PARISH CHURCHES? how do we keep our - Ecclesiological Society

9
Speech
by Dr Simon Thurley, Chief Executive of English Heritage
The following speech was given by Dr
Thurley, Chief Executive of English Heritage,
on 11 September 2003, at the annual
conference of Diocesan Advisory Committees
(DACs). The Ecclesiological Society is grateful
for permission to publish this speech. Its
inclusion should not be taken to indicate
agreement by Dr Thurley with the other
contents of this booklet.
Mine heritage is unto me as a lion in the forest;
it crieth against me, therefore have I hated it.
J
EREMIAH WAS NOT, OF COURSE, ACTUALLY
talking about what we now know as our ‘heritage’,
but I thought it sounded like the exasperated
sentiment expressed by some church people today. Yet,
as we all know only too well, this frustration is more than
evenly balanced by a huge amount of sympathy and love
for historic places of worship within and beyond
congregations, that can become equally vociferous in
defending the preservation of England’s parish churches.
But why do people care about preservation so much?
Is it an innate conservatism, a deep-seated respect for the
past combined with a fear for the future? Is it theological
respect for the beauty of holiness? Is it sentimentality? Do
we actually agree on what the ‘heritage of places of
worship’ really means? Or should we accept that it can
mean different things to different people?
I think it is vital that we make an effort to #nd out, or at
least create the means to de#ne, such signi#cance, because
that must be the starting point for managing the precious
stock of historic churches that have come down to us. As
nearly everyone here works within the Church of
England, I shall drop the politically correct term ‘places of
worship’ and say churches, but I am actually thinking of
the entire range of ecclesiastical buildings, including those
of the non-Christian faiths and modern, yet-to-be listed
buildings. For although the urge to protect more recent
buildings might be differently motivated to that used to
defend the ubiquitous medieval rural parish church, the
outcome is the same. It is what I have termed the virtuous
circle. If people understand their building, they will value
it; by valuing it, they will want to look after it; in caring for
it, they will help others enjoy it. From enjoyment of the
historic environment comes a greater thirst to understand
it and the circle begins again.
We already have a great army of carers – including of
course all of you sitting here – as well as a great wealth of
knowledge that ranges from experts on speci#c aspects of
churches, right through to the kind soul who will sit in
the church on a Sunday afternoon to give whoever enters
a potted history of the building. But what about using the
church and so ensuring its future?
My starting point is a personal and a professional belief
in the fundamental importance of England’s churches.
These buildings are frequently at the geographical,
spiritual, visual and historic centre of our towns and
villages. With their graveyards, rectories, vicarages and
parish halls they embody the social memory of
communities. They are the only place where the lives of
ordinary people are celebrated in gravestones, monuments
and the registers of births marriages and deaths. They are
buildings created by the communities in which they lie for
the people who live there. They are also of course
frequently the most beautiful buildings in their locality
displaying craftsmanship in wood, stone and metalwork of
a quality that few secular buildings can aspire too. Their
artistic worth is almost as important as their social and
historic value. But most of all they are living communities
of like-minded people practising an ancient faith that is
still a powerful force in the modern world. They are
buildings put up over the last thousand years still broadly
used for the same purpose; there are few structures that
can claim to have had such continuous use. I probably
didn’t need to say all that as I guess that most of you will
agree with my views...butIwanted to make it clear
where I was coming from.
I also hardly need to say that these precious buildings
are under threat. Much of what the Archbishops’
Commission on Redundant Churches, the Bridges report,
said in 1960 sounds familiar today. I am not quite
convinced of the Churches Conservation Trust’s view,
expressed in its last annual report, that the next wave of
redundancies will lead to ‘the loss of outstanding
ecclesiastical buildings second only to that which occurred
during the Reformation’. But I am certainly convinced by
their wish to start to discuss it now. That debate should
not be about what to do with churches that have become
redundant, but more importantly what is needed to be
done now to keep living parish churches alive and used, to
prevent them becoming surplus to requirements.