A decorative corner of The Chapel, an antiques business in the Welsh town of Pembroke.
The future of the UK’s churches, many of them listed buildings, continues to be a major heritage issue, with recent Church of England statistics showing the fastest closure of parish churches in 70 years.
We have mentioned previously in this column churches and chapels which have opened their doors to a new congregation of antiques worshippers and here are a few more.
Original features
The Grade II-listed The Chapel is an antiques business in the centre of Pembroke which has many of the original fine features of the former 18th century Baptist chapel.
These include the ornate wooden pulpit, original plasterwork, stone mullion windows and cast iron pillars that support the large balcony.
Plenty of furniture, rugs and decorative pieces here and the garden offers statuary, staddle stones and sundials set out among the flower borders and strawberry beds.
Lots of space
An exterior view of the Cullen Antiques Centre in Aberdeenshire.
The striking striped decorative horse, pictured above, stands on the steps of the Cullen Antiques Centre with adjoining salvage yard in Cullen on the Moray Coast in Aberdeenshire.
A former Free Church of Scotland building, the centre claims to be the largest in the north-east of Scotland with 10,000 sq ft of selling stock to lose yourself in. It has a wide range of antiques and vintage pieces including old diving kit, clocks, luggage, art, ceramics, books and prints.
Former chapel
The Old Chapel Antiques Centre in the village of Tutbury, near Burton-on-Trent in Staffordshire, hosts 25 dealers over a packed two floors selling all manner of stock, from 1930s packaging to vintage bags, records and jewellery.
Business soared
The distinctive pink exterior of the former Soar Chapel in the mid-Glamorgan village of Penderyn, now home to Penderyn Antiques.
In 2015 the Penderyn Furniture Company founded by Leigh Rossiter and son-in-law Daniel Bryan morphed into Penderyn Antiques in the eponymous village on the edge of the Brecon Beacons near Aberdare in mid-Glamorgan.
So successful has this antiques furniture business been in the former Soar Chapel, sourcing, restoring and selling a variety of styles from Welsh antique furniture to mid-century, that it has expanded to two warehouse showrooms near the village and increased its online business.
