Chapel with operational graveyard to be sold at auction

The new owners of Coxall Baptist Church will have to allow access to the graves outside

A former Baptist chapel has been put up for auction, but buyers have been told the graveyard must remain in use.

Coxall Baptist Church in Shropshire has been given a guide price of £25,000 and is due to be sold on 28 April.

Auctioneers Halls said it had been put up for sale by the Welsh Baptist Union Corporation because its ageing congregation had become too small.

The chapel building itself consists of only two rooms and has no water, electricity or drainage for toilets.

Louise Preece, the company's Head Of Rural Professional Services, said she typically saw at least three church or chapel auctions a year, usually because of declining congregations.

But she said it was less common for them to have operational graveyards or cemeteries.

The building consists of a chapel and a back room

Coxall Baptist Church, which is in Bucknell, comes with conditions which compel the owners to allow "reasonable access" to the cemetery and to keep it in a good condition.

The conditions also state the owners must allow new graves to be opened up for a handful of people who have already booked a plot there and to allow existing graves to be reopened for family members of those buried there.

Also included is a requirement to allow funeral services to take place at the time of burial.

There are currently three people on a list to be buried in the graveyard outside the chapel

Mrs Preece said buildings such as this were typically turned into studios, storage, or community space.

She also said that despite its size and the conditions, she had received a "good number" of inquiries.