A church in North Yorkshire is planning a bid to the National Lottery Heritage Fund in order to help preserve incredibly rare wall paintings dating back over 500 years.

St Peter and St Paul's church in Pickering features wall paintings which depict the passion of Jesus Christ and scenes from the lives of the saints.

It is believed they were first painted around 1470. They are believed to be one of only five surviving examples of medieval church wall painting in England.

Over the centuries some of the wall paintings have been damaged or destroyed. Some of the paintings were rediscovered in 1852 during church renovation work. Attempts were made to conserve them, although one Victorian vicar took the view that the paintings distracted from his sermons.

Speaking to the BBC, Professor Kate Giles, an archaeologist from the University of York, said that no conservation work has been done on the paintings for at least 50 years, and even what has been done in the past may have been counter-productive.

"Unfortunately the Victorians and 20th Century conservators coated them with a preservative medium, they thought they were protecting them from damp but it's actually been disastrous for the paintings, it's stopped them from breathing, it's attracted a lot of dirt and dust."

Professor Giles added that the underfloor heating system in the church helped combat humidity and create a "really stable environment" for the paintings.

The church's vicar, Gareth Atha, said he could understand his distant predecessor's view that the paintings are a distraction, but said that overall they are "a fantastic asset" and that "it's a real privilege to be the vicar here and lead worship among them".

In similar news, it was recently revealed that hundreds of medieval coins were discovered during renovation work in a church in Germany. The find also included various small personal items and a bronze figurine of a monkey.