The news that the old corrugated Mission Church in Bailbrook Lane is going to be saved from dereliction brings more comment. This time from Robert Coles.
“So nice that the Bailbrook tin tabernacle is to be looked after and used. I believe there was once a similar but smaller chapel at Bathampton, on the corner of Down lane and the Warminster Road.
I like corrugated iron and am fascinated by the iron that tops the Beckford Road rail bridge that is passed without a second look. Really hefty stuff.
I was told that much of the corrugated iron was made in a factory that was by the side of the Feeder Canal in Bristol and exported throughout the world.”
Robert also has something to say about Bath being “an inconvenient city”………
“It mystifies me how the thousands of visitors manage when they have a pressing need. I have done a quick mental count and I reckon that there are around twenty closed toilet sites in Bath.
The photo is of the much-missed Terrace Walk toilets at Bog Island. The facilities included a cloakroom with an attendant where you could leave items. I left my Tuba there, some say that is where it should have stayed. “
Meanwhile, Maeve Hercod writes:
“There is also a ‘tin tabernacle’ on the road to Bitton, currently used as a kindergarten and the most wonderful example is a Charterhouse on the Mendips.
If you are lucky enough to see inside it’s a terrific example of Arts and Crafts woodwork, lovingly done for the Cornish miners who were the last to work at the nearby lead mines. Well worth the detour.”
Thank you to Mark Bishop of the Bath-based Big State Theatre for the following:
“Hi, I have just seen your piece on the Tin Church.
This amazing building appears in a short film Julie and I of Big State Theatre made for a Street piece we took to Athens.”
Great stuff – thanks Mark.
