[Magdalen] Disused.

[Roger Stokes]

On 16/09/2017 18:21, Cantor03--- via Magdalen wrote:
> Abandoned and picturesquely decaying churches have been common
> in Europe, perhaps no where more frequently than in the UK mostly
> secondary to the ravages of the Reformation.

The Reformation led to the loss of many of the great abbeys in this 
country. However the falling into disuse of parish churches is due to 
other factors, notably the lack of congregations to maintain them. This 
could have been villages becoming depopulated due to changes of farming 
methods such as landowners discovering that sheep were more profitable 
and needed fewer people to care for them than arable farming required in 
pre-mechanisation days. In towns a different situation applied. The 
model was still for a priest and a parish caring for a relatively small 
population just as in rural areas but in towns the concentration of 
people meant numerous very small parishes. Just look at Norwich for the 
number of ancient churches there are there, many of which have now been 
repurposed for other uses.

In this small town of Bedford we had medieval churches within a 
quarter-mile of each other Three were closed in the 1970's - one became 
the local Polish language Catholic church, another an archaeological 
centre while the third was a hall for a local girls' school but is now, 
I believe, unused after the closure of the school through amalgamation 
with another girls' school under the same ownership. It is still argued, 
with some justification, that we have at least one church too many.

Roger