A 19th Century church has been left devastated after a massive blaze ripped through the roof just a matter of hours after 150 residents had enjoyed a candle-lit carol service beneath its eaves. The roof of St Nicholas Church in Peper Harow, near Elstead, was already fully alight when the alarm was first raised by a nearby resident just after midnight on Christmas Eve. Six fire crews attended the scene and battled the blaze for almost four hours before finally bringing it under control. By the morning 80 per cent of the church roof had been swallowed up by the blaze and despite the majority of the inside being destroyed, the Chancel and Midleton chapel were spared, suffering only water and soot damage. The vicar of St Nicholas Church, Rev John Fellows, said: "That evening we had just had our annual Christmas carol concert and when the last people left for the night there were no signs that anything was wrong. "So far there is no evidence that a candle started the fire. There is no indication it was arson at this stage. The forensic people, however, are very interested in one small area of the church. The insurance people do not want us to speculate at this moment what the cause might have been. "The damage is just unbelievable. There's nothing left of the tower and the nave. "We were able to transfer all the services over to St Mary's Church in Shackleford. Two pieces of timber from the fire were used to make the processional cross, which led the clergymen into the church during the Christmas service, which I thought was a really nice touch." Once the forensic teams have finished their investigations and the insurance company has decided what it will do, the church will begin to look at rebuilding. Mr Fellows said: "We will soon need to start looking to the future and we will be spending a lot of time, I imagine, over the next few months planning how the new church will look. It will take some time though and church services, for the foreseeable future, will be held at St Mary's in Shackleford" St Nicholas Church was founded in Norman times, however much of the building was changed in the mid 19th century when the famous church architect Augustus Welby Pugin redesigned the building to a Neo-Norman style adding the north aisle, the Mortuary Chapel, the tower arch and the chancel windows to the church in 1844. The three church bells date back to the 17th century.
