The Church
St Andrew is a hugely impressive 14th century church, the tower has carved vines and fancy flint flushwork and unusual setback buttresses. Inside are 15th century doors, carved pew ends and a painted 15th century rood screen, now in the south aisle.
The church is currently on the Heritage at Risk register and urgently needs funding of over £0.5million for repairs to the windows and buttresses, and to repair the damage after lead was stolen from the south aisle roof. Currently the church has to be closed during bad weather due to the risk from breaking glass.
The busy and active church community hope to use any funding to turn the church into a hub for local events, as well as repairing the fabric of the building.
Our Work
Deopham is home to both Pipistrelle and Natterer's bat roosts, and there are droppings scattered heavily throughout the church in the summer months.
Deopham has been part of a number of research projects including a PhD analysing the diet of bats in the church to gauge their impact on agricultural pest insects.
The Bats in Churches project has funded a complete set of surveys and a bat management plan. This has recommended a range of potential bat mitigation options, from simple covers over the decalogue boards to a proposal for a major bat box in the tower, which will also allow the church to reopen and use the west door as an accessible entrance to the church.
These will now form part of a major grant funding bid to carry out significant structural repairs to the church, and increase local community engagement with the church.
We have also held a fundraising bat night in summer 2022 and helped at the church Flower Festival in summer 2023.
Deopham Case Study Poster
Deopham Fact Sheet
Deopham Bat Management Plan 2021
Upcoming events
If you’d like to contact or find out more about the church, visit their page on A Church Near You