FOR PUBLIC BENEFIT Churches cared for by Trusts Edited by Trevor Cooper Ecclesiology Today . Issues 49 & 50 . July 2014 ET 49 & 50 First 21 pages H.L.17 29/8/14 08:39 Page 1 FOR PUBLIC BENEFIT Churches cared for by Trusts ET 49 & 50 First 21 pages H.L.17 29/8/14 08:39 Page 2 ET 49 & 50 First 21 pages H.L.17 29/8/14 08:39 Page 3 FOR PUBLIC BENEFIT Churches cared for by Trusts Edited by Trevor Cooper Ecclesiology Today . Issues 49 & 50 . 2014 ET 49 & 50 First 21 pages H.L.17 29/8/14 08:39 Page 4 © Copyright the authors and photographers 2014.All rights reserved. ISSN: 1460-4213 ISBN: 978-0-946823-25-3 Published 2014 by the Ecclesiological Society c/o The Society of Antiquaries of London Burlington House Piccadilly London WIV 0HS The Ecclesiological Society is a registered charity. Charity No. 210501. www.ecclsoc.org The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors, and do not necessarily represent those of the Ecclesiological Society or its officers. ET 49 & 50 First 21 pages H.L.17 29/8/14 08:39 Page 5 Ecclesiology Today C ontents Journal of the Ecclesiological Society Chairman’s letter 3 1 Introduction: the what and why of Church Trusts 5 Appendix: Single-building Trusts not otherwise described 15 Part 1: MULTI-BUILDING TRUSTS 2 The work of the The Churches Conservation Trust by Crispin Truman 18 3 The Friends of Friendless churches by Matthew Saunders 36 4 Ipswich Historic Churches Trust: a personal view by Trevor Cooper 52 5 Norfolk Churches Trust by Trevor Cooper 64 6 The Norwich Historic Churches Trust by Nicholas Groves 70 7 The Scottish Redundant Churches Trust by Victoria Collison-Owen 84 8 Addoldai Cymru – the Welsh Religious Buildings Trust by Neil Sumner and Gruff Owen 96 9 The Historic Chapels Trust by Roland Jeffery 106 Part 2: SINGLE-BUILDING TRUSTS, ETC Where no author is shown, the article is written by the editor 10 Barlaston Old Church, Staffordshire by James Hall 116 11 The Puritan Chapel, Bramhope, near Leeds by Clive Fox 118 12 Brampton Old Church, Brampton, Cumbria Issues 49 & 50 for by Robert Allan 122 December 2013 & July 2014 13 The Horsefair project at the New Room, Bristol published September 2014 by Gary Best 126 ET 49 & 50 First 21 pages H.L.17 29/8/14 08:39 Page 6 14 The Coombe Keynes Trust, Coombe Keynes, Dorset by Peter Brachi 132 15 Fernham Village Trust, Oxfordshire by Becky Payne 136 16 The sometimes unhappy story of Fordham St Mary, Norfolk by Robert Walker 142 17 Ickworth Church Conservation Trust 146 18 The Melton Old Church Society 154 19 VIEWPOINT: St Andrew’s, Mickfield, Suffolk by Mark Wright 158 20 St Mary’s, No Mans Heath,Warwickshire by Anne Barney 166 21 Plumpton, Northamptonshire by William Sitwell 170 22 St Mary’s, Rokeby, Co. Durham by Sir Andrew Morritt 174 23 St Thomas’s church, Ryde, Isle of Wight: the story so far 178 24 The Friends of St Peter’s, Sibton, Suffolk 182 25 St Margaret’s Chapel of Ease Trust, Southolt, Suffolk by Carolyn Evans 188 26 St James’s church,Warter,Yorkshire 194 27 St Nicholas’s,Wattisham, Suffolk by David Cooper 198 28 Yarpole Community Project, within St Leonard’s, Yarpole, Herefordshire 202 Part 3: IDEAS, DEVELOPMENTS, STATEMENTS 29 Church Trusts and the Cathedral and Church Buildings Division of the Church of England by Gabriel Byng 211 30 Pilgrim churches: a possibility for the Church in Wales by Alex Glanville 215 31 Diocesan Trust churches: an innovative scheme from the Diocese of Norwich 219 32 Festival churches: a step towards sustainable rural ministry into the future by Anna Norman-Walker 221 33 Four imaginary case studies, set in the future by Trevor Cooper 224 34 Heritage Lottery Fund Grants for Places of Worship: eligibility of churches looked after by charitable Trusts 228 35 The Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme 229 OBITUARY & BOOK REVIEWS OBITUARY:The Revd Dr Michael Peel (1931–2014) 231 Book Reviews 233 ET 49 & 50 First 21 pages H.L.17 29/8/14 08:39 Page 7 Chairman’s letter Dear Fellow Member Here is a jumbo volume of Ecclesiology Today, being the joint edition for December 2013 and July 2014.With this publication we have virtually caught up with our production cycle.The next edition will be dated December 2014, and we will do our best to keep to tempo and mail it to you in December or January. This volume is devoted to church buildings owned or otherwise cared for by Trusts. It concentrates on churches which have not been converted for an alternative full-time use. Instead, these buildings have their interiors kept more or less intact, because someone, somewhere thinks they are worth keeping as they are, for public benefit. There are a good number of such buildings: at least 435 Church of England churches alone are looked after in this way, and an unknown number of churches and chapels of other denominations and countries – an estimated 80 or more Church of Scotland churches, for example are cared for by single-building Trusts. So these Trusts are looking after a significant proportion of our ecclesiastical heritage, and that proportion will grow in future. There is enormous variety in this volume, both as regards the church buildings, and the groups looking after them, and we are grateful to the more than twenty authors who have contributed. I hope that you find something here to interest you. Perhaps, like me, you will emerge with a new respect for these Trusts, and the entrepreneurial, dogged and devoted spirit that shines through so many of their stories. I would be very grateful to be notified of additional single-building church and chapel Trusts in England and Wales, using the contact address at the rear of this volume. v v v While this volume was in preparation, we heard the sad news of the death of the Revd Dr Michael Peel, the previous but one Chairman of Council. I did not know Michael well, but was always impressed with both his natural courtesy and deep knowledge of matters ecclesiological. I am pleased that Paul Velluet, who followed Michael as Chairman of Council, has been able to write a brief obituary to put on record something of Michael’s life and work. Our sympathies go to his wife and family in their loss. Trevor Cooper Chairman of Council 3 ET 49 & 50 First 21 pages H.L.17 29/8/14 08:39 Page 8 ET 49 & 50 First 21 pages H.L.17 29/8/14 08:39 Page 5 Introduction: the what and why of Church Trusts THIS VOLUME CONCENTRATES on churches cared for by Trevor Cooper charitable Trusts, where the Trust has full repairing responsibility for the building, and the purpose of the Trust is the long-term preservation of the building for public benefit. Hundreds of historic church and chapel buildings no longer needed for worship are already cared for by Trusts (see Table 1, overleaf). Over the coming years it is likely that fewer church buildings will be needed for regular worship and Trusts are likely to take over the care of some of the more historic ones. In addition, as discussed later, Trusts may have a role looking after churches which are not being closed. So we need to ask, how well does the Trust model work? What does it mean for the buildings? Where does the money come from? Are these Trusts sustainable? Is this a model which deserves to be rolled out more widely? As will become clear, I believe that the answers are broadly positive.The model most certainly can work, and often does. But there are issues, some of them systemic, which need to be borne in mind. This introduction attempts to pull out some of the themes emerging from the individual chapters in this volume.After a brief survey of the types and numbers of Trusts, I will discuss single- building Trusts looking after closed churches, then look more briefly at multi-building Trusts, and will finally discuss whether Trusts might look after churches which are still open. A quick word about scope.All specialist multi-building Trusts are included. Amongst the single-building Trusts, I have concentrated on Trusts looking after Church of England buildings in a ‘quiet’ way, a term explained later.Within these, a few estate churches are included (chapters 10 and 22), though I have not made any particular effort to track them down. I have excluded ruins, and proprietary and private chapels. I have somewhat regretfully excluded buildings owned by the National Trust or English Heritage, and also those which have been physically moved to a museum; regretfully, as they may well have something to teach us about interpreting these buildings to visitors. Types and numbers The Trusts fall into two types. The first is multi-building Trusts, each of which cares for a number of closed churches or chapels. They are described in Part 1 of the volume. Between them these multi-building Trusts look after some 455 churches and chapels of all denominations, across Great Britain (Table 1). The second type is the single-building Trust, a local (often a 5 ET 49 & 50 First 21 pages H.L.17 29/8/14 08:39 Page 6 ECCLESIOLOGY TODAY 49 & 50 · 2014 Table 1: Number of churches and chapels looked after by charitable Trusts in England and Wales England Wales Scotland CofE Free, Anglican Free, Anglican Free, RC, etc RC, etc RC, etc The Churches Conservation Trust 343 Friends of Friendless Churches 18 5 21 Ipswich Historic Churches Trust 4 Norfolk Churches Trust 12 1 Norwich Historic Churches Trust 18 Scottish Redundant Churches Trust 1 6 Welsh Religious Buildings Trust 6 The Historic Chapels Trust 20 Total 395 26 21 6 1 6 Single-building Trusts 40+ 5+ 5+ 2+ ? 80–100 (‘Quiet’ buildings: see note) CofE = Church of England; Free = Free Churches; RC = Roman Catholic.