A 900-year-old church just minutes from the Lancashire border has been awarded £370,446 to help secure its future.
St Mary's Church in Kirkby Lonsdale, which lies around five minutes from Whittington, in north Lancashire, has received the funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to develop plans for a major restoration project.
The grant will allow the church to progress an application for a full award of £4.6 million, which campaigners say is vital to safeguard the future of the Grade I listed building.
Dating back around 900 years, St Mary's is one of only five major churches in Cumbria and is the largest building in Kirkby Lonsdale.
It is currently included on Historic England's Heritage at Risk Register.
Church leaders have warned that without the larger funding package, the building could ultimately face closure.
Peter Gregson, project lead at St Mary's Church, said the team was "delighted and very grateful" to receive the initial support.
He said work would now continue on developing proposals to restore and improve the building.
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Plans include repairs to the church tower, replacement of the roof, and changes to the interior to create a more flexible space for local people and visitors.
Helen Featherstone, director of the National Lottery Heritage Fund for the North of England, said: "We're thrilled to support St Mary's Church with this initial grant to work towards repairing and restoring the striking, centuries-old Grade-I listed building."
The funding marks the latest step in efforts to preserve one of the area's most historic landmarks, which sits just across the county boundary from Lancashire and attracts visitors from across the region.
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