Boyton Church has been in need of restoration for many years. Stopgap repairs have stemmed some deterioration but the damage to the building is obvious and inescapable. After several attempts we have been successful in obtaining an English Heritage grant, but this does not cover all the costs and an appeal is underway to raise some £30,000 towards work initially estimated to cost £123,813, but very likely will be more.

To those who are architecturally minded here are some details on our church:

• Nave and chancel of 1869 by William Smith, but retaining traces of 12^th century work e.g. attached shaft on the quoins in the NW corner of the nave.
• Fenestration is 19^th century or heavily restored decorated.
• The south porch is restored with diagonal buttresses to the gable. The entrance arch incorporates medieval work with continuous mouldings under a hoodmould with label stops. East and West windows are square headed.
• The vestry north side is gabled and has a 2-light decorated window and gable chimney stack. A reset Romanesque doorway is in the east wall with three orders of arches, the outer orders with nook-shafts. There is chevron decoration to the outer face and arch soffits. The inner arch has ball decoration to the voussoirs.
• The chancel east wall has short diagonal buttresses and the cill band is stepped up to meet the cill of the east window.
• The interior is plain with simple 19^th century furnishings.
• There is a good medieval south doorway with small square bosses decorated with shields, leopard's heads and fleurons.
• The roof is 19^th century. The nave has arch-braced ties and collars to the principals with the lower braces on the wall posts and corbels. The collars to the common rafters are supported on a collar runner. There is a single continuous purlin at the tie level. Short ashlar-posts rest onto the conice.
• The chancel roof is scissor braced.
• Access to the upper parts of the tower is difficult and dangerous. This has been the case for many years. The winding tower staircase up to belfry level is constructed in septaria, with each tread and newel section in a single massive block, possibly a unique survival. The stair is very badly decayed and eroded and is becoming unsafe and structurally unsound. Major repair is urgently required to restore safe access to the belfry and to safeguard what may be the only stair of its type in the county.
• The plain tiling on the north slopes of the nave and chancel roofs is poor with much moss growth and broken tiles. There is evidence of water penetration and sections of the ceiling between the rafters are falling. The rainwater goods and disposal system are due for overhaul.

Click on the link to a short video to see the enormous amount of scaffolding that has been erected.