THE future of a church falling into disrepair is uncertain and a community group has come one step closer to restoring it.

The Church of St Peter's Fugglestone in Wilton has been mostly disused for many years, with the last service held there being the funeral for a previous parishioner.

In an attempt to save the building, which is falling into "serious decline", groups Wilton Community Land Trust and Wilton Parish Church Council launched a regeneration project named Wilton Sunrise.

Restoration work is expected to cost between £500k and £750k and the groups hope to secure funding from the National Lottery.

Read more: ​Mr Beans Coffee Shop burgled in Churchill Gardens, Salisbury

Treasurer Peter Edge told the Journal that a funding application will be submitted at the end of September.

However, the community will have to raise a sum of cash equal to 10 per cent of whatever National Lottery offers to fund and Mr Edge thinks this is “certainly achievable”.

He said: "The church council can’t afford to keep it up. If something was not done along these lines it would be a ruined church.

Salisbury Journal: Former Wilton Town Council mayor Peter Edge in 2017.Former Wilton Town Council mayor Peter Edge in 2017. (Image: Tom Gregory)

"We’re trying to get volunteer groups to get involved including the Wilton Men’s Shed and Veteran’s Centre."

Earlier this year, 135 locals responded to a survey conducted by Wilton Community Land Trust.

See more: ​Disgraced Wiltshire PCSO resigns after drink driving on duty

More than 84 per cent were in favour of the project’s goal to bring St Peter’s back into everyday life by making it available for a broad range of community uses.

This project follows the community effort to raise £500k which resulted in the restoration of Bemerton St John Church in September 2015.

Trustees of St John's Place, who were behind the fundraising effort, shared their knowledge about the community-led effort to revitalise the church into a nationally renowned vibrant community hub.

The Wilton Sunrise Project's funding bid is an "unsual and ambitious plan to directly involve members of the local community in 'hands-on' practical projects", according to the group.

Read also: ​Work to begin on church conversion after community raises £500k and saves it from rack and ruin

Chair of Wilton Community Land Trust Neil Prigent said: “Wilton Sunrise Project recognises that St Peter’s Fugglestone is vitally important to local people who worshipped there and aficionados of the celebrated English devotional poet George Herbert, rector of the church in the early 1630s. 

"The fabric of the church building is in serious decline, putting the site at risk.

"We hope to arrest that decline by providing a purposeful and sustainable future for the site that preserves its connection to the lives of local people in Wilton, and remains a physical tribute to the life and works of George Herbert.”