BCD SPECIAL REPORT ON HISTORIC CHURCHES 32nd ANNUAL EDITION 7 TIN TABERNACLES AND THEIR INTERIORS Michael Hill-King IN FRONTIER lands, prefabricated corrugated iron buildings enabled rapid erection of homes, schools and churches with little requirement for skill or capital investment. Colonisation of New South Wales and gold prospecting in California in particular benefited from this novel form of construction. Often painted green, tin tabernacles are kit-built churches with characteristic corrugated iron walls and roofs. They were built from the 1850s to the 1920s, with a peak build rate in the 1880s. Of many thousands erected, there are a few hundred at most remaining in England, of which 19 are listed buildings and a few more are locally listed. Many of the surviving buildings are in poor condition and uncounted examples have been lost, begging the question; what are we losing? Neither designed by architects nor crafted in an artisan’s yard, tin tabernacles are manufactured buildings. They are not traditional or airtight modern constructions. Factory conversion and cutting of timbers became cheaper, faster and lower-skilled in the 19th century, and the development of galvanised corrugated wrought iron in the 1840s provided a lightweight cladding that required fewer timber supports, due to the rigidity of the metal profile. Pre-fabricated churches and other single-storey buildings began to be supplied from factories in kit form with corrugated iron roofs and walls fixed to timber frames which bear the structural and applied loads. Generally, the churches were lined with tongueand-groove softwood internally and often embellished externally with bell turrets and occasionally brattishing. Most featured wraparound corners as a practical weatherproofing detail that exploited the material’s characteristics and softened the architectural form. IDENTIFICATION AND DIFFERENTIATION The study on which this article is based included Anglican, Baptist, Brethren, Methodist and Spiritualist places of worship. With about a fifth of the tin tabernacles in England visited, the study should be regarded as exploratory rather than definitive. The focus in this article is on their interiors, and a selection of Anglican examples are used to illustrate the details and provenance of the liturgical and architectural elements that frame the space for worship. Preliminary research found more than 200 extant buildings across England and a similar number that have been lost. These data were mapped to serve as a resource for research. Externally, there are relatively minor differences between tin tabernacles and other corrugated iron-clad buildings, in particular, reading rooms and school rooms. The photomontage opposite shows buildings from Berkshire, Cumbria, Dorset, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Kent and Wiltshire, illustrating the similarities between places of worship and other buildings. Legal measures against nonconformists were abolished in 1828, eight years before the Metropolitan Churches Fund began building new urban Church of England churches. Although perceived as socially inferior, nonconformists were unrestricted by Known locations of corrugated iron churches, chapels and meeting halls in England – hundreds more have been lost
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