A landmark Chester church has gained a new lease of life as a quirky holiday let after more than a century of worship came to an end four years ago.

The Little Tin Chapel, in Whipcord Lane, otherwise known as the Sealand Road United Reformed Church, the city’s only tin chapel, held its final service in May 2011 and was put up for auction in a fairly sorry state.

The Edge family from North Wales spotted the ‘for sale’ sign while walking on the adjacent canal. For mum and dad, Julia and Malcolm, and their two grown-up children Amy and Joe, it was the start of a dream.

Julia said: “We come to Chester a lot. We said to ourselves ‘Don’t be silly, why would we want to buy a tin church?’. We looked at it again and it hadn’t sold at auction and we were drawn back to it.”

The family bought the church for an undisclosed sum and then began a ‘Grand Designs’-style renovation over ‘a couple of years’ which involved replacing the corrugated tin with a brand new metal shell sourced from a company in Birmingham.

Loads of insulation was packed into a double skinned structure because other tin church owners – they do exist – had complained about being ‘freezing in winter and boiling in summer’.

Victorian pine flooring was reclaimed from a church in Anglesey. A log burner was installed and all the mod cons including internet access. But original features remain such as the stained glass arched windows throughout.

Amy and Joe, both creative types, loved working on their first restoration project and learned a lot even though it proved challenging at times. Julia says the use of ‘traditional materials with a modern twist’ really worked.

The holiday let went up online last October and the bookings haven’t stopped with many guests here to visit friends and family. People say the large open plan living area is cosy and yet the building still retains the serene ambience it enjoyed as a place of worship.

Locals, including former members of the congregation who moved to Garden Lane Methodist Church, are delighted the chapel has survived, albeit in another guise, as many feared the plot would simply be cleared to make way for something modern and dull.

The former Victorian chapel has secure bike storage room and double doors provide access to the garden complete with a barbecue area.

The historic building, on the corner of Whipcord Lane and Catherine Street, was built in May 1909 from a flat-pack set costing £282, funded by donations from loyal churchgoers JW Clarke and JA Rigby. In today’s money, this would equate to about £55,000.

Originally supposed to be just a temporary structure, the chapel has certainly stood the test of time, surviving more than 10 decades and two world wars.

The trend of tin chapels, or tabernacles as they are also known, began after corrugated sheet iron was invented in Britain in the 1820s, and were never intended to be permanent buildings.

The Little Tin Chapel, Whipcord Lane, Chester, can be booked online through www.holidaylettings.co.uk. Prices range from £85 per night, or £68 a night for a stay of one week or more. Children aged above five welcome. No pets.

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