Celebrations as lottery funded transformation completed at grade II listed Lewes church

St John sub Castro Church has undergone major repairs after receiving National Heritage Lottery funding.

The major National Lottery Heritage funded project at St John sub Castro church at Abinger Place included renovations and essential building repairs and also led to some interesting archeological finds.

Funding also helped to provide community outreach projects at the church which is home to Café 12/31.

More than 100 local primary school children and visitors, including town mayor John Lamb and mayoress Gaynor Lamb, took part in and led tours at the church on Friday (February 7) to showcase the improvements.

A rare alabaster statue fragment, depicting a foot, found at the church during drainage works in 2017

Improvements to the 180-year-old Grade II listed church included brick, flint, and cement repairs and energy saving measures.

During the laying of drainage pipes at the church in 2017 as part of the project, several items of archaeological interest were found.

This included a rare statue fragment with colours and characteristics similar to medieval alabasters; decorative stones like this are rarely recovered as original pigments tend not to survive over time.

Community outreach projects supported by the funding include a church education pack for primary school children designed by Kate Hickmott and Helen Chiasson.

A new website about the history of the church has also been made possible by the lottery funding.