WHAT is believed to be the only tourist information centre that operates from a working chapel, has opened in the centre of the world famous stone circle at Avebury.

On Sunday the centre was formally blessed at a special service in the Avebury Chapel Centre conducted by the Rev Raymond Adams, Moderator of the South Western Synod of the United Reformed Church.

The tourist information centre is housed in a former schoolroom at the back of the 18th century chapel.

Tourist information centres can be found in many unusual buildings in different parts of the country but it is believed Avebury is the first to operate from a church which is still used for regular worship.

The centre will close for a couple of hours on the first and third Sunday of each month when worshippers arrive for the 3pm services.

But on every other day, including Sunday, the centre will be in operation to provide tourists with information about Avebury's famous monument and other visitor attractions in Wiltshire.

Susan Harmer, convenor of the Avebury Chapel Centre, said: "We believe it is unique to have a tourist information centre in a chapel which is still used as a place of worship."

Mrs Harmer said worshippers had welcomed the proposition of sharing the building because the regular rent income from Kennet District Council for the schoolroom would go towards the upkeep of the building.

The Avebury United Reformed Chapel was originally built in the 17th century for dissenters who did not want to attend services at the parish church. The Avebury was central for worshippers from Devizes, Calne, Marlborough and the emerging town of Swindon.

Today few of the worshippers live locally and the congregation at the twice-monthly services is still swelled by worshippers from Devizes and Swindon.

Until last year the chapel had its own minister, the Rev Bert Jones, who was its pastor for 27 years until his retirement.

Services nowadays are taken by visiting preachers and are frequently attended by tourists.

The former Avebury TIC was housed in a historic thatched barn which was restored in the 1970s and was used as the Wiltshire Folk Life Museum.

The National Trust has converted the barn into an interpretation centre providing information to tourists about the origins of Avebury and its world famous stone circles.

When the folk life museum was closed a few years ago, the village, which attracts many thousands of visitors from all over the world, was left without a tourist information service.

A search was conducted in the village to find an alternative site and the chapel was eventually chosen.