The “cherished” 40mm Bofors gun and 20mm Oerlikan cannon were loaned to Kilburn’s Tin Tabernacle when the building was rigged out as a ‘training ship’ by Willesden and St Marylebone Sea Cadets.
In the 50s and 60s the cadets refitted the interior of the corrugated iron Victorian church to emulate the decommissioned naval destroyer HMS Bicester – complete with guns, battleship doors, navigation instruments, a wheel, communications tube, and naval maps.
But now the cadets no longer use the Grade II listed church and are giving up the lease – and the Royal Navy are taking the guns back.
A specialised unit of armourers will uproot and transport the guns from Willesden Lane to the naval training base HMS Excellent in Portsmouth on Thursday, March 5.
They will be preserved as part of the Navy’s training heritage – with the funding for the removal and transport of the Bofors gun – and repairing the church floor – supplied by the Ministry of Defence.
The Swedish designed automatic Bofors gun was used by the Allies to shoot down low-flying aircraft.
But the freeholders of the church Notting Hill Genesis housing association have been working with the London Historic Buildings Trust to secure the future of the church which is on English Heritage’s register of buildings at risk.
One of London’s last tin churches, it dates back to 1863 and over the years has been used by worshippers from the Church of England, Free Church, Congregationalists and Plymouth Brethren.
Later known as Cambridge Hall, it hosted social and cultural events concerts lectures and a choral society before being taken over by the Sea Cadets in 1948.
An emergency repair grant in 2020 helped to shore up the roof and commission a structural survey to identify repair needs and identify options for future use.
The survey concluded that while keeping the guns could technically be achieved, their presence limited flexibility in how the internal space could be used by the public.
Notting Hill Genesis say resolving the location of the guns will enable the future repair and restoration of the building, for which significant funding will be required to remove the building from the Heritage at Risk Register and secure a sustainable long-term public use.
As well as two guns, the site includes the set of a medieval chapel from the 1964 film Becket which was shot at Shepperton Studios and starred Peter O’Toole and Richard Burton.
