The Reverend Kate Harrison at St Mark’s in Maida Vale [Photos: Ecclesiastical & TWM]

THE vicar of a 175-year-old church that was destroyed by a massive fire is “hopeful for the future” after seeing the full extent of the devastation.

Rev Kate Harrison, of St Mark’s in Hamilton Terrace, Maida Vale, was tak­en up scaffolding surrounding the Victorian gothic building for the first time.

A major restoration project is now under way following the fire on January 26, with a consultation soon to be launched about the scope of the rebuild.

Rev Harrison said: “It was really moving to be back inside the church. I was able to go up onto the scaffold and see the scale of the damage below. It really brought home the devastation caused by the fire and the task ahead, but we’re hopeful for the future.”

After the blaze she had told the Extra that the fire at the church was “an opp­ortunity to make sure it will serve well for the next 175 years”.

The roof caved in with structural damage that at the time prevented the London Fire Brigade from carrying out a full investigation.

The shocking scale of the damage has been revealed this week in images released by the Grade II*-listed building’s insurers, Ecclesiastical.

The company said it was on top of the major project and that the next programme of work is to remove several roof trusses. Two cranes are working to remove dangerous parts of the structure and allow safe access to conservators who will begin the work of cataloguing and assessing the damage to the art works and discovering what can be saved of mosaics and decorative stonework.

One of the main challenges of the project is the removal of trusses that are “precariously positioned above the nave”.

The project has drawn parallels with the Church of the Ascension in Salford, Greater Manchester, that was destroyed by fire in 2017 and rebuilt by 2022.

Helen Richards, church operations director at Ecclesiastical, visited St Mark’s with colleagues from the claims team and said: “I was lost for words at the scale of the devastation when I visited the church.

“It’s always difficult for a community to see their church like this and it can be hard to look past the damage caused.”

Some services have started up again following a refurbishment of the church hall, an invaluable source of income.

The church said on its website it would be ­carrying out a consultation to establish whether any changes or modifications should be made to the fabric of the building as part of the restoration.