Janet As I'm sure you know the UK is full of 'lovely old churches' - each of them costs a great deal of money to maintain the structure, and as church congregations fall steadily there is really no case to be made for that expenditure. If the numbers in the congregation fall beyond a critical mass their spiritual needs are catered for in another nearby church, maybe in the next town, and the land sold off to generate income which can be used to bolster up church activity elsewhere. Robert -----Original Message----- From: monmouthshire-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:monmouthshire-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of JANLWH@aol.com Also, why would they tear down a lovely old Baptist church?