Friends of Friendless Churches

23/08/2026

22/08/2026

St Mary Magdalene's, Caldecote is a beautiful weather-beaten church. Inside the church are some fascinating features from medieval gems to Georgian rarities.

Externally, this Hertfordshire church is a delightful patchwork of various materials. Although largely comprised of soft and crumbly clunch stone, there are also field stones, iron stone, and smatterings of brick incorporated into the fabric. However, you might notice that the church’s castellated parapet looks comparatively fresh, sharp, and clean. That’s because in 2021 we completed a £150,000 re-roofing project, which included renewing the much weathered parapet.

In the porch of the church there is a rare survival - a largely complete 15th-century holy water stoup. The stoup has a large canopy above and stands on decorative based, which is ornamented with quatrefoils. Once through the 14th-century south door, there is another fine 15th century feature. This octagonal font is adorned with four shields, foliate carving, and traceried panelling.

The interior of St Mary Magdalene's is a simple affair, with a brick floor and plain wooden benches. However, there are some delightful little gems to be discovered, such as the fragments of 14th-century stained glass in the south-westerly window. Even more intriguing are the twelve panes of decorative roundels depicting scenes from the Life of Christ in the adjacent window. These roundels aren’t stained glass or enamel, instead, they are glass transfer painting. Glass transfer painting became fashionable in the 18th century as the printing industry boomed and was very popular with ladies of the aristocracy.

St Mary Magdalene’s, Caldecote came into our care in 1982, having been declared redundant in 1978, and is now open daily for visitors.

Images:
1, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10
2, 3, 4, 7,

20/08/2026

In 2025, we were able to save and repair St Doged’s, Llanddoged, Denbighshire, preserving it for future generations. However, this was only possible thanks to the generous support of our donors.

A double-naved late medieval church, St Doged’s has a pre-Oxford Movement interior, arranged much like a Nonconformist chapel, with pews facing the double-decker pulpit. St Doged's closed in 2017 and was trialled for several years as a ‘Pilgrim Church’ by the Church in Wales - an enterprise that sadly didn’t work.

In 2023, our Trustees walked through the door and were determined to save this historically significant church and, when the church finally came into our care, the contract for the repairs was awarded to The Natural Building Centre.Our programme of repairs focused on fixing the slate roof, repointing the external walls, reinstalling the roof-light, redecorating the interior, and conserving the woodwork and painted canvases.

St Doged’s, Llanddoged was one of the four churches that we repaired with the funds raised during our 2024-25 match funding campaign. Now, in 2026, we are trying to raise money to repair two more churches, with our ‘A Victorian Revival’ match funding campaign.

With an expected combined repair bill of over £1 million, we are hoping to raise the funds to repair St Tyfi’s, Llandyfeisant in Carmarthenshire and St Helen’s, Biscathorpe in Lincolnshire. For this campaign, a generous donor has agreed to make your support go twice as far, matching every pound you give, pound for pound, up to £500,000.

This campaign runs until 31st March 2027, or until we reach our target. Every donation, legacy and grant we receive will be doubled. Whatever you can manage will be put to work the day it arrives. Please follow the link below to find out more and support our work: https://friendsoffriendlesschurches.org.uk/news/match-funding/

* Please note that we were waiting to reinstate the canvases before finishing the redecoration of the surrounding wall. Therefore, please be assured that this work will take place very soon.

18/08/2026

Through its sumptuous collection of 19th-century stained glass, this rural medieval church has unlikely connections to both royalty and Parliament.

St Michael's church in Castlemartin is a large medieval church that was restored in the 19th century by the architect David Brandon on the commission of the Earl of Cawdor. From the 1850s onwards, the Gothic windows of this Pembrokeshire church were filled with glorious stained glass from a variety of Victorian Britain’s most notable producers.

The east window contains a bright and striking depiction of the Ascension by Heaton, Butler and Bayne. This window was presented by the locals in memory of Lt. Col. Francis and Lady Victoria Lambton. Lady Victoria was Queen Victoria’s god-daughter and, therefore, the stained glass windows includes a small rendering of Balmoral Castle as an ode to Lady Lambton’s royal connection.

The connection to Parliament comes through the small stained glass window in the south transept. This window is the sole survivor of a series of five windows that Hardman and Co made for the church in the early 1850s. An almost perfect imitation of medieval stained glass, this window was designed by A.W.N Pugin, the architect that designed the Houses of Parliament alongside Charles Barry. Depicting the Crucifixion, this small window is thought to be the best example of a Pugin window in any Welsh church.

In 2025-6, we carried out a series of repairs to St Michael’s church, which included the installation of a new stained-glass window in the west window of the north aisle – replacing the existing one made of unsightly sheet glass. Produced by glazier Simon Howard, this window is composed of clear and pale blue handblown cylinder glass, with the inscription ‘My peace I leave with you’ at the bottom of the lancets.

16/08/2026

On 16th August 1938, Dilys Thomas, the wife of our founder Ivor Bulmer-Thomas, died shortly after giving birth to their first child. Almost two decades later, Ivor restored St James’s church, Llangua in memory of Dilys.

In the early 1950s, this medieval Monmouthshire church had unfortunately fallen into a state of disrepair, having been damaged by vandals and suffering from a leaking roof. Determined to restore the church in the memory of his late wife, Ivor hacked back the brambles that had started to consume the building and set about repairing the roof.

After the church had been restored, Ivor set up a black plaque, with gold lettering and foliate decoration, to memorialised Dilys.
Hung on the north wall, it’s the first thing that anyone who walks inside the church will see. Three years after Ivor restored St James’s, he set up our organisation, the Friends of Friendless Churches, with the mission to save churches from demolition, decay, and unsympathetic restoration.

All these decades later and we are still saving redundant places of worship: rescuing, repairing, and preserving them for future generations. From April 2024 to May 2025, we undertook a substantial rescue project to St James’s after this church that our founder held so dear had been declared redundant and came into our care. Following that ambitious repair project, St James’s, Llangua is open daily for visitors, thanks to the generous support of our members, donors, and grant-givers.

Images:
1 - Exterior © Lily Watts
2 - Exterior Circa 1940
3 - Roof Repairs in the 1950s
4 - The memorial to Dilys
5 & 6 - Before the most recent repair project
7 - During repairs © Lily Watts
8 & 9 - After the most recent repair project
10 - Sign © Lily Watts

14/08/2026

We hope to save this vulnerable Welsh church from decay and dereliction with our ‘Victorian Revival’ match funding campaign. At the end of this month, there will be an opportunity for the public to visit the church before it is repaired.

Hidden in rolling parkland of Dinefwr in Carmarthenshire, St Tyfi's, Llandyfeisant is charming Gothic Revival estate church, serving the nearby Newton House. Although a medieval foundation, the church was almost entirely rebuilt in the 19th century by R Kyrke Pearson of Oswestry. However, a single blocked-up doorway from the medieval church does survive.

St Tyfi's has an impressive open arched-brace roof that stretches the entire length of the church and from the wall plates hangs insistently cheerful coloured bunting. For us, and the group of local volunteers that support this building, the vibrant multi-coloured bunting has become a symbol of this church’s determination to survive.

Ever since St Tyfi's was closed for regular worship in the 1960s, it has faced a series of considerable challenges. However, in the 2020s, the repair bill facing the church was becoming insurmountable for those supporting it. Accordingly, we want to work with the local community, take St Tyfi's into our ownership, and repair it - ensuring that this historically important structure survives for future generations and can serve its community.

However, with a repair bill of more than £500,000, we are depending upon the generous support of our donors. Thankfully, an anonymous donor has agreed to match every pound donated up to £500,000 - making every pound you give go twice as far. If our match funding campaign is successful, then we will be able to repair St Tyfi's, Llandyfeisant and St Helen’s, Biscathorpe - both of these churches are wonderful Victorian Gothic churches in woodland settings.

St Tyfi's, Llandyfeisant will be open on 26th and 29th of August between 10:30 and 15.00.

For more information about our match funding campaign, please follow the link below: https://friendsoffriendlesschurches.org.uk/news/match-funding/

12/08/2026

This quintessential medieval country church was almost turned into a house in the 1980s. Thankfully, we saved St Mary’s, Hardmead from the prospect of an unsympathetic domestic conversion.

Situated in the Buckinghamshire countryside, half way between Milton Keynes and Bedford, Hardmead church dates largely from the 13th and 15th centuries, being a wonderful example of Gothic architecture.

In 1966, the church was given the protection of a Grade I listing, considered to be of 'exceptional interest' for its medieval fabric and various funerary monuments - notably the 17th century monument to Roberts Catesby and the 19th century monument to Robert Shedden. Despite its historic significance, in 1982, St Mary’s was set to be sold for domestic conversion. However, with the support of the locals, we were able to prevent the sale of this medieval Gothic gem, ensuring the preservation St Mary’s for future generations.

Opposition to the unsympathetic conversion of listed churches is a central part of our mission at the Friends of Friendless Churches. We believe that such conversions almost always destroy the aesthetic value of these precious buildings and removes them from the public realm. St Mary’s, Hardmead is one of several historic churches that we have saved from unsympathetic domestic conversion across England and Wales, keeping them open for the public to use and appreciate.

10/08/2026

A fanciful Gothic Revival church, St Helen’s, Biscathorpe has sadly been losing its battle against neglect for years.

Built in 1840s, this Lincolnshire church has the most sumptuous steeple, peppered with crocketted pinnacles and ghoulish grotesques. St Helen’s is one of a handful of churches in the Lincolnshire Wolds designed by architect W. A. Nicholson, perhaps in collaboration with George Willoughby of Louth. An interesting group of churches, they are all stock-brick-and-render Gothic Revival structures, although it seems that the fabric of St Helen’s also incorporates masonry rubble, which perhaps came from the previous church on this site.

Sadly the recent period of neglect has been devastating for this charming historic church, with the ceilings close collapse, significant water ingresses, cracked and blown external render, and structural movement. With immediate risk of further rapid deterioration, St Helen’s is one of England’s most endangered Victorian buildings and, this year, we are trying to raise the money to save it from dereliction.

Along with St Tyfi’s, Llandyfeisant in Carmarthenshire, we hope to be able to restore St Helen’s, Biscathorpe with the money raised from our ‘A Victorian Revival’ match funding campaign. The combined repair bill for these two churches will be in excess of £1 million. Thus, we are delighted that this year, a generous donor has agreed to make your support go twice as far, matching every pound you give, pound for pound, up to £500,000. Every donation, legacy and grant we receive will be doubled. Please follow the link below to find out more and support our work: https://friendsoffriendlesschurches.org.uk/news/match-funding/

08/08/2026

Cote Baptist Chapel in Oxfordshire was described in the county’s 1977 edition of The Buildings of England as resembling ‘good industrial buildings of c.1800’.

Well, although this building was never industrial, it perhaps could be described as a factory of faith, with this mid 18th-century Cotswold stone chapel having a typically nonconformist utilitarian design. Built to serve the nonconformist community of this Oxfordshire village, the chapel is a simple and somewhat imposing structure, with its orderly roundheaded windows and its austere truncated gable.

This curious and domineering gable, which conceals the building’s central roof valley, greatly contributes to the chapel's supposed industrial aesthetic. However, of course, there were never any machinery or goods inside this building, instead, the interior is filled with fine mid-19th century furnishings: box pews, galleries, and a handsome pulpit.

Until 2025, the chapel had been in the care of the Historic Chapels Trust. However, due to the Trust’s financial issues, Cote Baptist Chapel was transferred into our care. The chapel is a relative rarity, being one of only twenty-nine Grade II* listed Baptist chapels in England and, therefore, thanks to the support of our members and donors, we are able to preserve this precious piece of our national history for future generations.

06/08/2026

Hidden in the walls for centuries, the two medieval effigies inside St Michael & All Angels', Llanfihangel Rogiet were discovered in 1904, having been used as mere builders' rubble in previous centuries.

Although battered and defaced, these two effigies date from the late 13th or early 14th century and commemorate John and Anna Martel, the Lord and Lady of the Manor of Llanfihangel.

Unfortunately, in the centuries after the Reformation, both the Martel Chapel and the north aisle of the church were demolished. It wasn’t until the early 20th century that the north aisle was rebuilt and it was during those works that the Martel effigies were discovered.

Today the effigies are one of the most fascinating features inside this rural Monmouthshire church. Due to its location away from the population centre of the village, St Michael & All Angels' was made redundant in 1976 and sadly fell into a state of disrepair. In 2008, we took this medieval church into our care and brought the church back to life through a series of essential repairs.