Stratford-upon-Avon, England – Adopt a gargoyle. Sponsor a spire.

It could help save the 800-year-old Holy Trinity Church, where William Shakespeare was baptized and where he lies buried with his wife, Anne Hathaway.

Church officials hope fans of the Bard around the world will help raise $6.3 million needed to repair a cracked spire, broken windows and eroding bricks – and address damage from years of dry rot and death watch beetle.

“It’s absolutely desperate,” said Josephine Walker of the Friends of Shakespeare’s Church, which is in charge of fundraising. “It’s raining, and as we speak, rain is pouring in through the clerestory windows.”

It’s a common story in the parishes of England, where hundreds of medieval churches need frequent loving care. The Church of England estimates some $680 million worth of repairs are under way or urgently needed, and few of the crumbling churches have connections to anyone as famous as Shakespeare.

The Friends of Shakespeare’s Church already has an American fundraising arm – but church officials are concerned by the drop in Britain’s tourist numbers following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks as well as the July 7, 2005, suicide assault on London’s transit system and more recent terrorism alerts.

Catherine Penn, one of the trustees of the Friends, said urgent work had been done to repair the crumbling parapet, but donations from tourists have dropped for other repairs at the church in Stratford-upon-Avon, 120 miles northwest of London.

She urged supporters to “sponsor a gargoyle” to help the fund.

Shakespeare was baptized April 26, 1564, at Holy Trinity and the church’s burial register lists him as “Gulielimus, filius Johannes Shakspeare,” (William, son of John Shakespeare.)

After a career writing and staging his plays in London, Shakespeare retired in 1611 to Stratford, and was buried in the chancel – an area near the altar – on April 25, 1616, two days after his death.

Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, where William Shakespeare is buried, is in need of .7 million worth of repairs. Church officials say repairs are needed to the spire, chancel, north and south aisles, and north and south transepts.

Some 100,000 people visit Holy Trinity every year to view his resting place, with its inscription, “Will Shakspeare, Gent.” The memorial was erected a few years after his death, and the plump-looking likeness on the gravestone is considered a good one.

“People say he looks like a well-fed pork butcher,” said church warden Bill Hicks.

“It’s a wonderful place with a wonderful heritage,” said the Rev. Martin Gorick, the church vicar. “For 800 years this has been a meeting place, and we want to keep it that way.”

And just in case anyone might think of moving his remains, Shakespeare’s gravestone offers a curse, written by the Bard himself.

“Good frend, for Iesus sake, forbeare

To digg the dyst encloased heare

Bleste be ye (the) man (who) spares thes stones

And curst be he (who) moves my bones.”

Learn more about the church at www.shakespeareschurch.org