IN 1536, Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries and created the Church of England. In 2003, the Government’s official mapmaker is to wipe the Church of England — or at least hundreds of its churches — off the map.

In an act of cartographic deconsecration, the Ordnance Survey is to remove from its maps symbols of churches that are no longer used as places of worship.

The Survey, which made the decision last week without consulting any religious organisation, said it was just keeping up with the times. It will formally notify the churches by letter. But archaeologists, historians and conservation groups are horrified, accusing Ordnance Survey of destroying cultural understanding, and being “crazy”.

About 1,600 Church of England churches and 300 Methodist chapels have been declared redundant in recent years and these will all be removed from Explorer maps unless they have a landmark tower or spire. The new maps will also delete redundant mosques and synagogues — but there are unlikely to be many of them. “If it has no navigational purpose, and is no longer used as a place of worship, it will be removed,” Scott Sinclair, head of press at Ordnance Survey, said. He compared it to the removal of former railway stations.

However, heritage groups are outraged. Richard Morris, a church historian and a commissioner for English Heritage, said: “Deleting them from the way we represent landscape is deleting one layer of our cultural habitat, for no good reason. It’s crazy. It’s crackers. Maps are not just about getting from A to B, they’re about understanding where we live.”

Alex Hunt, conservation officer for the Council of British Archaeology, said: “There goes a millennium of history. Churches are part of the history of the landscape.”

A spokesman for the Methodist Church said: “There has to be some recognition of it being a site of historic interest.” And Constance Barrett, of the Church Conservation Trust, said the move would set back the rising popularity of visiting old church buildings: “The timing is so counter to the whole interest in listing churches, which is growing rapidly.”

A spokesman for Tony McNulty, the minister responsible for the Ordnance Survey, said: “This is a matter for Ordnance Survey, and the Government won’t get involved.”

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