BCD SPECIAL REPORT ON HISTORIC CHURCHES 32nd ANNUAL EDITION 9 carved ends or poppyheads, and many of the fittings and furnishings found in larger Victorian churches are missing, from rood screens to ambries. TRADE CATALOGUES Like many other types of Victorian portable building, tin tabernacles were sold through trade catalogues. Manufacturers included Boulton and Paul, Croggon, Frederick Braby, Isaac Dixon, Samuel Hemming, William Cooper and Tupper & Co. They advertised ‘iron churches’ alongside many other pre-fabricated buildings for delivery to the nearest railway station. The similarities between the catalogues of different manufacturers are remarkable in terms of designs and the range of products. They sourced the corrugated wrought iron (later steel), light fittings and ecclesiastical items from specialists such as Ash & Lacy, and Gardiner & Sons, who also supplied lamps, pulpits, altar rails, and ironmongery and tools. These trade catalogues tended to show the exterior and structural details of the churches; William Cooper’s 1903 catalogue, for example, has an illustration resembling the tin tabernacle at Deepcut, Surrey. The same catalogue, on later pages, shows a range of altars, lecterns, pulpits, rostrums (for nonconformists) and seating options, to cater for both nave and mission, church and chapel. SURVIVING ECCLESIASTICAL INTERIORS The sketch below shows the synthesised interior of a typical Anglican mission church with the more frequently observed Victorian trade catalogue items placed in context. Of those tin tabernacles so far recorded, tripartite windows are present in a fifth, while around half have gothic window forms. Typically, the side windows are divided into four lights with a central mullion and raised transom forming a cross, which is important liturgically and can be considered part of the interior scheme. The glass in the lower lights is often obscured and in almost all examples the smaller lights above are hinged at the bottom and open inwards, sometimes within frames to form hopper vents. Solid or glazed hopper side panels prevented rain ingress and draughts, helping to preserve the interior. Almost all stoves have been lost, although their ghosts remain in the form of blanked metalwork to the roof, occasionally walls and stone hearths to the floor. The longer (post 2005) list descriptions for the 19 listed tin tabernacles reveal some of the reasons why they were proposed for designation, and on site recording and statistical analysis suggest that other reasons were The brick-built interior of Sway Baptist Church shows typical features of a tin tabernacle, including a warming stove, gas and oil lights, and matchboarding. The tin tabernacle in Deepcut, Surrey Illustration showing the synthesised interior of a typical Anglican mission church with the more frequently observed Victorian trade catalogue items placed in context. (R Taylor, 2003) A page from William Cooper’s 1903 catalogue offering everything for the construction and furnishing of tin tabernacles worldwide
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