WEST DORSET: English Heritage has put St John’s Church in West Bay on its ‘At Risk’ register.

The church will be familiar to fans of the TV series Broadchurch but English Heritage says the 1930s’ Arts and Crafts church is in a ‘very bad state’.

It says: “The concrete vestry roof is in a very bad state, and is letting water into the vestry. The main body of the roof is also poor, with nail sickness and water penetration through the copings and kneelers.”

The congregation has begun the process of fundraising to repair the roof.

St John’s is one of more than 130 entries on the register for West Dorset – the majority of which are scheduled monuments, such as the Iron Age hill fort Lambert's Castle, Hampton stone circle, Portesham, Maiden Castle, dykes on Eggardon Hill, Marshwood Castle and numerous bowl and long barrows.

The 14 buildings identified include Bridport’s Literary and Scientific Institute, the Church of St Mary, Mosterton. The former Methodist Chapel, Tolpuddle Stable Block by Little Toller Farm, Toller Fratrum, the tithe barn in Sydling St. Nicholas, a cart shed and stables by Waddon House, Portesham, the icehouse south west of Pit House, Osmington. The remains of the old parish church of St Mary Magdalene, North Wootton, Wolfeton Riding House, Wolfeton House, Charminster, Messrs Norman Good's warehouse, Station Road, West Bay and the dovecote, malthouse, outer gatehouse and walling, gateway, granary and precinct walls of St Peter's Abbey, Abbotsbury.