Leicestershire has a wealth of wonderful medieval art decorating its churches. But so far no one knows exactly what we've got.

Project Gargoyle is a voluntary scheme to photograph all the figurative carvings in the county's churches and build up a database for further study.

About 300 churches in Leicestershire have figurative carvings – some with only a few and some with very many. At this stage we do not know how many there are in total but a best guess is at least 10,000 figurative carvings in the county.

The photographs and associated information will form part of the county's Historic Buildings, Sites and Monuments Record.

Project Gargoyle has three main phases:

Project Gargoyle is part of Leicestershire's Heritage Warden Scheme administered by Liz Blood. The advisory committee includes representatives from relevant departments of Leicestershire County Council, the diocesan archaeologist and a committee member of the Leicestershire Archaeological and Historical Society. The co-ordinator for Project Gargoyle is Bob Trubshaw.

If you have access to a digital SLR camera (minimum 12 megapixels) with telephoto lens (equivalent to at least 400 mm focal length on full-frame 35 mm) and a tripod and are willing to photograph and survey medieval carvings according to the scheme established by the pilot project then please contact Liz Blood on 0116 305 6187 or by email liz.blood@leics.gov.uk

If you do not have photographic equipment but would like to get involved in the cataloguing and comparison phase (probably starting in 2012) then also contact Liz Blood.

If you act as Heritage or Archaeological Warden for your parish please download and read:

If you plan to photograph and record carvings for Project Gargoyle please download and read:

The copyright assignment and consent form in the photography guide can also be downloaded separately

Once Project Gargoyle has reached phase three then it is planned to set up a follow-on project to record all furnishings and fittings in the county's churches, such as effigies, wall monuments, stained glass windows, liturgical vessels, altar cloths, Mother's Union banners and much else.

Bob Trubshaw has previously written an illustrated book called Good Gargoyle Guide – Medieval carvings of Leicestershire and Rutland to encourage people who would not normally take an interest in church architecture to get out and about hunting further examples of these extraordinary sculptures.

Thanks to David Morley for the two Gargoyle photos on this page from Frisby on the Wreake.