Additional reporting by Mahima Abedin

A chapel which is all that remains of one of the oldest hospitals in Britain has been broken into and some of its stained glass windows smashed.

St Bartholomew’s Chapel in Gundulph Road, Rochester, is now the home of Granite Gym and the owner was shocked to arrive at work on Wednesday morning to find two of the historic windows shattered.

Christopher Garnett, who owns the gym, said: “It has a real community feel because it is in a church.”

He said he couldn’t believe it when he saw the break-in.

He said: “They are some of the oldest windows in the UK. The people who broke in may have stolen some sweaty gloves but the main damage is to the building and the windows and doors.

“It ruined my day. It’s very annoying.”

Christopher said his gym will continue operating as normal and he doesn’t feel members are any less safe but he is concerned about how he will get the historic windows fixed.

“I don’t know what to do,” he said. “It’s about finding the people with the right qualifications who can fix it.”

He believes it was probably an opportunistic attack in the middle of the night as he finishes at the gym at 9pm and arrives again at 7am.

Filip Traykov has been using the gym for the past seven months after moving to the UK from Bulgaria in 2020.

He said it holds a special place in his heart.

“The people here are like my family,” he said. “They helped me to socialise as a foreigner alone in a different country.

“Since I have been coming here it has changed my life completely.”

He added: “It gives me joy to come here and have the support of my friends if I need a shoulder to put my head on when I am sad.

“I feel amazing about this place.”

He said the attack on the church made him feel “sad about the society we are living in”.

A spokesman for Kent Police said: “We were called at 1.23pm on September 5 to a report that a business premises in Gundulph Road, Rochester, had been broken into overnight.

“Inquiries are ongoing.”

Chris opened the gym in 2017.

Originally St Bartholomew's Chapel, the flint and rubble building with stained glass windows has a long history.

Founded in 1078 by Gundulph, Bishop of Rochester, it was built outside of the city's walls as leprosy sufferers had to be kept away from the public.