The Chapels Society seeks to foster public interest in the architectural and historical importance of all places of worship that might loosely described as Nonconformist. We take an interest in present and former non-Anglican churches, chapels, meeting-houses and other places of worship throughout the United Kingdom.
The Chapels Society is a registered charity (No.1014207).
The Chapels Society has written to HMRC outlining its concerns about the potentially damaging effect of the Government’s proposal to apply the standard rate of VAT to approved alterations to listed places of worship. A copy of our letter is available below.
You may be aware that many of those who help to care for places of worship are concerned about a measure that has been dubbed the ‘heritage tax‘. This is the Government’s proposal to require building owners to pay VAT at the standard rate on alterations to listed buildings. Essentially this will add 20% to the cost of works such as installing WCs, kitchen facilities etc. and may seriously affect the ability of hard-pressed congregations to pay for much-needed works. There is still time to make your views heard and to ask the Government to reconsider their proposal. Here’s what you can do:
Time for some good news… DCMS is providing a one-off grant in 2012-13 for capital works in listed places of worship. The National Churches Trust is administering a share of money in the form of an open grants programme for listed places of worship outside the care of the Church of England. Another share is being administered by the Church of England through its dioceses.
Details of the programme are now available on the NCT website. Grants are available for new capital works only (e.g. extensions, facilities such as kitchen and toilets, heating etc); repairs and maintenance of existing fabric are not eligible. There are limited funds available and due to the need for all grants under the scheme to have been claimed and paid by 31 March 2013, the programme is open for application from now until 30 August 2012. There will be opportunities for decisions in May, October and December of this year.
Source: Becky Payne, Historic Religious Buildings Development Officer, The Heritage Alliance
January saw the fifteenth anniversary of the Digital Atlas of England project to photograph all the rural churches in Britain – providing a set of digital images of each one, inside and out. This heroic endeavour is now about 70% completed and work is continuing to finish what is already an archive of the highest importance. All the photos (one third of a million of them) are the work of one man, C B Newham, operating unsupported and unfunded. To celebrate the fifteenth anniversary, he has produced a three minute high-definition video entitled “335665 Photographs”.
Quakers Friars, Bristol
The Chapels Society was recently asked to contribute to the Discovering Places blog. Discovering Places is London 2012’s Cultural Olympiad Campaign to inspire communities across the UK to discover their local environment – with all its hidden places, extraordinary spaces and the stories they have to tell.
You can read our contribution – about Converting Chapels – on the Discovering Places website. It features the former Methodist Chapel in Caistor and the Quaker Friars Meeting House in Bristol.
One consequence of the current pressure to remove pews from places of worship is the realization that the subject of historic seating in churches and chapels has been little studied. An impressive new publication from the Ecclesiological Society (Pews, Benches and Chairs) has helped to rectify this for the Church of England, but its findings are not entirely applicable to other denominations. For this reason the Chapels Society has decided to host a conference focusing on aspects of seating in Nonconformist places of worship, in an attempt to understand some of the things that may be significant about the historic seats in chapels and meeting houses. The conference will take place in Birmingham on Friday 2nd March 2012 ~ further details are available in the conference flyer.
At the AGM, it was agreed to increase the subscription rates after many years without a change. The need for change stems from rising costs as well as a wish to continue to produce excellent publications and to promote the Society’s work to a wider audience. The new rates can be found on the ‘Membership‘ page. We would ask existing members to note that the Society’s bank details have changed – an updated Standing Order Form for Renewals is also available.
