Campaigners trying to save a little derelict chapel where the famous Tolpuddle Martyrs met have just three months to raise £226,000.
The Grade II listed building was originally a Methodist chapel where the agricultural labourers who inspired Britain’s trade union movement used to meet and pray.
A group of locals in Tolpuddle, Dorset, banded together to form a preservation trust in 2014 and bought the 200-year-old cob barn just in time to save it from collapse.
They plan to restore it as a ‘quiet place’ where people can ‘reconnect’ with the six martyrs and think about their struggle for better pay and conditions for workers.
The Grade II listed Methodist chapel (shown), which was built by two of the Tolpuddle Martyrs
In 1833, six agricultural labourers – George Loveless, James Brine, James Hammett, James Loveless, John Standfield and Thomas Standfield – founded a friendly society to protest against the gradual lowering of their pay
Andrew McCarthy, chairman for the Tolpuddle Old Chapel Trust, is pictured inside the crumbling remains of the chapel
But they need to raise £226,000 by July in order to secure £329,000 that has been earmarked by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) to support the project.
As well as the HLF grant, so far the Tolpuddle Old Chapel Trust has secured £105,000 towards the total costs of £660,000.
In 1833, six agricultural labourers – George Loveless, James Brine, James Hammett, James Loveless, John Standfield and Thomas Standfield – founded a friendly society to protest against the gradual lowering of their pay.
They were convicted for administering an unlawful oath and sentenced to seven years transportation to Australia.
But their conviction caused public outrage and after a national campaign and a petition signed by 800,000 people, they were pardoned two years later.
Every year the TUC organises the Tolpuddle Martyrs Festival and Rally to celebrate their story.
A group of locals in Tolpuddle, Dorset, banded together to form a preservation trust in 2014 and bought the 200-year-old cob barn just in time to save it from collapse (pictured are the plans for its refurbishment)
Campaigners need to raise £226,000 by July in order to secure £329,000 that has been earmarked by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) to support the project
The building became redundant in 1844 and was then used as a small barn and stable for the next 150 years, but it had fallen into disrepair and is on Historic England’s Buildings At Risk register
A sycamore tree in the centre of the village is famous as their meeting place, but few who attend the rallies realise that before the meetings under the tree, most of the men met regularly in this little chapel.
The modest structure is believed to have been built in 1818 by two of the martyrs – George Loveless and Thomas Standfield – on a tiny patch of land they leased next to Standfield’s home.
At least four of the six martyrs were Methodist and would have met at this simple one-room chapel.
It became redundant in 1844 and was then used as a small barn and stable for the next 150 years, but it had fallen into disrepair and is on Historic England’s Buildings At Risk register.
The trust managed to buy it from a local farmer in 2015 and carried out emergency repairs to the cob walls and made the building wind and watertight with funds from English Heritage.
TOCT want to restore the chapel as simply as possible, reinstating the original entrance, reopening three bricked up windows and adding a small extension that will make it more usable.
The Grade II listed building was originally a Methodist chapel where the agricultural labourers who inspired Britain’s trade union movement used to meet and pray
The modest structure is believed to have been built in 1818 by two of the martyrs – George Loveless and Thomas Standfield – on a tiny patch of land they leased next to Standfield’s home
Andrew McCarthy, chairman of Tolpuddle Old Chapel Trust (TOCT), said: ‘We’re not restoring it exactly like it would have been in 1818, but renovating it and preserving the best features which can be saved, particularly the 200-year-old cob walls which are a rare example of a 19th century chapel.
‘We are trying to create a wonderful place where people can come in and get some sort of an emotional reconnect to the times of the Dorsetshire Labourers, their harsh living and working conditions, and their simple building techniques.
‘We see this old chapel as telling the story of the “missing years” from 1818 to 1834, when these Dorsetshire Labourers learnt about social injustice through their own living and working experiences as well as their study of the bible and worship within the walls of their own little chapel.
‘Without this chapel, there possibly would have been no arrest, no trial in the court in Shire Hall, Dorchester.
‘They certainly wouldn’t have been known at the Tolpuddle Martyrs. Tolpuddle would just be another tiny Dorset village and Shire Hall would have less of a story to tell today.’
The Grade II listed building was originally a Methodist Chapel where agricultural labourers who played an important role in Britain’s trade union history used to meet and pray