Would you buy a church for £45,000? The new holy properties on the market

A growing list of historic churches facing demolition have been made available to the highest bidder – these are the offers

The estate agent’s listing seems too good to be true. A Grade I listed property, slapbang in the middle of the City of London, with high ceilings, 10,000 square ft of space and off-street parking. The catch? You might get Dick Whittington fans poking around your garden.  
The property, which has just been put up for sale (price on application), is the St Michael Paternoster Royal, a 13th-century church said to be the resting place of Richard Whittington, the famous Lord Mayor and pantomime hero.
The church building has actually been used as offices since WWII, when it was saved from demolition. Now the church is on the market, it joins a long list of historic churches which have also been made available to the highest bidder. Here are some holy homes currently on offer…
Offers in the region of £500,000; 10,221 sq ft
Enjoy far-reaching views over the English Channel from this Grade II listed building, which stands at the foot of the cliff between West Hill Road and Undercliff. The church was built in 1953-61 to designs by brothers Sir Giles and Adrian Gilbert Scott, replacing a previous church dating from 1834 which was destroyed in the Second World War. It consists of a five-bay nave, chancel, prominent west tower, vestry and extension containing various ancillary rooms and was built of buff brick on a concrete frame with sandstone dressings. The site also includes the small churchyard at the top of the cliff and an area of land to the east of the building.
The building has structural issues, which is why the church was officially closed for worship in 2018. 
Offers in excess of £45,000; 1151 sq ft
A Grade II listed building in an appealing, rural setting with good access to a main road. The chapel dates back to the 12th century, but was largely rebuilt in 1865–67 by the leading local church architect of the time, Thomas Nicholson. Features include decorative stained glass windows, a local sandstone exterior and ashlar dressings. The garden extends to around 0.4 acres and has no burials. 
Abandoned for many years, the building is now in urgent need of modernisation. The roof has tarpaulin over it and the site has no utility services, apart from electricity, which is currently inoperative.
£275,000; 32,234 sq ft
This charming large Anglican church dates back to 1902 and is Grade II listed. It was built by Richard Bassnett Preston of Preston and Vaughan, from Accrington brick with Runcorn red sandstone dressings. Later fittings were designed by Sir Charles Archibald Nicholson and the building’s stained glass by J Powell and Archibald Keightley Nicholson. The Church provides open plan accommodation including the North Aisle, South Aisle, North East Vestry, Nave, Chancel (rising to 40ft) and Lady Chapel. 
The church closed in 2013 after it was discovered that problems with asbestos and its electrics could cost £1.5 million to resolve.
Offers in the region of £40,000; 3,735 sq ft
The Grade II Listed former church dates back to the 1820s and is set in the grounds of approximately 0.4 acres. It comes complete with chancel, nave, aisle, organ chamber and tower. The most significant historic building in the area, the church was closed for public worship in 2019. The South Hylton Metro Station is close by, as well as regular bus routes to a range of nearby towns.
The property has mains electricity, water and gas but no mains sewage or toilet.
£50,000; 65,340 sq ft
This Grade II listed church dates back to 1849-50 and was designed for the Church Commissioners by E.H. Shellard. The tower dates back to 1878. Mains services are available to the building including gas, electricity and water.
There are burials in the churchyard.
Research published in 2024 by the National Churches Trust found that 3,500 places of worship in Britain have closed since 2013 and hundreds more are facing closure.
“The closure and selling off of churches is not a new phenomenon but the rate of closure has increased in recent years,” says Rachel Morley, director of Friends of Friendless Churches, a charity which rescues neglected churches from closure or sale. “Local groups are struggling to get enough people through the door as congregations dwindle, and the costs of maintaining these buildings can be huge. According to statistics from historic England, upkeep can be between £126 million to £138 million a year.”
For Morley, it’s “heartbreaking” that these historic buildings are being “picked off one by one, to become a Slug and Lettuce [bar] or a holiday let”. “These churches are so important to the fabric of the country,” she says. “I’m not religious in any way but they have been built locally, looked after by local people and used by the community – they’re grass roots at every level. Some are highly listed buildings with 6th-century stone carvings and national artefacts.”
“Our churches and cathedrals are central to the life of this country,” says the Bishop of Ramsbury, Andrew Rumsey, one of the Church of England’s two lead bishops for church and cathedral buildings. “We want churches to remain open and in use as much as is possible.”
Morley says that anyone thinking of buying a church and turning it into their dream home should be cautious. “They often don’t have electricity and are not connected to mains water,” she says. “The cost of repairs is one thing, but then you’ve got conversion and maintenance. You may find it very hard to get planning permission. And you may find that local people aren’t happy: they don’t like visiting their dead ancestors in somebody’s front garden.”