ST Mary’s Church is resubmitting a bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund as it gears up to celebrate the 400th anniversary of its crown jewel.

Fundraising for the historic church in Lydiard Tregoze has been taking place since 2011 to pay for vital repairs to the interior and medieval wall paintings which have faded and been damaged.

An estimated £1 million is needed to bring the building back to its former glory.

A smaller grant from the Wiltshire Historic Churches Trust has meant urgent work to address long-standing damage and water penetration is now underway, and the appeal team hopes the tangible progress will act in its favour following a rejected bid to the Lottery Fund.

A new bid has been refined and will be resubmitted this summer.

“Last year’s bid process was very competitive with lots of applications and unfortunately we did not come out on top,” said appeal chairman Paul Gardner. “It only has £2.2 million to play with in total. Our project will cost in the region of £1.2 million and we were asking for £850,000. That would have been a big chunk of its funds, which it is trying to spread around the South West.

“The new bid will be in the region of £730,000, which is lower than last time so will hopefully be more attractive.

“We are also improving on areas of community outreach it wanted us to build upon.

“That will be doing more work involving schools in the local area.”

As the church approaches the 400th anniversary of the installation of the St John Triptych on July 20, 1615, it will again be open and on display every Sunday afternoon in June.

In advance of this, the Red Queen panel will also be on display and talks on the artwork and the Tudor and Stuart historical connections with the church will be delivered on several Sunday afternoons.

The fundraising is continuing apace and the appeal fund now exceeds £170,000, towards the anticipated target of £360,000.

The total conservation scheme is in excess of £1.2 million.

To donate to the building appeal write to the Revd Clive Deverell, 26 The Bramptons, Shaw, Swindon, Wiltshire, SN5 5SL.