Gazette.

Retired civil engineer Robert Courtier, of Kentmere, first prompted the investigations needed to assess the 'parlous' state of the roof. "Some ten years ago, during a time of severe and snowy winters, he became increasingly concerned that the church roof might not be up to taking the weight of half a metre or more of snow," recalled Mr Johnston.

"The age of the timbers, the profusion of cracks, twists, deformed joints, unsatisfactory repairs and leaks between the slates began to cause more sleepless nights than were good for him."

As word spread of the urgent need for repairs, a major appeal was launched in 2015. The response was 'overwhelming' and PCC treasurer Max Biden helped secure £110,000 from the Listed Places of Worship Roof Repair Fund and £10,000 from the National Churches Trust.

Mr Johnston summed up the project as "a fantastic and worthwhile effort" and said the parish hoped to uncover more of the church's hidden history, and to establish St Cuthbert's as a place of pilgrimage for students of any age.