A church with rare medieval murals is facing a bill of close to £1million due to water damage in the roof and walls.

St Leonard’s Church in Flamstead, near Harpenden, is suffering from years of moisture ingress, deep rot in the roof timbers and an infestation of the deathwatch beetle, all requiring urgent repair work with a £1million price tag.

Villagers are determined to save the 12th century church, which displays some of the "most important medieval wallpainting in Hertfordshire", and are mounting a bid to Heritage Lottery to seek funds.

St Albans & Harpenden Review:

Without the repairs, the church has been threatened with closure on safety grounds in two years’ time.

Vicar Tom Sander said: "Our Hertfordshire spike steeple is a landmark for miles around, and the six bells ring out regularly.

"The heritage in our beautiful church is worthy of our greatest efforts to protect it for future generations.

"With the help and support of local people we are rallying all our resources to fund-raise and to make people more aware of this priceless heritage and its value to the whole community."

The community has come together to launch the bid, which fundraising coordinator Andrew Lambourne called a "major undertaking" due to the magnitude of the funds required.

St Albans & Harpenden Review:

He said: "A challenge like this really draws people together, and over the weekend of our scarecrow festival lots of people contributed what they could along with some really useful ideas.

"I was touched to be given a rare 1902 document explaining the need even then for major repair work, which shows that problems of caring for heritage buildings don’t just happen today.

"More than 90% of rural churches are listed buildings, and funding their care and upkeep in order to preserve the heritage for the community is by no means easy."

Mr Lambourne added that the team will also need to secure matched funding from other sources and a plan to make the heritage more accessible.

They will also seek to raise £250,000 independently, extra to any requests from the Heritage Lottery.

Anyone wishing to contribute to the fundraising effort can visit the Friends of St Leonard’s website.