THE ruins of a historic Avenbury church could become a valuable asset to the area's tourist industry.

Avenbury Church Trust is in the process of applying for £49,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund to purchase 13th Century St Mary's Church from its private owner.

The plan is to structurally secure church buildings on the site and provide amenities such as benches and information points.

Group chairman Bernard Hunt said: "There has been a tremendous amount of interest from people. We hope to make it somewhere tourists and local people can go."

The church is on the Here-fordshire Trail, just south of Bromyard, and has a rich history. There is known to have been a church on the site from AD 840 and it appears in the Domesday Book of 1086.

The name of Welsh Marcher family the Baskervilles can still be found on gravestones in the churchyard but the site has been neglected since it was closed in 1932.

The roof of the church is collapsed, as are two of the side walls. The site is currently overgrown and in the past has been used to dump rubbish.

Geriant Pritchard, principal tourism officer for Visit Herefordshire, said: "The area is beautiful. If there is a place to sit down and watch the world go by, people will enjoy that.

"It has been used as a fly-tipping site in the past and has been a bit of an eyesore.

"Any improvement in the infrastructure of the site is going to be a big deal for tourism in the area."