A Renfrew church where Queen Victoria used to ­worship is one of eight churches to share in more than £1m for repairs from the Heritage Lottery Fund and Historic Scotland.

Sitting on a site of religious importance dating back to medieval times, Renfrew Old Parish Church has a dedicated pew where Queen Victoria used to worship on her visits to see Lord Blythswood.

It also houses a 19th-­century burial vault for the Ross family, the Earls of Glasgow, and two A-listed memorials – a 17th-century decorative font with effigies of the Ross family, and an altar-tomb for John Motherwell probably dating back to the 15th century.

Noted for its tall, slender stone steeple, the church will use its £260,000 funding for urgent repair work, to include rebuilding the steeple, re-slating the roof and repairing damaged masonry and open joints currently being ruined by water seepage.

Read the whole story: Funding for church with links to Queen Victoria