Last updated at 15:54, Tuesday, 19 March 2013

A Maryport man has launched a campaign to save the town’s Christ Church.

Maryport’s Christ Church

Spiralling maintenance costs have forced the iconic harbourside church to close.

But Alan Hayton, of Grasslot, wants to help set up a Friends of Christ Church group to save at least the facade.

He said: “We need to keep at least the outside of the building even if it is not used as a church again.

“It is not only part of the town’s history but is truly iconic. In 2011 an LS Lowry drawing of the fishermen’s church sold for over £37,000.

“He drew and painted it several times and used the steeple in other paintings too. It features on many postcards and most illustrated literature on the town. It has also been painted by Sheila Fell and Percy Kelly.”

He said the church also had strong connections with the Titanic which sank 101 years ago in April.

He added: “Thomas Ismay, who owned the White Star Line, was born in Maryport and supported this church. It was he who put the clock there.”

Mr Hayton, who is retired, said he understood the difficulties with dwindling congregations and high overheads and he wanted to do something because he was passionate about the town where he was born and bred.

He said: “I would love to see it continue to be used as a church. If that can’t happen, we should try to restore it and perhaps it could be used for something else – even an art gallery or, as one woman suggested to me, a larger home for the maritime museum.”

Maryport’s team rector, the Rev Gill Hart, said the church had to be closed for health and safety reasons and it would cost around £120,000 to make it safe.

Mr Hayton added: “We should also look at the possibility of getting some European funding to turn it into a permanent exhibition space. We got money for the Wave Centre.”

First published at 10:50, Saturday, 16 March 2013
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk