Tin tabernacles were a type of prefabricated building made from corrugated iron developed in the mid 19th century initially in Great Britain. Corrugated iron was first used for roofing in London in 1829 by Henry Robinson Palmer and the patent sold to Richard Walker who advertised "portable buildings for export" in 1832.[1] The technology for producing the corrugated sheets improved and to prevent corrosion the sheets were galvanised with a coating of zinc, a process developed by Stanislas Sorel in Paris in the 1830s. After 1850 many types of prefabricated buildings were produced including churches, chapels and mission halls.
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Several firms such as David Rowell & Co., Humphrey's and Frederick Braby in London, Isaac Dixon and Co and Francis Morton in Liverpool, E T Bellhouse in Manchester[2] and A & J Main & Co of Glasgow manufactured a range of iron buildings that included houses, village halls, sports pavilions, warehouses, hospital wards, chapels and churches. Many of their products were exported to Canada, Africa, and to California and Australia during the gold rushes.[3] Corrugated iron buildings were exhibited at the Great Exhibition in 1851.[4] Isaac Dixon's 1874 catalogue was aimed at the landed gentry, railway proprietors and shippers while Francis Morton's company had a dedicated church building department and its 1879 catalogue reported nearly 70 churches, chapels and school houses built in the United Kingdom.[5]
The Industrial Revolution was a time of great population expansion and movement. Towns and cities expanded as the workforce moved into the new industrial areas resulting in the building of more than 4,000 churches during the mid 19th century and an upsurge of nonconformism led to a demand for even more buildings. The Church of England, influenced by Pugin, the Cambridge Camden Society and John Ruskin, was initially sceptical about corrugated iron buildings. However manufacturers found other markets, notably in the colonies of the British Empire where 19 such churches were erected in Melbourne, Australia alone by 1851. A 65 feet by 40 feet church built entirely of cast and wrought iron clad in corrugated iron was built in Jamaica at a cost of £1,000.[6] William Morris, founder of the Arts and Crafts Movement, wrote a pamphlet in 1890 decrying the corrugated iron buildings "that were spreading like a pestilence over the country."[7]
Churches, chapels and mission halls were built in the new industrial areas, pit villages, near railway works and more isolated rural and coastal locations. Landowners or employers frequently donated plots of land and sometimes donated the cost of the building although many were funded by public subsription.[8] The 3rd Marquess of Bute provided the first Roman Catholic cathedral to be erected in Oban in 1886. It was lavishly decorated and furnished and lasted for 50 years until it was replaced.[9]
The early tin churches were easily erected, but at an average cost of between £2 and £4 per sitting, were quite expensive. St Mark's Church in Birkenhead was built in 1867 costing over £2,000 for 500 seats. Prices decreased towards the end of the century towards £1 per sitting. David Rowell & Co's catalogue of 1901 advertised a church to seat 400 persons, delivered to the nearest railway station and erected on the purchaser's foundation, at a cost of £360.[10] Isaac Dixon's 1896 catalogue mentioned the company had supplied nearly 150 churches over the previous ten years and the price had dropped from 35 shillings to 20 shillings per sitting plus the cost of foundations, heating and lighting which could add another £70 for a church to seat £200.[11]
Several tin tabernacles survive as places of worship, some have listed building status and some have been converted to other uses. Some redundant chapels have been moved to museums for preservation. St Chad's Mission Church was moved from near Telford to the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust's Blists Hill Victorian Town in Shropshire, while St Saviour's Church from Westhouses in Derbyshire may be seen at the Midland Railway Centre's Swanwick Junction site.[12]
| Name | Location | Photograph | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abenbury Church | Abenbury, Wrexham, Wales |
Now disused, the church stands in an isolated position close to Plas Issa Farm on the Cefn Park estate, | |
| St John's Church | Adlington, Cheshire |
St John's Church was built in 1892, and continues in active use as an Anglican mission church to St Peter's Church, Prestbury.[13][14][15][16] | |
| Mission Church | Alhampton, Somerset |
The church was built in 1892 at a cost of £250; it seats 55 people. It continues in active use as a mission church to St Mary Magdalene, Ditcheat.[17][18] | |
| St Felix Chapel | Babingley, Norfolk |
Unusually, this is a thatched, cruciform tin tabernacle. It was erected in 1880 and was at one time an Anglican parish church. It was made redundant by the Church of England, and is being used by the British Orthodox Church.[19] | |
| Oldfield Park Methodist Church | Bath, Somerset | Built in about 1892, the church closed in 2009.[20] | |
| Church of the Ascension | Bedmond, Hertfordshire |
This church was built in 1880 at a cost of £80. A new copper-coated steeple was added in 2005. It continues to be an active church in the parish of St Lawrence, Abbots Langley.[21][22] | |
| St Barnabas' Church | Blackwater, Isle of Wight | Now redundant; has been used for a retail business.[23] | |
| Blennerhasset Evangelical Mission | Blennerhasset, Cumbria |
As of September 2007 advertised weekly services on Sundays and prayer meetings and bible study on Wednesdays[24] | |
| St Matthew's Church | Boultham, Lincoln |
St Matthew's was created as a chapel of ease to St Helen's, Boultham, in 1912, to serve workers in local factories. It was extended in 1924, but has since closed, and has been damaged by fire.[25][26] | |
| Shaftesbury Hall | Bowes Park, London |
The hall was built in the middle of the 19th century as a chapel for railway workers, next to Bowes Park railway station. As of 2011 the hall is owned by the Samaritans, and plans have been submitted for the development of the site, but these are being opposed by local residents.[27] | |
| All Saints Church | Brokerswood, Wiltshire |
This was built originally in Southwick to replace an iron church that has been destroyed by fire in 1897. In 1905 it was moved to Brokerswood. It was restored in the 1990s and is still in active use.[28][29] | |
| St Mary's Church | Burgh Parva, Melton Constable, Norfolk |
St Mary's was built in 1903 in the churchyard of an abandoned medieval church to serve as the parish church of Melton Constable. It continues in active use, its benefice being united with those of three other local churches.[30][31] | |
| Former Railway Mission | Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk |
A Railway Mission by Bury St Edmunds railway station was opened for the railway workers who raised money to build it in 1900. The chapel, its furniture and fittings cost cost £317 7s 7d and was supplied by Boulton and Paul from Norwich. It is now used as a Seventh Day Adventist Church.[32][33] | |
| St Mary's Church | Cadgwith, Cornwall |
St Mary's Church is situated on a footpath in the valley between the car park and the village centre. It was built as a mission church for the village fishermen. It is now a chapel of ease to St Rumon, the parish church of Ruan Minor, and a service is held monthly. | |
| Old St Columbia's Church | Catisfield, Fareham, Hampshire |
The original St Columbia's Church was built in 1891 as a misison church to Holy Trinity, Fareham. It continued in active use until 1993 when it became redundant. It was then used as a youth club for some years before it was demolished in the 1990s.[34] The photograph shows the building in 1991. | |
| St Andrew's Mission Church | Crabtree, Burscough, Lancashire |
The church continues in active use as a mission church in the parish of Burscough.[35] | |
| St Barbara's Church | Deepcut Barracks, Surrey |
The church was built at the barracks in 1901 and dedicated to St Michael and All Angels. It is now dedicated to St Barbara and remains in use by the barracks and local community.[36] | |
| Cyprus Road Tin Tabernacle | Faversham, Kent |
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| Main Street Community Church | Frodsham, Cheshire |
St Dunstan's Church cost £600 and opened with 230 seats in 1872 as a chapel of ease to the parish church. It was licenced as the parish church for two years from 1880 while St Laurence's Church was refurbished and retained as a mission church after that. After some years of disuse the building was taken over by the present evangelical congregation in the 1980s. The structure was moved on rollers ten feet to the left and refurbished in 1995 and acquired its current name in 2007.[37][38] | |
| Seventh Day Baptist Church | Greet, Birmingham |
This is in active use as a Seventh Day Baptist Church.[39] | |
| Evangelical Church | Haggerston, Hackney, London |
The church was built in 1868. Originally clad in corrugated iron, it has been re-clad in asbestos sheeting. It is described as "An early, rare and complete example of a temporary iron Mission Church", and is listed at Grade II.[40] | |
| Halse Mission Church | Halse, Northamptonshire |
Built in the late 19th century as a community room for railway workers, the building was bought by the Earl of Ellesmere and moved to its present site. It opened for worship in 1900 and continues in use as a mission church in the parish of St Peter with St James, Brackley.[41] | |
| St Philip's Church | Hassall Green, Cheshire |
This originated in 1883 as St Mary's Church, Alsager, and was moved to its present site at Hassall Green in 1895. It continues in use as an Anglican church in the benefice of Sandbach Heath with Wheelock.[42][43] | |
| Good Shepherd Mission | Hurlston Green, Scarisbrick, Lancashire |
The mission was built in 1907, having been delivered via the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. It continues to be an active mission church in the parish of St Mark, Scarisbrick.[44][45] | |
| St Michael and All Angels' Church | Hythe, Kent |
St Michael and All Angels' Church is a Grade II listed building built in 1893. It is a pre-fabricated structure supplied by Humphrey's of Croydon. The exterior walls and roof are made of corrugated iron on a steel frame. The interior is boarded throughout and the church has wooden window frames.[46] | |
| Kilburn tin tabernacle | Kilburn, London |
This was built in 1862, and used for worship until the 1920s, when it was used by sea cadets. As of 2010 there is a campaign to repair and restore it.[47] | |
| St Fillan's Church | Killin, Stirling, Scotland |
Built in 1876 by the Marquess of Breadalbane for members of his shooting party, the church was extended in the early 20th century. It continues in active use in the Scottish Episcopal Church. The building has been listed at Grade C(S).[48][49] | |
| Italian Chapel | Lamb Holm, Orkney, Scotland |
The Italian Chapel on the uninhabited island of Lamb Holm is a tin chapel made from corrugated iron from two Nissen huts by Italian prisoners of war during World War II.[50] | |
| Tin tabernacle | Lenwade, Norfolk |
||
| St Peter's Church | Lower Withington, Cheshire |
The church was built in 1891 as a chapel of ease to St John, Chelford. The benefice of the two churches has been united. It is still in active use.[51][52][53] | |
| St Anne's Church | New Hedges, Pembrokeshire, Wales |
The church was built in 1928, and continues to be in active use in Tenby Benefice.[54] | |
| St Mary's Church | Newton-by-the-Sea, Northumberland |
The church was built as a mission room in the later part of the 19th century, and continues to be in active use as a church and a meeting room in the parish of Embleton.[55][56][57] | |
| Congregational Chapel | Old Heath, Colchester, Essex | The chapel was built in 1869 as an outreach mission for Lion Walk Congregational Church. It was enlarged in 1888, and again in 1898. It continues in use as a Congregational chapel.[58][59] | |
| Tin tabernacle | Pensarn, Abergele, Conwy, Wales |
||
| Heath Church | Reigate, Surrey |
The first service was held in 1907, and the church continues in use in the parish of St Mary Magdalene, Reigate.[60][61] | |
| Methodist Chapel | Rhosnensi, Wrexham, Wales |
In active use as a Methodist chapel.[62] | |
| Calvary Evangelical Church | Rhymney, Caerphilly, Wales |
The building continues in use as an evangelical church.[63] | |
| Cuxton Chapel, Kent Life |
Sandling, Kent |
Originally a chapel in the village of Cuxton, Kent, it was moved to the museum Kent Life in 2000.[64] | |
| St Mary's Church Room | Sole Street, Cobham, Kent |
The building continues to be in use as part of the parish of St Mary Magdalene, Cobham.[65] | |
| Great Moulton Chapel, Museum of East Anglian Life |
Stowmarket, Suffolk |
This was a non-denominational chapel, and had strong ties with other chapels, including Surrey Chapel. It was built in the 1890s by the Norwich firm of Boulton and Paul at a cost of £105 18s 0d. The chapel closed in 1990 and was moved the 30 miles (48 km) from Great Moulton to the museum.[66][67] | |
| St Paul's Church | Strines, Marple, Greater Manchester |
St Paul's is located 1.5 miles (2.4 km) southeast of Marple, Greater Manchester in the parish of All Saints, Marple. It was built in 1880 by the owners of Strines (Calico) Print Works. The church continues in active use, and in November 2011 was designated by English Heritage as a Grade II listed building.[68][69][70] | |
| St Saviour's Church, Midland Railway Centre |
Swanwick Junction, Derbyshire |
St Saviour's Church, originally located at Westhouses, Nottinghamshire, was dismantled and rebuilt at Swanwick Junction by the Midland Railway Trust. The church was originally consecrated in 1898, became redundant in the 1990s and was acquired for the museum site.[71] | |
| Syre Church | Syre, Strathnaver, Scotland |
||
| Thorlby Chapel | Thorlby, North Yorkshire |
Abandoned building | |
| All Saints Church | Thrupp, Gloucestershire |
The church was established in 1889, dedicated to All Saints, and was part of the parish of Holy Trinity, Stroud. It closed in 1968, some of its fittings were moved to Holy Trinity, and there were plans for it to be dismantled and stored.[72][73] The photograph shows the building in 2002. | |
| St Antony of Padua Roman Catholic Church | Trafford Park Village, Greater Manchester |
Three tin tabernacles were built in Trafford Park Village: a Methodist chapel in 1901, the Anglican St Cuthbert's Church in 1902, and the Roman Catholic St Antony of Padua in 1904. Much of the village was demolished by the early 1980s leaving the church with no resident population. Its parish became an industrial chaplaincy. The church closed in 2009 but the building was retained for use by the Centre for Church and Industry.[74][75] | |
| St Paul's Mission Church | Warren Row, Berkshire |
The church was bought as a kit in 1894 for just over £100. It continues in active use as a mission church in the parish of Wargrave.[76][77] | |
| St Andrew's Mission Church | Wern, Minera, Wrexham, Wales |
||
| Church of St Francis | Westhope, Canon Pyon, Herefordshire |
The building continues to be in use as a Anglican mission church in the parish of St Lawrence, Canon Pyon.[78][79] | |
| Winterslow Baptist Church | Winterslow, Wiltshire |
In active use as a Baptist church.[80] |
| Name | Location | Photograph | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wesleyan Church | Adelaide, South Australia |
The Wesleyan church in Adelaide, South Australia has been renovated. It was shipped to Darwin, Northern Territory in 1897 and subsequently moved to its current location. |
