This poor building is the Methodist Church in Higham Ferrers which was built in 1902 / 03 by architect Thomas Dyer, over the years I have watched it fall further and further into disrepair. I can never understand why empty buildings have their windows smashed and I would have loved to see these ones from the inside, with the light shining through them. I made some enquiries but sadly the building is now in such a dangerous state that it is impossible to view the interior and apparently everything that could be stripped out has been stripped by those that prey upon empty buildings. The former congregation now worship in Rushden and have been caught in a difficult situation. They tried over the course of many years to raise the funds to have the necessary repairs made to this church and now it is too late. Apparently they hope to sell their church in Rushden which will release the funds to demolish the Higham Ferrers church building. The site will be used to build a modern, multipurpose place of worship which will also have spaces for community use.
Plans for demolition were first agreed in 2004 and there seems to be an artists impression of what the proposed replacement church building might look like on the Making Hope A Certainty website
There are some interesting facts about the Methodist Circuit and the plans for the new church which was recorded on the Rushden Research website in 2007.
You can read an article by The Victorian Society about the demolition plans and the controversy it raised in 2008 by following the link
There is an entry in the Directory of British Architects for Thomas Dyer 1872 - 1908 born in Wiltshire but resident in Northampton in the 1900's
Interesting. This is a stunning opportunity to build a striking building that will blend with the very important HF vernacular architecture. Its most important that the new design should not refer to the odd gothic insertion into the village that it will replace. Sadly looking at the financial figures I dont believe they have realistically costed the "features" that this building will need to make it a prized building. Its just going to be a rather dull community centre with a second rate bit of window art. Shame.
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