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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Priya Bharadia

‘Like a miracle’: hidden gold saves Lancashire church from closure

View of gravestones in front of St Wilfred’s church
St Wilfrid’s church in Melling, Lancashire. The Rev Jane Lee said the coins were ‘the answer to their prayers’. Photograph: Rob Atherton/Alamy

Unable to raise the £750,000 needed for urgent repairs, St Wilfrid’s church in the town of Melling, Lancashire, looked likely to shut its doors after more than 700 years.

But on Good Friday the church was saved from closure by the discovery, in a plastic bag hidden under the altar, of a box with nine gold Britannia coins worth nearly £30,000.

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