Record-breaking bat plague causes damage to 10,000 churches with at least two already abandoned
- Church of England estimates that 60 per cent of its 16,000 churches have bats
- The bats leave floors and walls caked with corrosive droppings and urine
- There are 3,000 more than in the last study which was done in the late 1990s
A record-breaking plague of bats is causing damage to nearly 10,000 of the country’s ancient churches.
Infestations are so heavy at 120 sites that officials fear that soon they may no longer be able to hold services, and at least two have already been abandoned.
The bats leave floors and walls caked with corrosive droppings and urine, but as endangered species they cannot be driven out of their roosting spots.
St Lawrence Church in Radstone, Northamptonshire, pictured above, has stopped functioning because of bats, said Bats In Churches spokeswoman Ione Bingley
The Church of England estimates that 60 per cent of its 16,000 churches have bats – about 3,000 more than in the last study in the late 1990s.
Andrew Selous, a Tory MP and a Church Estates Commissioner, revealed in a Parliamentary answer that about 120 churches are ‘struggling with unsustainable bat roosts’.
To combat the urgent problem, the Church has launched a project called Bats In Churches in collaboration with the Bat Conservation Trust and with a £3.8 million boost from the National Heritage Lottery Fund.
It is a five-year project, staffed by ecologists, church architects and heritage experts.
Lamorran church, near Truro, and St Lawrence at Radstone, Northamptonshire, have stopped functioning because of bats, said Bats In Churches spokeswoman Ione Bingley.
Lamorran church, near Truro, has a;lso said to have stopped functioning due to bats. The Church of England estimates that 60 per cent of its 16,000 churches have bats – about 3,000 more than in the last study in the late 1990s
She added: ‘Some have all but closed down officially.’ The bats also caused chaos at 800-year-old All Saints Church, in Braunston- in-Rutland in the East Midlands.
Church warden Sue Willetts said she and colleagues would spend 90 minutes cleaning before events.
She added: ‘We had bat droppings and urine on the floor and walls and in the font, and the pungent smell of ammonia. Worshippers started avoiding the church.’