Ruins

[briansbarkery]

I have been curious for a while as to church ruins in the UK. I have seen several movies over the years of WWII and have always thought that the churches got bombed during the war. But since I joined this sight and started enjoying wearing the kilt I have seen numerous pictures showing church ruins. My question is this, Why not put a new roof on them and windows. I think they are beautiful architecture. Why not preserve them? Granted I realize that would take lots of money to do it. Were they Roman Catholic Churches and that is why they are in ruin? It has always made me curious as to why they have been made ruin and why they stay that way.

[Manxstralian]

While I don't have a definitive answer, I would assume it's because churches are primarily (financially) supported by their congregations. The UK, like most other countries in the world have a shrinking rural community compared to the urban centres. If the money isn't in the community, the church will be left to ruins.
Especially if we are talking about post WWII, I would assume that there were more important things for the money to go towards, like housing, farming and industrial infrastructure, and roads/railway lines etc.
From my limited understanding, once a building has been left in ruins for more than a year or two, it's a huge job to fix it up again and would not be possible without a benefactor, or governmental support. Probably easier just to build a new (probably less grand) church, and move on.

I agree that they are marvelous buildings, but I'd assume it's mostly financial, rather than a sectarian reason (which would probably be outside of the rules of this forum to discuss).

Just a thought, hopefully someone can give a more definitive answer.

Cheers,

Cameron

[John_Carrick]

Some ruins go back a long way, to the impact of Henry VIII and Cromwell, but I guess there are many churches in towns and cities that are no longer needed. It very common to see redundant churches converted to offices, homes, cinemas, libraries and in one case here in Belfast into a comedy club.
Apart from the tendency for certain parts of Christianity to fragment into new denominations and for some of these to be more successful than others, another factor is that towns used to be much more densely populated than they are now. In the City of London you will see a church, often designed by Christoper Wren, on nearly every street, but there used to be thousands living on these streets, instead of a few banks. Over the past century people have moved out of town centres to the suburbs and town centres can become quite derelict and underpopulated in places, with churches that have lost their congregations. Many old ruins might also be legally protected structures which is of course right, but this can make it harder to adapt them for modern use.

[Calgacus]

There are a number of reasons. Small parish churches may end up in ruins due to the decline of the local congregation, as Cameron states above, particularly if it is in a rural community. If the church is in a town or city, the building may end up with a new secular use, such as a community centre, shop, dwelling house, or even pub.

There are also a good few larger churches, and by that I mean abbeys and cathedrals, which fell into disuse or were deliberately destroyed during the sometimes turbulent change from Catholicism to Protestantism. In England, Henry VIII deliberately destroyed quite a few. Due to the scale of reconstruction required, most of those have stayed in ruins. St. Andrews Cathedral is one such (Scottish) example of a cathedral which fell into ruins after the Reformation.

I don't think bombing affected churches any more so than other types of building, but there are two notable examples. St. Paul's Cathedral was saved from the Blitz partly by luck but largely by the hard work of a special group of firefighters set up to protect it. Coventry Cathedral was not so lucky and was destroyed by German bombs, and rebuilt in a post-war modernist style.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Andrews_Cathedral

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Paul's_Survives

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coventry_Cathedral

[StevieR]

A church needs a congregation. In some instances, the congregation and its village disappeared many hundreds of years ago. In the case of Knowlton, not far from where I live, plague brought an end to the village and the houses of wood, wattle and daub soon disappeared. The Norman church, built of stone remained:

https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/...-and-research/

[cessna152towser]

Moderator note:-
Thread moved from Show us your Pics to Miscellaneous.

[briansbarkery]

The churches I had seen in pictures and movies are the ones that have been stated here that were destroyed by Henry VIII. So now I understand why they weren't rebuilt. Thanks everyone and in my opinion they are just beautiful. A part of history.

[Chas]

Apart from all the historical, ecclesiastical and financial reasons, there is also officialdom.

All ancient monuments are scheduled and have a grading. The higher the grading the less that can be done to alter the fabric of the building. The grading preserves the building in a certain moment in time. The addition of a roof or missing walls and windows changes a building and it would no longer be the same building.

This has been debated at all levels for over 150 years and the general consensus is that no alterations or improvements will be allowed. History has shown us that so many of the improvements help to destroy what they are trying to conserve.

[Ron Abbott]

Look on the positive....if you're thinking of buying, they don't come cheaper than in Scotland.....

[Dixiecat]

It must be brought to attention that the Reformation in Scotland followed a different path and occurred a few years later than the English Reformation. While the English Reformation certainly influenced the Scottish Reformation, Henry VIII was not responsible for the catholic church ruins in Scotland unless a church had been destroyed during the Rough Wooing of 1544-45.