Coldfair
Green is the largest village in the parish of
Knodishall, which has its medieval parish church
about a mile to the west. The local playgroup
meets in a green tin tabernacle building, which
was originally erected as St Luke's mission
church by the parish of Leiston. The local record
office holds details of their baptisms from 1911,
which seems a likely date for the construction of
this building. Tin tabernacles, which are of
course made of corrugated iron not tin, were
bought as construction kits and erected by local
labour, usually the congregation of the church. I
couldn't see a manufacturer's plate from the
road, but it may well have been the work of the
Leiston foundry, or possibly Boulton & Paul
in Norwich who were one of the major producers of
tin tabernacle kits. There were once thousands of
them all over Britain, and a few hundred still
survive. Of course, most, like St Luke, are no
longer in use as churches.
Simon Knott, July 2010
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