A historic Anglican church in Leicester caught fire, leaving its roof “severely damaged”. The fire, at St Andrew's Church in Jarrom Street, occurred on the evening of July 28 with multiple fire engines called to control the incident.
Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service received calls to the church at around 11pm on Tuesday evening and responded with eight fire engines to tackle the blaze. The service said that firefighters battled to contain and extinguish the fire throughout the night.
They said in a statement: “Our firefighters have been battling to contain and extinguish a large fire at St Andrew's Church throughout the night, after multiple calls came in before midnight. Thankfully, there have been no casualties and all persons have been accounted for, but sadly the roof of this 160-year-old place of worship has been severely damaged by the fire.
“We have been working with Leicestershire Police, and with Cadent and Western Power to isolate gas and electricity supplies, and several roads in the vicinity are currently closed to traffic. As of the time of writing, this remains an ongoing incident.
“The cause of the fire is not yet known, but we would like to take this opportunity to ask members of the public to please be careful during this ongoing heatwave with anything that could start a fire, whether in the countryside or in urban areas. The warm, dry conditions mean fires can start easily and spread very quickly.”
The Church of England Diocese of Leicester said it was “deeply saddened” by the fire and that its immediate concern was for the “safety and wellbeing of everyone affected”.
The diocese said: “We are grateful to the emergency services for their swift response, and we thank them for all they are doing. At this stage, we are awaiting further information from Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service and would ask people not to speculate about the cause of the fire until the facts are known.
“Due to the incident, the funeral that was due to take place at the church today has been relocated. The family and those attending have been informed of the alternative arrangements. We appreciate the support and understanding of the community at this difficult time.”
The church was founded in 1862 and was designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott. Scott, who was one of the most prolific contributors to the English Gothic Revival movement, designed or altered more than 800 buildings over the course of his career. However, the building is one of a small number designed by Scott in the late 1850s and early 1860s to make extensive use of polychrome brickwork.
Since 1915, the church has been part of the Anglo-Catholic tradition within Anglicanism. The tradition originated from the Oxford Movement, to which St John Henry Newman belonged before his conversion to Catholicism in 1845.
The incident is one of a number of church fires across Europe, which have grown in frequency in recent years. In December 2025, a study by the non-profit Observatory of Religious Heritage found that one religious building disappeared each week in France, with reasons including accidental fires, arson, collapse and planned demolition.
The trend has raised concerns about the disappearance of both religious and architectural heritage, as well as a profound disturbance to the congregational life of active church communities.
