WORK started today on the £400,000 restoration of Wirral’s tallest church spire.

Architects hope to allow New Brighton’s St James’ Church to “sing again” by dismantling the 172ft spire stone by stone and rebuilding it.

Damaged stones will be replaced and the spire will be rebuilt using modern reinforcement and strengthening techniques.

The work – which has been made possible thanks to a £250,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund – will also reintroduce some of the spire’s original designs which have been lost through 160 years of storm damage.

While the lottery grant will go a long way to making the work possible, the Albion Street church is still raising the remainder through its fundraising campaign inSpire.

Wirral’s mayor Cllr Les Rowlands visited the church on Wednesday to see the start of the ambitious project.

Richard Wilberforce, chair of the restoration committee said: “The church has been an integral part of the New Brighton community since it was opened in 1856. Having served New Brighton since then, that’s a long time and it’s the tallest spire in Wirral.

“Put all that together and that says to me that there’s lots and lots of wear and tear and storm damage.”

The start of the project has been a long time coming and one Richard and the restoration committee have worked hard to achieve.

He added: “We found out in June last year that we had been successful with the Heritage Lottery grant with a mixture of delight and euphoria and relief.

“It really is exciting because it has taken us a long time to get to this stage and now it’s actually happening.

“It’s going to be visually exciting with the temporary major change to New Brighton’s skyline while the work goes on.”

The spire project, led by architects Lloyd Evans Prichard and stonemasons Mather and Ellis, has seen scaffolding erected to its full 172ft height.

Architect and conservation specialist Adrian Pearson said: “This project is going to re-establish the visual identity of the spire. It’s going to sing again. It’s going to have a real prominence again.”

The spire’s restoration is expected to be completed by March 2016.

At that point, work can then begin on restoring the rest of the Grade II-listed building, which was designed by the eminent Victorian architect Sir George Gilbert Scott.

The complete restoration of the church –which is also home to the New Brighton Heritage and Information Centre – is expected to take around 10 years.

St James’ vicar, Reverend Canon Frank Cain told the Globe people need to patient as the work is carried out.

He said: “It is a massive project. If this was a marathon we would only be in the first couple of hundred yards. We have got to pace ourselves.”

Rev Cain, who has been at St James' for 11 years, will be moving on to pastures new when he takes up a role at the Liverpool Diocese in three-weeks time.

He added: “I’m just glad I’m here to see the start of it.”

Wirral’s mayor Cllr Les Rowlands praised the passion and dedication of those behind the project, adding: “It is absolutely wonderful, it will be nice to see the work going on. It will take many many years for the whole restoration to be finished so I probably won’t be around then but I’m just so pleased to be here to witness the start of something which is so wonderful.”