The Church in the Woods

I'd seen images of this tin church on Blip and elsewhere, but only recently realised that is was actually a short detour off one of my alternative routes home from work. As the evenings are now starting to draw in, opportunities for using it as an excuse for my customary Thursday afternoon "escape from the office"  photo walk are beginning to reduce, so today I made my escape and headed off in search of it.

It was tricky to find!  The postcode directed my SatNav to a church - ok so far - unfortunately, the wrong one, though as a 12th century building may be worth a visit sometime.  Checking on Google Maps, I headed off again.  This time I sped past some woodlands and on reaching open fields realised they must have been my target. Another U-turn took me back and along a tiny country road whose turning I'd missed.  Hooray - I'm now in woods - oh look there's a ... oh I've passed it.  A final U-turn and I gingerly park up in what is little more than a clearing just off the road - and there is my target.

The church was built in 1883 to encourage the itinerant workers to attend Sunday services - they would have otherwise had a 3hr walk to the church at the other end of Bramdean Village (presumably the one at my first stop)! 

The surrounding woodland is still being worked as evidenced by piles of cut tree trunks, some dated August this year, which I came across as I walked through it on well defined tracks.  I doubt that many of these workers attend services at the little church which now only take place during the Summer months a couple of times a month.