The tiniest churches

Step into the countryside this Christmas and discover some of Britain’s smallest holy houses and shrines, with

Top six, nationwide

1 CHAPEL OF OUR LADY OF THE CRAG Knaresborough, Yorkshire

Carved from a sandstone rock in 1408 by a man called John the Mason, this Marian shrine was once a popular pilgrimage halt on the way to Knaresborough Priory. The priory fell victim to Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries but the charming little chapel survived.

2 ST BEUNO Culbone, Somerset

Deep in Lorna Doone country, this church once served woodland-dwelling charcoal burners who lived in nearby shacks. There’s no road here so the faithful heading to advent services must trek along the South West Coast Path to the wooded hollow where the church hides.

3 CROICK CHURCH Croick, Sutherland

Ten miles up the lonely Strathcarron valley, this humble utilitarian church is forever linked to a group who became refugees in their own land – a fate echoed in the Christmas story. Evicted in 1845 during the notorious Highland Clearances, 80 people lived temporarily in the churchyard. Cryptic reports of their sad story were later etched on the church windows by unknown hands.

4 LLANRHYCHWYN CHURCH Llanrhychwyn, Conwy

The oldest surviving church in Wales, Llanrhychwyn sits shyly behind a screen of trees in a farmer’s field. Services here are rare, but everyone is welcome on the second Sunday in December for carol singing. Check out one of the southaisle windows: it contains the oldest glass in the Principality.

5 ST ANDREW’S Frenze, Norfolk

This humble rubble-and-flint church – of which only the nave and porch survive – sits in a field of buttercups. One of just two services a year, ‘Carols by Candlelight’ on 18 December is quite the event, and you can enjoy it from pews enlivened with delightful carvings of monkeys.

6 ST PETER-ON-THE-WALL Bradwell-on-Sea, Essex

Constructed on an old Roman fort, this diminutive barn-like chapel is the nation’s oldest surviving cathedral. It’s best experienced at the annual carol service – on 16 December this year – when it’s lit by candlelight, just as it would have been when its builders first worshipped here in 654 AD.