Barn church

A barn church or barn chapel is a specific type of clandestine church, built in times that a certain church was illegal but tolerated as long as the churches were not specifically looking like churches.{{Cite web|url=http://www.canonvannederland.nl/en/page/32593/schuurkerk|title=Schuurkerk|website=Canon van Nederland}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.nd.nl/geloof/geloof/644110/unieke-schuurkerk-te-koop?printpage=true|title=Unieke schuurkerk te koop | Nederlands Dagblad|website=www.nd.nl}} These were no elaborate buildings but simple structures without pews. They were design to hold rather large kneeling and standing congregations.{{cite book |last= Whelan|first= Kevin|date= 2018|title= Religion, Landscape and Settlement in Ireland; From Patrick to Present |language= |location= Dublin|publisher= Four Courts Press|isbn= 978-1-84682-756-3|pages=185–186}}{{cite book |last=Murphy|first= Ignatius|date= 1991|title= The Diocese of Killaloe in the Eighteenth Century |language= |location= Dublin|publisher= Four Courts Press|isbn=1-85182-083-3 |page=247}}

In rural areas those clandestine churches usually mimicked a barn, hence the name. In towns and cities people were more creative, hiding churches in houses and warehouses.

File:Barn Church Kilnaboy.jpg|Former barn church in Kilnaboy, County Clare, Ireland

File:Vlaamse schuur 2.JPG|Example of a former Barn church in The Netherlands