A tin tabernacle, also known as an iron church, is a type of prefabricated ecclesiastical building made from corrugated galvanised iron. They were developed in the mid-19th century, initially in the United Kingdom. Corrugated iron was first used for roofing in London in 1829 by civil engineer Henry Robinson Palmer, and the patent was later sold to Richard Walker who advertised "portable buildings for export" in 1832. The technology for producing the corrugated sheets improved and, to prevent corrosion, the sheets were galvanised with a coating of zinc, a process developed by Stanislas Sorel in Paris in the 1830s. After 1850, many types of prefabricated buildings were produced, including churches, chapels and mission halls.
History
The Industrial Revolution was a time of great population expansion and movement in Europe. Towns and cities expanded as the workforce moved into the new industrial areas, resulting in the building of more than 4,000 churches during the mid-19th century, and an upsurge of nonconformism led to a demand for even more buildings. The Church of England, influenced by Pugin, the Cambridge Camden Society and John Ruskin, was initially sceptical about corrugated-iron buildings. However, manufacturers found other markets, notably in the colonies of the British Empire where 19 such churches were erected in Melbourne, Australia, alone by 1851. A church built entirely of cast and wrought iron clad in corrugated iron was built in Jamaica at a cost of £1,000. William Morris, founder of the Arts and Crafts Movement, wrote a pamphlet in 1890 decrying the construction of corrugated-iron buildings "that were spreading like a pestilence over the country."
Churches, chapels and mission halls were built in new industrial areas, pit villages, near railway works and in more isolated rural and coastal locations. Landowners or employers frequently donated plots of land and sometimes donated the cost of the building, although many were funded by public subscription. The 3rd Marquess of Bute provided the first Roman Catholic cathedral to be erected in Oban in 1886. It was lavishly decorated and furnished and lasted for 50 years until it was replaced.
Early tin churches were easily erected, but at an average cost of between £2 and £4 per sitting, were expensive. St Mark's Church in Birkenhead, built in 1867, cost more than £2,000 for 500 seats. Prices decreased to almost £1 per sitting towards the end of the century. David Rowell & Co.'s 1901 catalogue advertised a church to seat 400 persons, delivered to the nearest railway station and erected on the purchaser's foundation, at a cost of £360. Isaac Dixon's 1896 catalogue mentioned that the company had supplied nearly 150 churches over the previous ten years and the price had dropped from 35 shillings to 20 shillings (£1.75 to £1) per sitting plus the cost of foundations, heating and lighting, which could add another £70 for a church to seat 200.
Several tin tabernacles survive as places of worship; some have listed building status and some have been converted to other uses. Some redundant chapels have been moved to museums for preservation. St Chad's Mission Church was moved from near Telford to the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust's Blists Hill Victorian Town in Shropshire, while St Saviour's Church from Westhouses in Derbyshire may be seen at the Midland Railway Centre's Swanwick Junction site. St Margaret's Church from South Wonston, near Winchester, Hampshire, is now at the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum in West Sussex.
Manufacturers
Several firms, such as David Rowell & Co., Humphrey's and Frederick Braby in London, Isaac Dixon and Co and Francis Morton in Liverpool, E T Bellhouse in Manchester and A & J Main & Co of Glasgow, manufactured a range of iron buildings that included houses, village halls, sports pavilions, warehouses, hospital wards, chapels and churches. Many of their products were exported to Canada, Africa, and to California and Australia during the gold rushes. Other manufacturers of corrugated-iron churches in Glasgow included Braby & Company and R. R. Speirs who supplied 75 churches between 1908 and 1914. Corrugated-iron buildings were exhibited at the Great Exhibition in 1851. Isaac Dixon's 1874 catalogue was aimed at the landed gentry, railway proprietors and shippers, while Francis Morton's company had a dedicated church building department and its 1879 catalogue reported nearly 70 churches, chapels and school houses built in the United Kingdom.
Churches and chapels Symbol Key(*) This tin tabernacle has been demolished.
England NameLocationPhotographDenominationNotesListing gradeAddiscombe Baptist ChurchAddiscombe, LondonBaptistA site for the church was bought for £550 and a 264-capacity tin tabernacle was erected in December 1901.Ashington Mission ChurchAshington, WimborneAnglicanThe Ashington Mission Church was built in 1900 on land leased from the Canford Estate. After years of disuse, it was converted into a three-bedroom house.St John's ChurchAdlington, CheshireAnglicanSt John's Church was built in 1892 and continues in active use as an Anglican mission church to St Peter's Church, Prestbury.Mission ChurchAlhampton, SomersetAnglicanThe church was built in 1892 at a cost of £250; it seats 55 people. It continues in active use as a mission church to St Mary Magdalene, Ditcheat.Areley Kings Methodist ChurchAreley Kings, WorcestershireMethodistLocated at Astley Cross in the village of Areley Kings, and registered for worship in November 1905 with the name Wesleyan Mission Hall, this tin tabernacle was built in 1905 and remains in use as a Methodist church with one service each Sunday. It is in the Kidderminster and Stourport Circuit.Free Church Mission HallAshtead, SurreyNone (formerly Baptist)Ashtead's first Baptist church was opened in 1895 and appears in that year's Ordnance Survey map as a mission hall. A new church superseded it in 1924, but the building survives and is used by the Epsom and Ewell Conservative Association.St Felix ChapelBabingley, NorfolkBritish Orthodox Church (formerly Anglican)St Felix Chapel is a thatched, cruciform tin tabernacle. It was erected in 1880 and was at one time an Anglican parish church. It was made redundant by the Church of England and is used by the British Orthodox Church.Catholic church of St Vincent de PaulBarnwell, Cambridge, CambridgeshireRoman CatholicOriginally part of the First Eastern General Hospital, Cambridge. After World War I it was moved to the rectory garden of the church of Our Lady and the English Martyrs and named Houghton Hall. In 1939 it became St Laurence's Church, Chesterton. Following the opening of the new St Laurence's Church in 1958, the tin tabernacle was moved to its present site and became the Church of St Vincent de Paul. Reported in Bartley Tin ChurchBartley, HampshireNone (formerly Anglican)The church was built in 1900 and continued in use as an Anglican church until 1992. In 1998 it was sold by the Diocese of Winchester to the local community, who have developed it into a village hall.Oldfield Park Methodist Church (*)Bath, Somerset(formerly Methodist)Built in about 1892, Oldfield Park Methodist Church closed in 2009.Former Bailbrook Mission ChurchBath, SomersetOpened 4 July 1892. Elaborate example and most expensive design from a catalogue by William Cooper, Old Kent Road. Applications for residential conversion being prepared by new owners. Grade II listed by Historic England on 25 August 1992.Grade IIChurch of the AscensionBedmond, HertfordshireAnglicanThe Church of the Ascension was built in 1880 at a cost of £80. A copper-coated steeple was added in 2005. It continues as an active church in the parish of St Lawrence, Abbots Langley, and has Grade II listed status.Grade IISt Peter's ChurchBeech, HampshireAnglicanSt Peter's is part of the four-church Anglican Parish of the Resurrection serving Alton, Beech and Holybourne. Cdr du Santoy Anstis donated the land and erected the tin tabernacle in 1902. Its bell came from a ship he commanded.Christ Church (Blackgang Mission)Blackgang, Isle of WightNone (formerly Baptist)The chapel opened in 1895 in the hamlet of Blackgang within Chale parish and was registered for marriages in July 1900, replacing an earlier mission hall. In 1912 it was described as undenominational. It is now used as a holiday cottage.St Barnabas' ChurchBlackwater, Isle of WightNone (formerly Anglican)St Barnabas' Church is now used by a retail business. It was erected in the late 19th century as a chapel of ease in the parish of St George's Church, Arreton, but became redundant in the late 20th century. (Select "All Locations" > "Search")Blennerhasset Evangelical MissionBlennerhasset, CumbriaEvangelicalIn 2007 weekly services were held on Sundays and prayer meetings and bible study on Wednesdays.Mission noticeboard. Today the church has a weekly meeting at 6.15 every Sunday, though in October 2025 a notice saying 10:45 was on display.St Matthew's Church (*)Boultham, LincolnNone (formerly Anglican)St Matthew's was created as a chapel of ease to St Helen's, Boultham, in 1912, to serve workers in local factories. It was extended in 1924 but was later closed, damaged by fire and has since been demolished.Shaftesbury HallBowes Park, LondonNone