A church which is the oldest grade I-listed building in Wanstead is set to undergo a £100,000 repair and refurbishment.

St Mary’s Church in Wanstead Place has pockets of damp and damage throughout.

Large scale repairs will start place later this year following a tender process and the church is not expected to close.

St Mary’s Church is the third church to have stood on the site since the parish of Wanstead was created in 1200.

The current church was consecrated in 1790.

Church warden Peter Brown outlined the importance of preserving the church.

He said: “It is not the oldest but it is a very fine example of a late Georgian building.

“We do not have a definite date yet but we are hoping for summer, maybe early autumn.

“We are not exactly sure of the cost. £100,000 is a very loose estimate, there is still a tendering process that we have to go through. We do have an amount of money available to us through bequests.”