Sittingbourne’s United Reformed Church has closed after its congregation dwindled to a level which made it impossible to continue.

The High Street landmark – the tallest building in the town – shut earlier this year.

The church has not had a full-time minister for at least 10 years and part-time ministers have been covering services ever since.

Lynda Nash was one of four elders who oversaw the running of the church. She said: “It’s very sad but it was getting to the point where we had so few people turning up on a Sunday, only about 10, and you cannot carry on like that.

“We made the very sad decision for the church to close.”

The church, designed by London-based architect John Wimble, was built in the 1860s.

Its congregation had previously met in the Latimer Chapel, that stood where St Michael’s Road is now.

The numbers were boosted in the 1970s when it was merged with members from a Congregational chapel in Milton, at the junction of Crown Road and Beechwood Avenue.

Its stained glass windows depict various notable members of Sittingbourne’s past, including Edwin Brigden, a managing director of the East Kent Gazette.

The church used to have the Crescent Street school rooms, next to the entrance to The Forum shopping centre, where it held its Sunday School meetings and concerts.

The High Street building has been extended at the back and its hall, off Central Avenue, has been well used by community groups and for events such as seasonal fairs.

Hall users, including the Ichthis Christian Fellowship and radio station Sfm, have been told they can continue to use it until 2017, after which its future use remains a doubt.

Its future was recently the subject of a question at a full Swale council meeting when it was confirmed it is not a listed building but is within the Sittingbourne Conservation area.

The URC’s southern synod, of which Sittingbourne was a part, is likely to decide what happens to the building.

A spokesman for the URC, formed in 1972 from a merger between English Presbyterians and Congregationalists, said the church was seeking options so the building could continue to benefit the community.