They can often be enormous, ornate buildings which are the focal point of communities up and down the country.
But as these pictures show, not all churches are quite so domineering over their surrounding landscapes.
Perched on a small grassy mound, in the middle of a farm yard, on the outskirts of Malmesbury, Wiltshire, sits the smallest ‘in service’ church in Britain.
Measuring just 13ft by 11ft, Bremilham Church has all the appearances of a ‘Monopoly House’ and is dwarfed by neighbouring farm buildings.
Inside there’s scarcely room for a congregation larger than ten, seating for just four on one tiny pew and no room for an altar.
But despite it’s diminutive size this tiny little church still manages to draw quite a crowd and just having a service at all is quite an achievement.
It was only when the present farm owners arrived that the tiny church finally made it into the Guinness Book of Records.
For many years it was used for storing turkey's by the local farmer. But once the Collins family came along and bought the neighbouring farm, they cleaned it out, got a Bishop to bless it and it became constituted as a little church.
Bindy Collins, who helped put Bremilham Church back on the map, said:
'We have to pay for the upkeep of the church. It’s in the deeds of the farm, but we like to keep it as a church.
'Both of our children were christened there. My youngest grandchild was christened there in 1992 and my husband buried there.
'There was a large church here originally but it was pulled down in the early 1800’s and this one was built, but very much smaller.
'But why it was pulled down, we don’t know and nobody knows, it’s not in any church records.'
From what is known, it seems the tiny church is all that’s left of the village of Bremilham, which dropped off the map in the 1600s, and the Parish of Bremilham, which disappeared into the parish of Foxley in the 1980s.
Ms Collins said: 'We’re all that’s left of the village of Bremilham and the Parish of Bremilham was never very big it was practically just this farm.'
The Rogation Sunday Service is held at Bremilham Church on the Sixth Sunday of Easter.
St Trillo’s Chapel in Rhos on Sea, which still holds weekly services measure 3.3m by 4m (10.8ft x 13.12ft) and is Britain’s second smallest church.
But as these pictures show, not all churches are quite so domineering over their surrounding landscapes.
Perched on a small grassy mound, in the middle of a farm yard, on the outskirts of Malmesbury, Wiltshire, sits the smallest ‘in service’ church in Britain.
Measuring just 13ft by 11ft, Bremilham Church has all the appearances of a ‘Monopoly House’ and is dwarfed by neighbouring farm buildings.
Inside there’s scarcely room for a congregation larger than ten, seating for just four on one tiny pew and no room for an altar.
But despite it’s diminutive size this tiny little church still manages to draw quite a crowd and just having a service at all is quite an achievement.
It was only when the present farm owners arrived that the tiny church finally made it into the Guinness Book of Records.
For many years it was used for storing turkey's by the local farmer. But once the Collins family came along and bought the neighbouring farm, they cleaned it out, got a Bishop to bless it and it became constituted as a little church.
Bindy Collins, who helped put Bremilham Church back on the map, said:
'We have to pay for the upkeep of the church. It’s in the deeds of the farm, but we like to keep it as a church.
'Both of our children were christened there. My youngest grandchild was christened there in 1992 and my husband buried there.
'There was a large church here originally but it was pulled down in the early 1800’s and this one was built, but very much smaller.
'But why it was pulled down, we don’t know and nobody knows, it’s not in any church records.'
From what is known, it seems the tiny church is all that’s left of the village of Bremilham, which dropped off the map in the 1600s, and the Parish of Bremilham, which disappeared into the parish of Foxley in the 1980s.
Ms Collins said: 'We’re all that’s left of the village of Bremilham and the Parish of Bremilham was never very big it was practically just this farm.'
The Rogation Sunday Service is held at Bremilham Church on the Sixth Sunday of Easter.
St Trillo’s Chapel in Rhos on Sea, which still holds weekly services measure 3.3m by 4m (10.8ft x 13.12ft) and is Britain’s second smallest church.
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