10 BCD SPECIAL REPORT ON HISTORIC CHURCHES 32nd ANNUAL EDITION also at play. Listings favour architectural detailing such as westerly axial porches or decorated bargeboards, hopper windows (which are often gothic headed), and examples where the mullion and transom form a cross and the lower glazing is obscured. Listed examples also tend to have fine interiors in good condition, although the vast majority of surviving tin tabernacles have lost theirs. A change to non-religious use such as village halls or nurseries tend to result in the active loss of liturgical fittings, while passive loss occurs where a building is used solely for storage, particularly through decay. Generally it is the tin tabernacles that continue to be used for their original purpose that have the best-preserved interiors. These include several have been physically relocated, such as Brokerswood, Edithmead and Shepperdine, which are all Grade II-listed. The interior of Bramdean, Hampshire remains largely unaltered due to its rural location and continuous worship. It is off-grid and still illuminated by candles for services. The heavily varnished matchboarding, benches and dais are original, but the Glastonbury chair and harmonium are from elsewhere. The hinges to the hopper windows are visible. The provenance of the altar and lectern are unknown. Use of a scissor truss creates a greater sense of space despite the building being only 4.7 m wide. There is a striking resemblance between the east ends of the unlisted Littlebury Green, Essex with that of listed Bedmond, Hertfordshire, both around 6 m wide. Their plan form is explicitly medieval two-room. Both have gothic nave windows opening inwards hopperstyle below A-frame roofs with iron hangers and cranked ties, and each has a gothic chancel arch with surrounding biblical texts. Possibly the most northern tin tabernacle in England that is still used for worship is Newton-by-the-Sea, Northumberland. Under an octagonal east window, a narrow chancel echoing Littlebury Green and Bedmond is unnoticed externally due to a vestry and storage room to either side, accessed via four-panel doors. Inside, the chancel is separated from the scissor-trussed nave by two steps and an altar rail on spindles with a side-hinged door, and distinguished by a round-headed chancel arch. Hopper windows to the nave are not four-part cross design, but rather tripartite to both the fixed and inward opening parts. These architectural differences from other tin tabernacles may be due to a different manufacturer. Other ecclesiastical elements such as the open benches, lectern and prayer desk are similar to other places, but the pews have hinged backrests so they can be switched to face the back of the church for secular events. Listed in 2024, the tiny tin tabernacle at Edithmead, Somerset with its unusual central lantern roof, has matchboarded walls but the replacement windows are not hopper design. A small platform supports the altar which is accompanied by a Glastonbury chair, a prayer desk (both likely to be original), a credence and a lectern (which appear to be more recent). The hinged full-width altar rail, supported on iron stands, separates the liturgical nave from the chancel. According to a newspaper article in the church, the original harmonium was lost, and simple open benches now fill the nave, which is entered through excellent examples of Victorian lozenge chevron doors. Another museum exhibit is at Avoncroft Museum of Historic Buildings. Relocated from Bringsty, Herefordshire, this excellent example has matchboarded walls pierced by cross-design hopper windows under a scissor-truss roof. The tripartite east window illuminates the sanctuary, which is separated from the nave by a two-part oak communion rail with decorative metal stands at the edge of a full-width dais. To the liturgical south is an alcove for housing Largely unaltered, Bramdean is still off-grid and illuminated by candles for services, due to its rural location and continuous worship. Bedmond is around 6 m wide with gothic nave windows opening inwards, hopper-style below A-frame roofs with iron hangers and cranked ties. Edithmead, Somerset, listed in 2024, showing its unusual central lantern roof (above) and Victorian lozenge chevron doors (below). One of the reversible pews at Newton-by-the-Sea, Northumberland, which allow the congregation face eastwards for worship or westwards for secular events
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