A SCHEME for works at one of Milford Haven’s surviving medieval churches by its neighbouring owner has been refused by county planners.

In an application before Pembrokeshire County Council, Stefan Smart applied for a change of use of the disused Grade-II-listed St Thomas A Becket Chapel, The Rath, to provide an ancillary use for an adjacent dwelling.

The scheme included the installation of suspended floor over original flagstone flooring to preserve and protect it, a drainage connection for the provision of a toilet, and the addition of a first floor to be bolted to the existing stone walls.

A supporting statement by agent Heath Coombe Architecture details the history of the church, originally built in 1180, which was also utilised as a Beacon Chapel or lighthouse to sailors.

The chapel, which was closely linked to the nearby Pill Priory, fell into ruin by the 17th century. In 1644 it was occupied by parliamentarian forces. By the 20th century it had fallen to use as a pigsty and stable, before £1,000 was raised in 1930 for its restoration, completed in 1938 when it was reinstated as an Anglican chapel of ease.

The statement says that in 2012 the property, set back behind The Rath, was privately purchased, with the owner continuing to maintain the building, to ensure its continued survival.

“The Church of St Thomas Becket remains medieval in style, and is the last of the three medieval churches to have survived in Milford Haven.” adding: “The proposed scheme requires little alteration to the existing building.”

Although the listed building application was supported by Milford Haven Town Council, county planners refused the scheme on the basis of “the design and scale of the proposed first floor structure and suspended ground floor structure being harmful to the character of the interior of the listed building.”