ESSENTIAL conservation work to a North Yorkshire church has been given permission to start.

St Helen’s Parish Church in Escrick has received just over £55,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund to start development on a project called ‘Walking Through The Centuries With A Legless Knight’.

The scheme will tell visitors about the history of the 800-year-old church and local community while conservation work is also carried out, and is the first part of a development grant from the HLF.

The church was visited by Nigel Adams, MP for Selby and Ainsty, and Fiona Spears, head of the HLF in Yorkshire and the Humber, and they were give a tour by project team member Chris Mason and former High Sheriff of North Yorkshire, Charlie Forbes Adam, who is head of the Escrick Park Estate.

Caroline Wandless, churchwarden and project team leader, said: “It was an unexpected privilege to have the opportunity at this stage to demonstrate to Fiona and Nigel how much heritage we have to showcase at St Helen’s, and how we can open up this wonderful building to a wider community.

“Now we have permission to start we can proceed to appoint the architect and select specialists to detail our proposals for submission to the HLF later in 2017 for consideration for a full delivery phase grant which would enable us to complete the project in 2018.”

Fiona Spears, head of HLF in Yorkshire and the Humber, also visited the church to find out more about the project - named for the 14th-Century legless effigy of a medieval knight, thought to be a tribute to Roger de Lascelles, the landowner of the Escrick Estate when England was ruled from York by Edward I. She said: “This project offers a fantastic opportunity to bring this wonderful church to life, through investigation and interpretation of its fascinating history alongside essential conservation work. We are delighted to have taken the first steps with the Legless Knight, and look forward to seeing the detailed proposals”.