A redundant church is a church building that is no longer required for regular public worship. The phrase is particularly used to refer to former Anglican buildings in the United Kingdom, but may refer to any disused church building around the world. Reasons for redundancy include population movements, changing social patterns, merging of parishes, decline in church attendance or other factors. Although once simply demolished or left to ruin, today many redundant churches find new uses as community centres, museums, houses or other more innovative solutions.

Established church buildings

Although church buildings are disused around the world, in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, the term was particularly used by the Church of England

Church of England

The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...

 which had a "Redundant Churches Division". In 2008, the Church changed the terminology surrounding church closure and as such redundancy is now known as closure for regular public worship. The Redundant Churches Division became the Closed Churches Division.

There are a number of reasons for a church building being declared redundant, although it is primarily due to a reduction in the number of regular Sunday worshippers, which fell since the late 1980s to about 1.7m in 2008. Other reasons include the amalgamation of parish

Parish

A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...

es, or a preference for another building where two churches exist in close proximity, for example at Swaffham Prior

Swaffham Prior

Swaffham Prior is a village in East Cambridgeshire, England.Lying 5 miles west of Newmarket, and two miles south west of Burwell, the village is often paired with its neighbour Swaffham Bulbeck, and are collectively referred to as 'The Swaffhams'. Swaffham Prior was often known as Great Swaffham in...

, Cambridgeshire. Population shift is another factor; for example, many redundant churches were formerly maintained in parishes situated in deserted or shrunken medieval villages

Deserted medieval village

In the United Kingdom, a deserted medieval village is a former settlement which was abandoned during the Middle Ages, typically leaving no trace apart from earthworks or cropmarks. If there are fewer than three inhabited houses the convention is to regard the site as deserted; if there are more...

 (such as Wharram Percy

Wharram Percy

Wharram Percy is a deserted medieval village site on the western edge of the chalk Wolds in North Yorkshire, England. The site is about one mile south of Wharram-le-Street and is clearly signposted from the B1248 Beverley to Malton road...

 in Yorkshire

Yorkshire

Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...

) and there are many disused churches in the now-sparsely-populated square mile of the City of London

City of London

The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...

.

Around 30 Church of England churches

Church of England parish church

A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative region, known as a parish.-Parishes in England:...

 are declared closed for regular public worship each year. The buildings are only demolished as a last resort; according to The Economist

The Economist

The Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in offices in the City of Westminster, London, England. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843...

magazine, from 1969 to 2002, 1,600 Church of England buildings had been declared redundant, and of those, 357 have been demolished and 327 preserved by the Churches Conservation Trust.

The aim of the closure process is to find new uses for them. Responsibility for doing this rests with the diocese

Diocese

A diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...

. Some closed churches remain consecrated

Consecration

Consecration is the solemn dedication to a special purpose or service, usually religious. The word "consecration" literally means "to associate with the sacred". Persons, places, or things can be consecrated, and the term is used in various ways by different groups...

 in occasional use by the Church of England. Some are purchased by other denominations or faiths

Religious denomination

A religious denomination is a subgroup within a religion that operates under a common name, tradition, and identity.The term describes various Christian denominations...

 for regular use. Several charitable trusts have been set up to preserve churches of particular architectural merit, such as the Churches Conservation Trust

Churches Conservation Trust

The Churches Conservation Trust, which was initially known as the Redundant Churches Fund, is a charity whose purpose is to protect historic churches at risk, those that have been made redundant by the Church of England. The Trust was established by the Pastoral Measure of 1968...

 in England or the Friends of Friendless Churches

Friends of Friendless Churches

Friends of Friendless Churches is a registered charity active in England and Wales. It campaigns for and rescues redundant historic churches threatened by demolition, decay, or inappropriate conversion. To that end, as of August 2010, it owns 43 former churches or chapels, 23 of which...

 in Wales (although the latter also maintains a number of churches in England). Similarly, in Scotland the Scottish Redundant Churches Trust

Scottish Redundant Churches Trust

The Scottish Redundant Churches Trust is a registered charity founded in 1996 which looks after Church of Scotland churches which are all listed buildings of architectural significance but are no longer used for regular worship...

 cares for several former Church of Scotland

Church of Scotland

The Church of Scotland, known informally by its Scots language name, the Kirk, is a Presbyterian church, decisively shaped by the Scottish Reformation....

 church buildings.

Re-use

Closed churches can have a variety of uses. Depending on the listed status of a building, many can be converted for other uses. Several former churches are used as community or education centres, for example All Saints' Church, Bristol

All Saints' Church, Bristol

All Saints is a church in Corn Street, Bristol, England.The west end of the nave survives from the original 12th century church, and the east nave and aisles were built in the 15th century. The north-east tower was added in 1716 by William Paul, and completed by George Townesend...

 or All Saints Church, Harthill

All Saints Church, Harthill

All Saints Church, Harthill is a redundant Anglican church in the village of Harthill, Cheshire, England. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II* listed building. As of 2010 the church is being converted into a community facility for the village and locality.-History:A...

. Likewise, Holy Trinity Church, Chester

Holy Trinity Church, Chester

The Guildhall, formerly Holy Trinity Church, is a redundant church in Watergate in the city of Chester, Cheshire, England. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II listed building. In the early 1960s it was converted into the Guildhall.-History:The original building, which...

 now serving as the town's Guildhall or St Michael's Church, Chester

St Michael's Church, Chester

St Michael's Church, Chester is a redundant church standing on the corner of Bridge Street and Pepper Street in the city of Chester, Cheshire, England. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II listed building. The former church is now used as a heritage centre.-History:A...

 as a heritage centre

Heritage centre

A heritage centre is a museum facility primarily dedicated to the presentation of historical and cultural information about a place and its people, including, to some degree, natural features...

. St Peter's Church, Offord D'Arcy

St Peter's Church, Offord D'Arcy

St Peter's Church, Offord D'Arcy, is a redundant Anglican church in the village of Offord D'Arcy, Cambridgeshire, England. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade I listed building, and is under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust...

 managed by the Churches Conservation Trust is used to host festivals, including a film festival.

Others are used in more unusual ways; Old St Ann's Church, Warrington is an indoor climbing

Indoor climbing

Indoor Climbing is an increasingly popular form of rock climbing performed on artificial structures that attempt to mimic the experience of outdoor rock.Competetive indoor climbing is also called sport climbing....

 centre (one of several churches used in this way), other former churches may be art galleries, coffee shops and even pubs and clubs. Many are converted into residential properties.

However, in some cases, such as the grade I listed St Ninian's, Brougham

Ninekirks

Ninekirks , dedicated to Saint Ninian, was formerly the parish church of Brougham, Cumbria. It is situated on the south bank of the River Eamont near its confluence with the River Eden.-Importance:...

, a Churches Conservation Trust church, the remote location means that it cannot be used for an alternative purpose and is rarely used for worship.

Non-conformist buildings

The popularity of Methodism

Methodism

Methodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide. The movement traces its roots to John Wesley's evangelistic revival movement within Anglicanism. His younger brother...

, and other non-conformist churches in the 19th century has led to a large number of chapel buildings which cannot be sustained; at their height, various Methodist factions ran about 14,000 chapels in the United Kingdom. Today, the united Methodists own just over 6,000 chapels and dispose of roughly 100 each year. Particularly significant chapels may be taken into the care of the Historic Chapels Trust.