Church prepares for final service
A church is to close its doors for the final time next week.
St Barnabas', in North Evington, Leicester, is the latest of several city churches to be shut in the past few years due to dwindling congregation numbers.
Services will continue to be held at St Barnabas' Primary School next door once the building is officially closed.
A final eucharist will take place on Sunday, followed by a transitional service – which will see pupils taking part in a procession from the church to the school – on Wednesday.
Minister Derek Brown said he was expecting up to 70 people to attend on Sunday.
He said: "The church building is closing, but the people of God continue. The church is the people, not the building.
"I would just like to thank all the people who have been very supportive during a difficult time. The school has been very helpful and the congregation has been wonderfully supportive."
Father Brown said while it was sad to see the building close, it marked a new beginning for the members.
"This is a new chapter. We'll keep going and hopefully get a few more people along the way."
The first service at the school will be held next Sunday, July 10.
The grade II listed church has not been put up for sale, but options for the building will be discussed after it is officially shut next week.
The closure follows that of St Peter's, in Belgrave, and St Gabriel's, in Rushey Mead, at the beginning of 2010. Both buildings are now up for sale.
When churches are closed, some are sold on to become businesses or flats, others are used by different religions and some are adopted by the Churches Conservation Trust.
Others, such as St Christopher's, in the Saffron Lane area of Leicester, are demolished.
St Barnabas' fate was decided in October last year.
The building, which has space for about 200 worshippers, saw numbers fall to as low as 20.
The Church Commissioners for England decided the building was "too large and expensive to maintain for the small congregation".
David Gillman, of Clarendon Park, who specialises in pastoral reorganisation, was the only person who objected to the proposal to close the church when it was made last summer.
"I firmly believe, in my opinion, that the visible presence of a church in use in the community is priceless," said Mr Gillman.
"I think that sometimes there is too much insensitivity shown to the commitment of faithful worshippers."
"Creative" buyer wanted for 12th century church
A medieval church which has stood empty for more than six months has been put up for sale.
Grade II-listed St Peter's, in Belgrave, Leicester, went on the market this week.
The church was shut in November last year, despite fierce opposition from worshippers and Leicester Civic Society.
It has since been targeted by thieves and vandals who have stolen lead from the roof and decapitated the statue of St Peter that stands in the doorway.
Leicester estate agent Andrew Granger & Co has set a guide price of £150,000.
Surveyor Elizabeth Watson said: "It is a very lovely church. It needs protecting and that's just how it is with buildings like this.
"We are inviting interested people to get in touch and we are happy to give them advice on whether their ideas for development are suitable.
"It could be a library for instance. It could be a nursery, but while the building is in good repair, it would need some work for this use.
"Basically, a person with some good creative ideas would be ideal."
The church was built in the 12th century, but many additions have been made to it over the years, including Edwardian choir stalls and a Victorian vestry.
The earliest slate headstones in the churchyard are dated 1689 and there are a number of memorials to the First World War and the Boer War inside the building.
Its historic and architectural significance mean strict guidelines on development are in place.
The church is being sold on the instructions of the Church Commissioners for England and Leicester Diocesan Board of Finance, who are also in the process of selling St Saviours, Highfields, and St Gabriel's, Rushey Mead.
A document released by the Church of England to give advice to potential developers said: "Many suitable new uses have been found for closed churches, including places of worship for other Christian bodies, civic, cultural or community use, arts and crafts or music or drama centres."
Liz Hudson-Oliff, of the diocese of Leicester, said they hoped for a quick sale.
She said: "One does not like to see such a building lie empty for any length of time, because it is then that you get problems with vandalism and the like.
"We would hope for a quick sale and for it to be turned into something appropriate.
"The church was put on the market because there were too many churches in the area for the amount of people using them."
Leicester Civic Society has welcomed the announcement that the building is on the market.
Chairman Stuart Bailey said: "That was very quick indeed and I am delighted. However, as I said back before it shut, it will be very difficult to use this building for anything other than a church, because of its listed status.
"I fear that a suitable buyer will not be found, but would love to see it brought back into use in a suitable way."
For sale: one historic church - guide price £250,000 to £750,000
It’s a striking example of gothic Victorian architecture , and part of the legacy of a world-famous designer. Yet it is disused, falling into disrepair and up for sale. Adam Wakelin reports
St Saviour's Church used to have its name stuck on the front in plastic letters. Many have now fallen off or been stolen. It is ST VIOU S C CH now. Oddly appropriate, perhaps. A gibberish sign for a boarded-up building that doesn't make much sense around here any more. Not as it is, anyway.
Assistant surveyor Joe Welch, of Andrew Granger & Co, is sliding back the last of the heavy bolts on a side door when the Mercury arrives for a viewing.
Inside, the temperature drops like a brick. It's cold enough to stiffen a line of washing, even on a sunny day like this one. Boards nailed across the windows to deter vandals keep the interior in darkness.
Joe goes to switch on the lights. When they come on, it is easy to see why the building is Grade II* listed. Standard estate agent blurb doesn't begin to do somewhere like this justice.
That's probably why Andrew Granger & Co hasn't bothered with it. The building's sale brochure sets aside superlatives and sticks to thefacts:
A large Victorian gothic church designed by architect Sir George Gilbert Scott; red brick with a stone spire and slate roof, built in 1875-77, the last and largest church of the man who built the Midland Grand Hotel at St Pancras and the Albert Memorial. To be sold as a job lot with the next door neighbourhood centre, a former school. Guide price: £250,000 to £750,000.
"We want to focus on the fact that here is a fantastic opportunity to acquire a wonderful piece of Leicester's heritage and really bring it back into use," says Joe.
Doing that comes with all manner of complications – and it tells the story of just how difficult it is to stop some of Leicestershire's best buildings falling empty and derelict.
You don't have to be religious to be awed by a building like St Saviour's. Inside and out, the sheer size of the place is enough to draw a gasp.
It really is magnificent, a muscular monument to Christianity that has towered over everything else in this corner of Highfields for more than 130 years.
The building is big in thought and deed. Four rows of long pews stretch into the distance, lolly stick-small in Gilbert Scott's cavernous space. Once, 1,000 worshippers flocked here to be spiritually uplifted and consoled, and they were comfortably accommodated.
Not any more. St Saviour's has been closed for six years. The last time it was anything like full must have been decades ago.
Most of the fixtures and fittings have been stripped out, removed to stop them being burned or smashed by vandals who used to break in before the building was made more secure.
A few things remain. You can see how its congregation fell away in the framed Christening lists that still hang on one wall. In the 1970s there were five or six new names being added every month. By the early 90s, there would be one. Often not even that.
But St Saviour's was on borrowed time even as its mortar began to dry. Leicester's religious impulse was already beginning to wane.
As early as the 1890s, Church of England attendance began a slow but inexorable decline.
The veil-wearers and men with beards walking past the building today tell you what happened next without saying a word.
Religion again thrives around St Saviour's. There is no shortage of believers in Highfields, but this is now an overwhelmingly Muslim area.
In 2005, the church was closed. Three years later, Leicester City Council decided not to renew its lease on the nearby neighbourhood centre. It too was boarded up. Leaving the buildings to rot was never an option. But what do you do with them?
The Diocese of Leicester, along with Andrew Granger & Co, has been working on that for several years.
There are more than 300 CofE churches in Leicestershire. They form some of the county's finest architecture, yet some are ruinously expensive to repair and maintain as congregations dwindle.
The decision to close a church is never taken lightly, says Andrew Roberts, acting secretary for the Diocese of Leicester.
Sometimes, though, there is no other option. Selling a building is better than letting it fall down.
Six city and county churches are on the market or under offer: St Saviour's, St Peter's Church in Belgrave, St Gabriel's Church off Gipsy Lane, St Paul's Church in Kirby Road, St Peter's Church in Saxby and St James' Church, Snibston in Coalville.
Selling those properties is a lot more complicated than you might think.
St Saviour's Church, like many of the others, is a listed building.
Neither English Heritage nor the local planning authority will allow a development that compromises its character or architectural integrity. Even something as basic as removing the pews will have to be justified.
Then there are the Church Commissioners who have to be satisfied.
They handle the sale of the building on behalf of the diocese – and they have to be assured it will be put to good use.
It would not be deemed appropriate, for example, to turn a church into a pub or betting shop, says Mr Roberts.
And there lies the conundrum. In St Saviour's you have beautiful, historic Christian building in an area that's nice enough, but not particularly upwardly mobile or wonderfully served by transport links.
Nothing is an easy fit with Gilbert Scott's grand gothic vision.
The estate agents and the diocese have attracted some criticism for allowing the building to stand empty for so long.
But making a quick sale then seeing it fall through because the buyer got bogged down in planning problems would not have been sensible, says Joe.
To prevent that, they have worked with English Heritage and Leicester City Council to develop a planning brief for the church and neighbourhood centre. This outlines potential future uses of the buildings and provides general guidance on acceptable alterations.
Options for the church include: keeping it as a place of worship; turning it into a community centre, creche or day nursery; creating an art gallery or museum; or using it as an educational or medical centre.
It could also be converted into offices, flats or even a hotel – although any residential conversion will be challenging due to the difficulties of sub-dividing the building without compromising its architectural integrity.
Would an upmarket hotel or swanky apartments work in Highfields?
It's hard to see how.
"It's one of those buildings where we'll have to let the market decide what to do with it," says Joe.
Anyone interested in making a bid has to do so before July 1. The best options will go forward to be developed further.
The asking price of between £250,000 and £750,000 reflects the different uses to which the building could be put.
The Church Commissioners won't let the building be sold for a song, but cash won't be the only consideration. A third of the proceeds will go to the Churches Conservation Trust, which looks after closed churches, and the remainder will go to funding social and community work.
The first preference is often to retain a church for a denomination of Christian worship, says Mr Roberts. If that's not possible, then they would probably like to see at least some of the site put to community use.
Perhaps the old school could accommodate something more commercial, and the church could be opened up to benefit local residents.
"It is finding the right balance to make the site work in a social and commercial sense," he says. "Sometimes you get schemes that are residential conversions and they are sympathetic. No-one likes selling churches, but you can't just let them fall down. It is about finding an appropriate use for them."
Two churches to close in Leicester this month over costs
Two churches will close this month because the diocese can no longer afford to keep them open.
St Peter's, off Thurcaston Road, Belgrave, Leicester, and the nearby St Gabriel's, in Kerrysdale Avenue, will hold their final services on Sunday, June 27.
A day later, both buildings will be officially shut.
The decision was taken after a long consultation about their future and an unsuccessful campaign to save the 11th century St Peter's.
From next month, St Alban's, in Weymouth Street, will be the only church serving Belgrave.
Father Tony Coslett, team rector for the parish, said: "This is not about failure. It is not about retreat. It is about re-grouping. When a church closes it is remarkably sad. I am gutted.
"St Alban's will now become a powerhouse of the parish.
"We look forward to serving the community from this church.
"The Church of England is still committed to this area. We will still have a lot going on."
He said the closures were not solely for financial reasons.
However, the parish has faced a drop in numbers at services, dwindling collections and escalating bills, meaning it could only afford to keep one church open.
The parish chose St Alban's because it said it had better facilities and was cheaper to run.
A public consultation prompted 135 letters of protest at the plans, most concerning the closure of St Peter's. Despite that, in February, the Church of England upheld the parish's proposals to decommission the buildings.
Church Commissioners said the parish only needed one building. Ian Bewley-Parker, 71, who worshipped at St Peter's for most of his life and used to be churchwarden, said the decision to close the churches was "stupid".
Janet Lucas, who lives near the church, said: "They have shot themselves in the foot.
"I do not think they are going to get the people in St Alban's."
She said she hoped the churches would have a public open day before their doors were bolted, for the benefit of the community as well as the congregations.
St Peter's is a grade II-listed building with a history dating back to 1082.
St Gabriel's was built in the mid-1960s.
It has not been decided what will happen to the buildings after they close.
A spokesman for the Diocese of Leicester said following the closures on June 28 the management of the churches would be handed from the parochial church council to the diocese's board of finance.
He said: "There will be a series of meetings and discussions between interested parties about the future of the buildings.
"These could include talks between people including the city council and English Heritage. It will be an ongoing process."
The final services on June 27 will get under way at St Peter's at 3pm and at St Gabriel's at 6.30pm.
Centuries of history will end with Leicester church's closure
Nearly 1,000 years of history is to end with the closure of an 11th century church.
Within weeks, the doors of St Peter's Church, in Belgrave, will be bolted shut.
Nearby St Gabriel's Church, on Kerrysdale Avenue, will also close after the Church of England upheld the proposal to decommission the buildings.
Worshippers yesterday said they felt devastated.
A public consultation prompted 135 letters of protest at the plans, most concerning the closure of St Peter's.
At a meeting on Monday at the Church of England's London headquarters, the Diocese of Leicester was given permission to go ahead with the closures.
A spokesman for the Church Commissioners, responsible for church assets, said they "concluded that the parish only needs one church building".
St Alban's Church will be the only church serving Belgrave.
Ian Bewley-Parker, 71, has worshipped at St Peter's Church for most of his life. He used to be church warden.
"I'm devastated," he said.
"I couldn't say right now whether I will go to St Alban's once St Peter's closes."
St Peter's Church is a Grade II listed building that has been traced back to 1082.
Stuart Bailey, chairman of Leicester Civic Society, said the closure was "extremely short-sighted and destructive".
The Diocese of Leicester said it could not afford to keep three churches open in Belgrave.
If there is no appeal, the churches will be closed after Easter.
Did you worship at St Peter's? Did your parents get married there – or did you? We'd love to hear your stories of the church and if you have pictures then we would like to see them. Contact Simon Ward on 0116 222 4262 or: sward@leicestermercury.co.uk
