Church, Somerset, Jan '12

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When I saw the title I thought 'oh gawd not some horrid old stone wreck of a church.....boring' but I have to say I was very suprised,a very interesting building and that 'jesus' is kinda groovy :D
 
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Mmmmm. Very nice! Did the organ still have pipework, I wonder?

It looks like a typical 60's/70's church building: impressive, light, airy, and an absolute bugger to heat and maintain. I wonder whether it was closed due to dwindling numbers, or due to a progressively horrendous maintenance bill, or both.
 
Thanks Guys/Girls :) Glad I found it & had the camera on me anyway!!

A bit of both I expect Richard in this modern day :(
 
thats niiice..love the photos..what are the strings hanging from the ceiling?
 
Look like they may have been the lights at one time. The church does not look that old, congrigation must have dwindled. Nice photo's
 
Whoa! That organ is superb!:eek: Not quite my cuppa, strictly speaking, I prefer the electronic kind. :mrgreen:

Please don't reveal the location of this old church, I really couldn't bear to see a beautiful instrument mindlessly vandalised and destroyed.

Well spotted though, and the Christ statue is particularly impressive. Is it a Catholic church?
 
I know where this church is I think. I've previously posted about the outside.

I've PMed Ratters and if he confirms the location I can provide some history as to why it is how it is if people are interested (I won't reveal location). If it is the church I think it is, I'm really glad someone finally took some inside pictures. I've been wondering how much its deteriorated inside for quite some time!
 
I'm going to do my best to reveal nothing about where this church is located so sorry if I'm somewhat vague.

The church was built in the 70s and soon after problems began to appear. At first the bell tower had to be taken down and the hall leaked. Then, in the 00s structural damage due to its design and being so badly built made the church dangerous and it had to be closed. There's been planning permission for nearly 10 years to do something with the church but nothing has been done. The problems stem from the roof which is at an extreme angle. The church has leaked since it was built and it gradually became more and more dangerous, with things getting even worse when lead was repeatedly stolen from the roof. The church was suddenly closed, with large "Danger" signs being posted on all the entrances.

I went to a local primary school and we visited the church often, especially at Christmas, Easter and Harvest festival. I was friends with the vicar's son too. I can remember services there, and Sunday school. One of my earliest memories of performing music were also there, on my recorder and with the school choir with the organ, which sounded lovely if I remember correctly. Before school I went to toddler group there, although I remember only the vaguest of details of that. Until I saw this posted I forgot the sheer amount of time I spent in the church, even though I was never particularly religious!

The congregation still exists and uses somewhere else for their services. There have been many campaigns for various things to be done with the church, the most popular seeming to be knock it down and build a new one, but money has always been an issue and as far as I know there are no plans to do anything with it for the foreseeable future. I heard rumours the organ was still there but didn't think they'd have left it. It's over 100 years old and it's a real shame to see it abandoned.
 
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Thanks very much for that info SG, and very well explained. It always comes down to cash, eh. I'm not religious myself either, but I respect the fact that others observe it. I am however a bit of a musician and if nothing else I would love to see the organ saved/restored, as from what you've mentioned, there doesn't seem to be much hope for the building.

Glad that you clearly have many happy memories of the place and I'm sure the organ sounded fantastic.
 
I've just done some research and apparently a meeting happened as recently as 2nd Feb which proposed housing and new "church, worship and community centre". This work would be started as early as this summer. It's been closed for many years now so I'm going to email the congregation and anyone else I can think of and ask if anything can be done with the organ. It seems such a shame to let it get demolished.
 
Good to see someone cares. :) PM me to let me know what happens. Can't promise anything at all - but I know of a group of people who may be able to help . . .
 
Thanks for the comments All :)

SG1, nice bit of history - Thank you. Would be ace if the organ was saved :)
 

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