# Petworth Chapel, West Sussex - March 2017



## Brewtal (Sep 19, 2017)

I have finally managed to sort through my pics and get the rest uploaded. Nothing like a broken car and not being able to go out exploring to give you a kick up the arse! 

I visited this little chapel back in March when I was checking out a few other places in the area, and to be honest I had completely forgotten about these pics. It is a cute little place so figured I'd post them up anyway.

There isn't much history about the place, and the ownership is unknown.


Copied and pasted from an article written in 2013 on Midhurst and Petworth Observer

"For decades, people have been left perplexed by the mysteries surrounding the ownership of the Horsham Road cemetery chapel, in Petworth. The building has been a controversial and contentious issue for years, with no authorities stepping forward to claim responsibility for the chapel. This has been worsened by the lack of documented proof. Having been left in an abandoned state for years, Petworth’s town council has now proposed to demolish the building if no-one comes forward to claim ownership of it. 

The building is suffering severe structural failure and the council has voiced concerns over the possible collapse of the roof. The need to take action on the chapel has increased every year, driven as much by health and safety concerns as a desire to conserve it. More than ten years ago a sum of money was put aside by Chichester District Council, Petworth Parish Council and the Leconfield Estates to repair what was at the time a relatively-safe building, but for various reasons, this never progressed. The chapel today still does not fall within the remit of either Petworth’s town council, or church, St Mary the Virgin. Spokesmen for both have been unable to confirm ownership or give specific historical details relating to the building."









































Thanks for looking!


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## Sam Haltin (Sep 19, 2017)

That's a nice looking chapel. Worth having it renovated. Someone must own it though because someone a long time ago built it. But if the council does demolish it what happens to the graveyard? Some of those graves must be hundreds of years old.


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## HughieD (Sep 19, 2017)

Love a bit of ecclesiastical decay. Great set sir...


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## smiler (Sep 19, 2017)

Nice One Brewtal, Thanks


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## The Wombat (Sep 22, 2017)

Some really nicely composed images there, can tell you've put some thought into them
Nice work


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## Dirus_Strictus (Sep 23, 2017)

Hugh Jorgan said:


> Worth having it renovated. Someone must own it though because someone a long time ago built it. But if the council does demolish it what happens to the graveyard? Some of those graves must be hundreds of years old.



Renovate and then what do you do with it? Courses of action depend on two criteria - 1/ The graveyard is defunct, and there are no living relatives of the burials who hold deeds to the plots. 2/ Families of the original burials can 'open' the graves for internment of cremated ashes. In the case of 1/; the well accepted practise is to demolish derelict chapels, collect the bone fragments and place in a communal grave and turn the area into a park/garden of remembrance for the local community - placing the readable gravestones around the perimeter walls. In 2/; if suitable, the original chapel is turned into into a shelter for visiting family members. Sadly; in the case of defunct graveyards, the morons of the modern world tend to destroy and deface any open building on these sites and it is not much better in graveyards that can only receive burials from family members of the original deed holder. All these chapels were built down to a price, they are now very old and have had little or no maintenance over recent years. Knowing this place well (a friend is about to publish a book on monumental masonry and this is one of the graveyards I photographed for him), it is in a very poor state and it would be a pity to waste money, that could be better spent putting the actual graveyard to rights, on this building.


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## titimo82 (Sep 23, 2017)

well done...thanks for uploading


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