2011 Streak 66/365: Tin Tabernacle

2011 Streak 66/365: Cycle 16.9 miles, Time - 1hr 12min, Weather - clear blue sky 

I hadn't been out on my bike for over a week and it was lovely, once more, to have a sense of speed (not that I am in any way a fast cyclist). The problem with walking is that although it might be good for building up endurance and strengthening tendons, it doesn't raise the heart rate very much. I do not get out of breath.  

Therefore I need to balance it with something that makes you go red in the face.  Cycling will do that, especially on hills. And on a bright day, when everything is clear and fresh ( and there are not too many cars), what could be finer?  - just so long as my route avoided water!

Today's photo is of a 'tin tabernacle' in Bedmond, which interests me in all sorts of ways. 

Firstly it shows the fascination with new material and the excitement of finding different ways of using it. Corrugated iron was invented in 1828 and offered the prospect of mass produced buildings - structures that could be erected quickly and relatively cheaply. For churches this meant they could put up buildings amongst new communities and later replace them with more permanent structures.

The church also reminds me that the19th Century was the age of iron and steel and I have a romantic fascination with that. The interest goes way back. At school I can remember being told about 'iron mad' John Wilkinson, who in the 18th Century was so obsessed by the possibilities of the material that made his fortune he wanted almost everything made from it - including his coffin. I thought this wonderfully bonkers but it hooked me into the narrative of the industrial revolution and the stories of the engineers.

Of those engineers Brunel is the figure who most stirs the imagination and I can remember, as a teenager,  reading the biography by L.C.T Rolt as if it were a murder mystery - totally absorbed. Although Brunel is famous for his railways, bridges, and ships one of his lesser known achievements was designing  a prefabricated tin hospital for the Crimean war. Because it was designed with hygiene in mind there were dramatically fewer deaths from infection than there were at the hospital in Scutari. It was thus part of the evidence used to change attitudes to hospital care.  

To me that is all of a piece with this church. They are connected by time, technology and a similar purpose to make something functional, but with a limited life span. Brunel's hospital was quickly destroyed but the wonder of the tin tabernacles is that a number still survive and one (St Michael And All Angels' Church, Hythe) has been listed. They were not designed to last for so long.

There is a surprising amount of interest in these buildings: a book,  with its website, and a gallery of rather dramatic pictures. So that is enough reason to celebrate my local example.