Action call to protect disused twin chapels

The Victorian Society, the national charity campaigning for the Victorian and Edwardian historic environment, has called for the twin chapels to be restored.

A society spokesman said yesterday: "The listed chapels have stood empty for many years and are now in an advanced state of dereliction.

"Both have been targeted by vandals in the past, and holes in the roof mean the decay gets worse with every rainfall."

A churches conservation adviser for the Victorian Society, Edmund Harris, said: "We are calling on Kirklees Council to mark the chapels' 150th anniversary by securing the future of these splendid buildings.

"The cemetery chapels are an important part of Dewsbury's social and religious history and should be restored."

He said such chapels are notoriously hard to find new uses for.

"But that's not to say it can't be done; the two chapels at Batley cemetery have now reopened as a successful community centre and internet caf."

The nonconformist and Anglican chapels at the Dewsbury cemetery in Temple Road were designed by Jeremiah Marriott and Son in 1859.

They were recently nominated for the Victorian Society's Top Ten Endangered Buildings campaign.

The Dewsbury Cemetery Action Group, which has campaigned for the buildings since 1997, wants to see one chapel back in use for funerals and services and the other converted to a small visitor centre and caf.

Last year Kirklees Council invited proposals for eight disused chapels in Kirklees. A firm of architects drew up a plan for possible renovation and re-use of chapels at Dewsbury, Cleckheaton, Liversedge and at Heckmondwike.

The authority has been looking at options for the chapels for some time but has estimated that it would cost more than 2m to renovate and maintain the eight that are disused.