What can parishioners do when the bishop tells them that their beloved church has to be closed? If they have a good case, are well-organised and willing to bone up on canon law, they have a good chance of overturning the decision

It’s an estate agent’s advert to gladden the heart of any developer: “An excellent opportunity to acquire a site for potential development situated very close to Aberystwyth Promenade and within easy reach of the Town Centre, University and Hospital. With enough room for upwards of 20 houses, the site offers a rare opportunity of this size so close to town.”

It’s also a notice that breaks the hearts of Aberystwyth’s Catholics. For the site is the Catholic church of St Winefride’s, now on the market for £250,000. For 17 years the parishioners fought the plans of the Diocese of Menevia to close their parish home, sell off the site, and get Catholics to switch worship to the abandoned and dilapidated 1970s English Martyrs church in the suburb of Penparcau, several miles out of town.

According to the diocese, St Winefride’s needed £3 million spent on it, while English Martyrs would only cost £360,000 to refurbish. Despite the efforts of parishioners to combat the proposals, including surveys showing St Winefride’s was in better shape than was being claimed, the diocese would not budge. Last month, the church went up for sale.