St Ninian's Proprietary Chapel Restoration Appeal

**This Fundraiser was closed 2 months ago, but I have been asked for alternate ways to donate, so have re-opened it."

Donations by cheque: make payable to "The Proprietors and Friends of St Ninian's" and post to St Ninian's, Baxtergate, Whitby, North Yorkshire YO21 1BL. (Or pop into the letter box on the gate outside the building.)

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100092347110723

***Thank you to the people who have donated direct***

Unfortunately, St Ninian's has been through some turbulent times in its recent history, and the old girl now needs some TLC and re-purposing after being closed up for the past couple of years. It is hoped to make the building somewhere that people can come and see the workmanship involved, enjoy a community gathering, or just spend some time in peace and contemplation.

St Ninian's Proprietary Chapel dates back to 1778, when it was built by the shipbuilders of Whitby; the men who built the famous Whitby ships, including those used by Captain Cook in his voyages of discovery to the southern hemisphere, and William Scoresby in his Arctic expeditions. This manner of building makes St Ninian's unique in Whitby.

Its interior still contains many of the original woodworking examples of men who knew how to build ships....but not necessarily buildings. The pillars that support the balcony were made by mast-makers, and the cupboards in the vestry are designed so as not to fall open in rough seas!

Add to that, it is the only Proprietary Chapel still in existence in Yorkshire, and believed to be one of only 4 in the whole country.

There is a deep history in this unassuming chapel, and it deserves to be preserved. But this can't happen without money. "Every Pound Counts"