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Woodmancote church is a “tin church”, built in 1892 at the behest of the then Rector of Westbourne, the Revd. Mee, following an idea of his son Dr Mee. It is used regularly for worship twice a month. The trust deed provided that the building be used for “any meeting or other objects having in view the spiritual, intellectual, moral or social wants of professing members of the Church of England”. In 1919, the trusteeship was passed to the Churchwardens of Westbourne. In 1928 the building was licensed for Divine Worship. As to why it should have been built, whilst Woodmancote was (and still is) in a predominantly farming area, the country was in the midst of the industrial revolution with the swing to Evangelism, Non-conformist and Broad Church thinking. There was at that time a dramatic growth in chapels and mission rooms. Clergy numbers rose by 15,000 between 1800 – 1841.
Records show that the “tin churches” were built as part of a pre-fabricated package, delivered by rail. A company called J C Humphrey of Ludgate Station, City of London and at Borough Road, East London offered for sale Churches, Chapels and Mission Rooms. There is a tin church at Bringsty Common, Herefordshire and another at Melton Constable in Norfolk (supplied by Bolton & Paul of Norwich).
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