C O N T E X T 1 5 0 : J U L Y 2 0 1 7 7 Periodically My previous column dealt with the Victorian Society’s sixth volume of Studies inVictorian Architecture and Design, about the work of William Butterfield. Space did not permit inclusion of an invaluable resume in the accompanying TheVictorian (No 4, March 2017) of one of the thorniest problems of listed building reuse: the redundancy of Church of England churches and potential reuse by other denominations, particularly as mosques. Michael Hall’s arguments are worth summarising at some length. The conversion of chapels into mosques has been successful partly because many nonconformist denominations occupied buildings that did not appear too conventionally ecclesiastical and do not display prominent exterior symbols of Christian use, particularly human depictions. The same can not be said about the great majority of churches. The conversion of former churches for Muslim religious use has been a contentious issue, if anything now more than in the past. Hall argues that it appears to have become virtually impossible for redundant church buildings to be disposed of for religious use by other faiths. The Wakefield Diocese of the Church of England referred the principle of the use of redundant consecrated buildings by other faiths to the General Synod in 1972, after local Muslims had sought permission to convert the redundant and closed late-Victorian St Mary, Savile Town, Dewsbury, into a mosque. A working party set up by the British Council of Churches subsequently recommended that ‘buildings devoted to regular Christian worship should not be made available for the acts of worship of other faiths, while acknowledging possible exceptions should be considered on their merits.’ This recommendation was rejected, but more because of the wording than of the principle. In the case of St Mary’s, the objections to it becoming a mosque were so strong that the church was demolished. A mosque was then built on the site. Further contention arose in 1983 regarding the proposed conversion of the Grade II listed St Luke’s, Southampton, to a Sikh temple, strongly supported at the time by the Bishop of Winchester. The Church Commissioners, who have the final decision about the disposal of church property, sought guidance and proposed a motion to the General Synod that ‘church buildings which have been declared redundant may in appropriate circumstances be made available to those of nonChristian faiths for the purpose of their worship.’ This was carried in the House of Bishops and (narrowly) in the House of Clergy, but lost in the House of Laity, by a vote of 96 to 90. The resulting outcome was a set of guidelines prepared by the Church Commissioners in 1984 that has been adhered to ever since. In essence, when a ‘suitable use’ is sought for a redundant church building, ‘in the light of the unique revelation of God in Jesus Christ; use for worship by adherents of a nonChristian faith is not to be regarded as an evidently suitable use which a diocesan uses committee should seek or prefer to other types of use.’ In principle, such a use is not necessarily wholly excluded if, after wide consultation, the diocesan uses committee and the bishop support such a proposal. Michael Hall argues that the application of the guidelines has been astonishingly rigid. To this day the Church of England has not disposed of a single redundant church for religious use by another faith. Hall states that one reason is the feeling that church buildings still look exactly that, even if no longer in use for Christian worship, so nonChristian worship is a ‘preferred use’. St Mark’s, Coburg Road, Southwark, by Richard Norman Shaw, listed Grade II and converted into the New Peckham Mosque in 1980, seems unlikely to be repeated. Hall notes that the same issues hold true for the Roman Catholic Church. The article states that it is not the Victorian Society’s place to comment on the theological underpinnings of the Church’s arguments against the use of former churches as mosques, but in relation to inter-faith relations and urban renewal, as well as architectural conservation, it finds this deeply regrettable. Looking all the way to 1972 and the background to the Church Commissioners’ guidelines, it appears that the Church of England has been divided on this issue. Hall considers that the guidelines might be deemed to be discriminatory in law, but there seems to be no weakening of the Church’s policy that almost any use of a redundant church, whether as a gym, nightclub or bar, is preferable to a mosque. The latest issue of the Association of Preservation Technology Bulletin: the Journal of Preservation Technology (Vol XLVIII, No 1, 2017) is a special one, taking its inspiration from a conference entitled ‘Preserving
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