Dilapidated chapel amongst Britain’s 10 most endangered buildings

A Catholic cemetery chapel has been added to the Victorian Society’s 2026 top 10 list of endangered buildings.

St Michael’s Chapel is a Grade II listed constructing positioned in Sheffield’s City Road Cemetery and was inbuilt 1898. The chapel has been unused for a while and is in a dilapidated and unstable state.

According to the Victorian Society, it is just certainly one of many such chapels which have fallen into disrepair and neglect. In 2009 the group conducted a national survey to focus on the difficulty, nevertheless little has been done to rectify the situation.

Many chapels aren’t any longer in use and don’t even have clear custodians.

In the case of St Michael’s there may be currently no clear plan to resolve the numerous issues with the constructing. The condition of the roof is incredibly poor, with blue sheets getting used to cover a few of the gaps within the tiling. The growth of vegetation throughout the stonework of the constructing has compromised its structural integrity.

The Victorian Society said “urgent motion” is required to repair not only St Michael’s but many other such buildings up and down the country.

Last yr’s endangered buildings list included Edgerton Cemetery Chapel in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire. The chapel, in addition to suffering years of neglect, had also been the topic of arson attacks.

A collapsed roof and uncontrolled vegetation left the constructing “a tragic spoil”. In March of this yr a fence was erected across the spoil for safety purposes and a survey conducted to estimate the associated fee of repair and maintenance works. Both restoration and demolition are being considered.

Griff Rhys Jones, President of the Victorian Society, said of St Michael’s, “This is a tragic story. People are still dying. Cemeteries are getting over full. We need space to bury our dead. And yet we now have so many decaying and neglected Chapels of Rest on our books.

“A report comes. It is in a poor state. The roof is getting dangerous. But reports should be a call to arms. We still value proper burial. We all want proper respect. Some of that value should be was motion to maintain this advantageous and leading example of a garden cemetery alive and well. The graves and the Catholic community deserve no less.”