Virtual Refectory: Churches of the CCT

Let's start with England's most famous dynastic era...

Throughout history, many great movers and shakers have been both directly and indirectly responsible for the fate of our nation’s churches—some to their benefit, and others to our demise.

In the 1960s, Britain’s churches faced a bleak landscape with many left falling into states of disrepair, and demolition banging violently on many of their doors. With maintenance and renovation costs rising in direct contrast to congregation numbers, much of the nation’s ecclesiastical landscape was left in dire straits. And the sentiment felt towards this crumbling aspect of history was similarly tarnished, with many viewing historic churches as a noose around the neck of progress. Worse still, a formal process to care for these crumbling wrecks simply did not exist. Then along came Ivor Bulmer-Thomas, a former Member of Parliament, journalist, and Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Civil Aviation. If it had not been for the commitment of local communities and national campaigners such as he, many of our historic churches might have been lost forever. Bummer-Thomas was an instrumental figure in the establishment of ‘The Friends of Friendless Churches’ in 1957, before he decided to throw his weight behind the establishment of the Redundant Churches Fund, now known as the Churches Conservation Trust (CCT). And so, the national charity was born to ensure the ongoing conservation of historically or architecturally significant Church of England churches no longer in use for regular parish worship.