tempus fugit

By ceridwen

United under corrugation

I've blipped another, but more cherished, 'tin tabernacle' before. This one's in Fishguard and I took a picture of it today before the rain set in.

These early prefabs, dating from the invention of corrugated iron in 1829, were flung up all over Britain and also exported to the colonies, wherever a cheap and simple structure was urgently needed: most often chapels but also hospitals, schools and community halls. I like to imagine the flatpack arriving in some distant outpost of the empire where bemused locals would puzzle over the enigmatic instructions on how to erect it.

I haven't been able to find anything about the history of this one but presumably it was originally a chapel. Later it became Unity Hall, the local Labour Party meeting place, and then a youth club. Now it seems to be lying empty again, looking abandoned and the worse for wear. But with a lick of paint and a refit inside it could be reincarnated as... what? Any suggestions?

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