MADE in England in 2013, a simple wood and corrugated-iron church — of the kind known as a “tin tabernacle” — now stands in the small town of Roveredo, in Switzerland, where it is believed to be the only example. It was originally imported to house an Anglican chaplaincy linked to a luxury hotel in the Alps.
After years of neglect, it has been taken on by two artists, who will use it to store their work, mount exhibitions, and welcome fellow artists.
Historic England says that the first tin tabernacle to be built in London, using corrugated-ron as cladding, was made in 1855. Others had been erected earlier elsewhere in England, and more were made for army camps and for export. In a count in September 2022, Historic England reckoned that 86 iron churches remained in England, of which 20 are listed (Out of the Question, 13 October 2017).
The nickname “tin tabernacle” is believed to have originated with soldiers at the Aldershot military camp, where such a building had been erected in 1856.
Manufacturers of wood-framed iron buildings were to be found around Britain. Several were based in London, including Humphreys of Knightsbridge, from whom Colonel Hillyard, chairman of the building committee for the Axenfels chaplaincy in Morschach, Canton Schwyz, bought the church. It stood originally on a mountainside above the Lake of Lucerne, by the entrance to the Palace Hotel, Axenfels, whose owner had donated the parcel of land on which it stood.
Diane Conrad-DaubrahThe tin tabernacle at Roveredo
Wooden-framed, corrugated-iron constructions were usually erected for temporary use, and many were exported to the colonies. The catalogues of the manufacturers included not only churches, but also schools, village halls, railway stations, hospitals, and cricket pavilions. They were appreciated for their low cost, ease of assembly, dismantling, and transport, as well as their weather-resistant qualities. From the end of the 19th century, mild steel (low carbon) was used extensively. To protect the metal against corrosion, the sheets were dipped into a bath of molten zinc.
The buildings were generally put up to meet immediate needs — in isolated locations such as mining and farming settlements, new industrial areas, expanding cities in which more spaces were required for worship, or for new, fast-growing Nonconformist religious communities. Although essentially “humble”, non-permanent constructions, iron churches were not always replaced by something more permanent.
THE Axenfels structure was one of about 70 Anglican churches in Switzerland in that era. In the second half of the 19th century, up to the outbreak of the First World War, well-heeled British tourists flocked to the Alps for their favourable climate, good health, scenery, and mountains to climb. The expansion of rail travel made the long journeys easier. Visitors stayed for weeks, sometimes months, at a time.
At time when there was a marked increase in church-building, both at home and abroad, the Swiss were amenable to the construction of Church of England churches, and hoteliers were actively supportive.
Courtesy of Nick ThompsonPart of a Humphreys advertisement in the Architects’ Compendium in 1901
At first, a “chapel room” was often set aside for worship in a hotel, and sometimes accommodation for a chaplain was offered. Later, when the rooms became too small to cope with visitor numbers, hoteliers often donated land and/or money towards the building of an English church. Some of these served a year-round congregation. Others, such as Axenfels, were seasonal chaplaincies.
Depending on location and available funding, as well as the wishes of the congregations and chaplains, some churches were lavishly furnished, including the installation of high-quality stained glass from England. Many were designed by British architects, mostly in the popular Gothic Revival style, or with elements of it; others were more “alpine” in style, designed to complement their mountain surroundings.
Humphreys of Knightsbridge made the building for export in “flat packs” to Switzerland, and the church was dedicated in honour of St Mary Magdalene on 2 August 1913, one year before the First World War broke out.
The exterior of the Axenfels church was painted white, and the interior was panelled with “golden pine”, which appears not to have been painted originally. The church was simply furnished, with a wooden lectern, litany desk, and chairs for the congregation. Altar hangings were from the church furnishers Watts & Co. in London. What appears to be a small side chapel opposite the vestry was — according to a photo in the Bodleian Library archive, dated about 1925 — used to store additional seating, though no registers or plans have been found to indicate the size of the Axenfels congregation.
The hotel suffered several financial crises, and was demolished in 1947, but the church — the property of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel — was left standing. The building was bought for 5000 Swiss francs, in 1949, by the Roveredo priest Don Riccardo Ludwa, from a local Morschach group who had, in a dubious transaction, bought it from the demolition company.
The church was relocated to Roveredo, 121km away, in 1949, and arrived in Roveredo in December, in time to be re-erected for Christmas. The bell-turret was taken by a local resident to use as a rabbit hutch. At the end of December 1949, Ludwa inaugurated the “oratory hall” for young people in Roveredo.
ACCORDING to the 1949 report by the Church of England’s representative, the church measured 15.5m (nave and transepts) by 7.3m (10m to include the transepts), with a semi-circular (polygonal) apse of 5.5m. A roughly-sketched ground plan, dated August 2023, shows minor differences.
Courtesy of Nick ThompsonA page from a Humphreys catalogue shows similar designs
The sancturary of St Mary Magdalene’s would have been oriented to the east in Axenfels, but the terrain in Roveredo is sloping. Taking this into account, together with the size of the plot of land and the line of the road, the building was aligned to the south-west. The slope also necessitated a modification of the entrance by adding steps.
The property was sold to a member of the Stanga family of Roveredo in 1976, and, in December 2022, Gabriele Stanga became sole owner. In spring 2023, a Swiss couple took a long-term lease of 30 years. They will be responsible for carrying out the urgent restoration work to this “iron church, made in England“.
The artists Vera Veronesi and Daniel Höpflinger plan to renovate the former church in the name of an association: Magazzino e Magione d’Arte (MAGMA), the “House of Arts”. Alongside exhibitions, they also plan to offer space to other creative individuals, whom they intend to house in simple accommodation on the small plot of land adjoining the former church.
Connor McNeill, a conservation adviser at the Victorian Society, described the building as “a more complex example of a ‘tin tabernacle’, with transepts, polygonal apse, and gothic detailing. It is important that such a unique building should be restored and found a sustainable future use.”