Nearly 300 beautiful and historic Church of England parish churches have been given vital funds to repair their roofs.

Up to £100,000 has been given to each church from the Listed Places of Worship Roof Repair Fund.

After one of the rainiest summers for years, the Government cash is to go towards repairing roofs and gutters.

In total, more than 400 listed places of worship will benefit from awards from the £25 million package.

Bishop of Worcester John Inge, visiting St Philip and St James at Hallow, near Worcester, said: "These grants will be an enormous help to church communities who take care of some of this country's most precious built heritage. It is very good that the Government has recognised that help is needed."

One churches to benefit, currently on Historic England's Heritage at Risk Register, is St Mary and All Saints in Fotheringhay, Northamptonsire.

It is one of England's most celebrated late Gothic churches and attacts more than 3000 visitors a year. King Richard III was born and Mary Queen of Scots executed in the neighbouring castle.

Another church with a strong community focus which has been awarded one of the largest grants is St Mary, Stoke Newington, the only surviving Elizabethan church in London and one of the oldest in the country to have been built as an Anglican rather than a Roman Catholic church. 

Sir Tony Baldry, chair of the Church Buildings Council, said: "It is fantastic that almost 300 more church buildings will receive significant help with roof repairs from government and we are hugely grateful to the Chancellor. We now need to ensure a sustainable way of funding church buildings in the future."

He urged the English churches and cathedrals sustainability review that is currently taking place to find "viable and deliverable answers".

The Church of England cares for 16,000 parish churches and 42 cathedrals.

Twelve churches in Dorset and Wiltshire are among those to benefit.

Rev Graham Southgate, team rector of the Nadder Valley Benefice, which has two churches in receipt of grants, said: "In practical terms, it means we can get on and do repairs which are vital for the good of the fabric of the churches. We have leaking roofs and the damage is getting worse and worse. We would have struggled to raise this sort of money from internal sources even with the wonderful support we always get from the wider village communities.

"Our church buildings are at the centre of their communities, more now than for centuries as, especially in smaller villages, pubs, schools, shops and post offices have often closed."