PART of Hereford Cathedral's roof will be repaired thanks to a grant of £420,000.

The north aisle roof, which can be seen as you enter the cathedral close from Church Street, will have its covering replaced and the work will also repair damp and rotten timbers and replace some stonework.

The grant has been announced by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport and ChurchCare.

The funding is from the First World War Centenary cathedral repair fund announced in the last budget and was secured by Hereford Cathedral Perpetual Trust.

The Dean of Hereford, the Very Revd Michael Tavinor, said: "Keeping our roofs in good order and the building weather proof is essential but it is work which is deeply unattractive to many funders.

"This fund will not only enable us to undertake this vital work but we hope it will also encourage others to look at supporting us in this area of restoration."

The repair and restoration work will start later this year and run into next summer with the works taking upwards of nine months to complete.

Glyn Morgan, the chapter clerk and chief executive, said: "With water having seeped into the building over many years, we will not always know what we will find in some of the timber work until we are able to reveal it.

"We rather hope we do not find anything too gruesome and unexpected, although it is always a challenge with projects at high level such as this."

The restoration work will include stonework and the Perpetual Trust looks forward to reintroducing its popular sponsor-a-stone scheme where individuals can help fund the repair works by supporting their stonemasons and having initials or a name carved onto an inner face of the replacement stones.

For further information on sponsor-a-stone and the project contact the Perpetual Trust office on 01432 374261 or email perpetual.trust@herefordcatehdral.org.