According to Historic England, around 40 per cent of listed churches have been hit, the majority with metal thefts.

Police have said professional gangs use modern technology including drones, Google Earth and Sat NJav to find the churches and then plan an escape route.

In some cases entire roofs have been stolen from historic churches, which is extremely costly to replace.

Dioceses that have been impacted have realised the thefts have happened along arterial roads which allow criminals to target several churches in one area and get away quickly.

The Telegraph reported that the Church of England Diocese of Lincoln had eight churches in Lincolnshire victimized in ten years and some were targeted more than once this year.

Oxford Diocese said criminals have taken lead from the roofs of 20 churches since the middle of this year.

“We’ve been told that when vehicles used by thieves have been found, there have been lists of churches in them”, said Liz Kitch, Oxford’s senior church buildings officer.

Police have warned the pubic not to approach the criminals because “these are people who are involved in other crimes and they go armed with crowbars and hammers”.

MP Graham Jones, chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Combating Metal Theft said due to the high metal prices, gangs are sending metal stolen from churches to Eastern Europe and Africa.

The…

All Saints Church in Braunston-in-Rutland was one of the first churches to receive money from a £3.8m Heritage Lottery Fund to reduce the impact of bats on the buildings across the country.

The scheme has allowed the church to fill gaps in the ceiling to prevent poo and urine getting through, without harming the animals.

Sue Willetts, church warden at All Saints Church, said: “Before, we had covers down on the floors to collect the droppings.

“We had to clean the pews every time, it took an hour before every single service. Now we use the church how it’s meant to be.”

The church has 500 bats living in its roof. They cannot be removed because they are a protected species.

All Saints Church in Braunston-in-Rutland

Rosemary Riddell, from the Bat in Churches project, said work at All Saints Church “has enabled us to sort of roll out solutions to other churches similar to Braunstone and it’s really helped us to learn from their experiences”.

“[The church] was one of our guinea pigs and we’re grateful for their engagement and involvement,” she said.

In 2014, local MP Sir Alan Duncan said the bat droppings problem at the church as “absolutely intolerable.”

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