CHURCHGOERS are angry at plans to knock down and rebuild a tiny wooden chapel overlooking the sea.

St Catherine's Chapel in Holworth, near the villages of Poxwell and Owermoigne, could face an overhaul after the trust fund maintaining it discovered it had £200,000 to spend on the picturesque church.

Many users of the secluded church now fear the cash will be used to demolish the chapel and have started a campaign to keep the current St Catherine's building in any future development.

Instead they want the Linklater Trust, named after the late Reverend Linklater who started it, to fund the pretty chapel, to spend the money on bringing the current building into line with modern safety standards.

St Catherine's is a small wooden chapel which seats more than 30 people and overlooks the sea next to the coastal footpath between Whitenose Cliffs and Ringstead Bay.

Petition organiser David Arkell said a majority of people opposed any plan to rebuild the church during a recent consultation period, even though he claimed they were not given that option in a survey on possible new designs.

He said: "It is an incredibly simple and modest place of calm and beauty and a number of people are prepared to stop going to St Catherine's if it is pulled down."

He claimed a full survey of the building has not yet been conducted so believes the case for demolishing it has not been proved. "I accept there is a pressure on the church authorities to spend the money and modernise but there is a huge weight of feeling for the church building to remain as it is.

"Given the church's remote location, I do not feel there would be a tremendous need for something like wheelchair access," added Mr Arkell.

The Reverend Jean Coates, who conducts monthly services at the chapel, said architects had issued a design to knock the chapel down and replace it with a new building facing inward. "I can totally understand and appreciate people who regard St Catherine's as a much loved and special place and nothing we do will distract from that. Some work does need to be done to allow things like wheelchair access but we are nowhere near a final decision yet because we need to consult with people like planners," she said.

Mr Arkell said he respects the situation Rev Coates finds herself in and added that the petition is available at the Smugglers Inn at Osmington Mills, Tree Stores in Crossways, Shore Cottage, Ringstead Bay, and from 40 Merley Lane, Wimborne.