The Isle of Wight Society recently gave its top award for conservation to the Old Tin Hut, Rookley.

Few of these corrugated iron buildings survive nationally, as they were seen as temporary when they were constructed in the mid to late 1800s, and often replaced by more permanent buildings when funds permitted.

Scroll through the photos above

Corrugated iron was first developed in the 1820s, the corrugations making the sheets of metal stronger.

When hot-dip galvanising was invented in 1837, the problem of rust was overcome and corrugated iron became very popular for quickly covering timber structures.

"Tin” was a misnomer, as it was never used for buildings.

Church building increased rapidly during the Victorian era, as the population rose.

Often non-conformist chapels were built in villages with no Church of England church and attendance at these chapels meant that the parishioners did not have to make a lengthy walk to a C of E church. So often a Chapel of Ease, or daughter church, would be established.

Rookley St John’s Church was a chapel of ease to St George’s Church, Arreton.

It was built in 1862 and funded by Richard Woodward of Highwood, Rookley.

He was the owner of the adjacent Highwood Brickyard.

It was a “flat-pack” church, supplied by Suffolk manufacturers Boulton and Paul, probably costing around £100.

It would have been constructed by the parishioners themselves.

The inside was clad in tongue and groove softwood for some warmth.

Highwood Brickyard provided the bricks for the plinth at the bottom of the wall, and the same bricks have been used in the rebuild, now with better foundations.

Used as a church until the 1950s, it was sold to the WI, and from the 1980s became the village hall.

In 2002 a new hall was built, so the church became a builders’ yard.

Work started in 2021 to turn it into a home.

Everything that could be saved was saved and reused, such as floorboards, internal wood cladding and bricks.

The window style was copied in modern joinery, as very few frames could be salvaged.

Old photographs showed it once had a bell tower, so a replica was made. Until a bell can be found, an owl box was built in the replacement bell tower – occupied this year by jackdaws.

The work has been completed skilfully by the owners, and The Old Tin Hut makes an excellent but quiet landmark statement as one enters Rookley from Newport.

At Blackwater you will have already passed another ex-chapel of ease to Arreton Church, St Barnabas’ Church, and possibly stopped off to purchase your weekly greengroceries.

Travel further south from Rookley to Chale and just before Blackgang you pass another tin tabernacle.

This was a former Baptist chapel, which opened in 1895, and was registered for marriages in 1900.

Now a holiday cottage, it is another reminder that “flat–pack” is not a new invention.

These “tin” churches must not be forgotten. They are part of our cultural heritage, just like the old stone parish churches.