CHAPTER VI.

ECCLESIASTICAL.

BY G. J. JOHNSON.

The municipal borough of Birmingham comprises the whole of the parishes of Birmingham and Edgbaston, and part of the adjoining parish of Aston.

All these parishes were formerly in the Archdeaconry of Coventry, as part of the diocese of Lichfield and Coventry, and are now in the same Archdeaconry as part of the diocese of Worcester. By an Order in Council, dated 22nd December, 1836, made in pursuance of the 6 & 7 Will. IV., c. 77, the Archdeaconry of Coventry was taken away from the diocese of Lichfield and Coventry, and annexed to that of Worcester, and the former diocese became the diocese of Lichfield only. The testamentary jurisdiction of the Bishop of Lichfield over the archdeaconry, however, continued until the jurisdiction of all the ecclesiastical courts in such matters was abolished as from the 1st of January, 1858, by the 20 and 21 Vic., c. 77.

The original parish of Birmingham (otherwise called the parish of St. Martin, from the mother church of the parish dedicated to that Saint) contains 2,660 acres only, whilst the acreage of the entire borough is 8,420 acres. The difference is made up of the entire parish of Edgbaston, 2,790 acres, and part of the parish of Aston, 2,970 acres.

Taking the parishes separately, we commence with the

PARISH OF BIRMINGHAM.[33]

=St. Martin’s.=--We find that the earliest mention of the mother church of St. Martin in our national records is a licence of the 6th of May, 1330 (4 Edward III.), to Walter de Clodeshale, of Saltley (then an adjoining hamlet), to grant lands for the endowment of a priest to say mass daily at the altar of the Virgin in St. Martin’s. Seventeen years afterwards (21 Edward III.), Richard, son of Walter de Clodeshale, obtained a licence for a further grant to endow a second priest to say daily mass.

In 1392 (16 Richard II.), there is a record of a licence to found and endow a guild in honour of The Holy Cross, and another chantry in St. Martin’s for two chaplains. All these charities were suppressed at the time of the dissolution of the monasteries. The endowments of the Clodeshale charities were sold,[34] as was also a small part of the endowments of the Guild of the Holy Cross. The rest were re-granted by Edward VI. for the foundation and endowment of the Grammar School.

For three centuries after its foundation St. Martin’s Church must have been nearly at the top of the town, which consisted, as Leland saw it even in 1538, of one long street, namely, the present Digbeth and High Street, and the old church sufficed for all its wants, especially as the lower part of the town below Digbeth was served by the chapel of St. John, noticed under Aston parish.[35]

The tower and spire, having become unsafe, were taken down and rebuilt in 1855, and in 1872 the rebuilding of the rest of the church was commenced, and it was finished and re-consecrated on the 20th of July, 1875. Attached to the church are mission rooms in Barwick Street and Park Street.

The original parish has been, by the successive agencies of special acts of parliament, the orders of the Church Building Commissioners (1818 to 1856), and afterwards of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, or by the Bishop in exercise of powers given by 1 and 2, W. IV., c. 38 (now repealed), divided into five rectories and twenty-one vicarages (all incumbents of churches entitled to perform marriages, churchings, and baptisms, and receive the fees for their own use, being now termed vicars under the statute 31 and 32 Vic., c. 117). The successive divisions are detailed in chronological order.

=St. Philip’s.=--In the early part of the reign of Queen Anne, Birmingham had extended northwards and upwards from the mother church, and this necessitated the foundation of St. Philip’s Church and parish, created by special Act of Parliament (7 Anne, c. 131, A.D. 1708) entitled “An Act for building a parish church and parsonage house, and making a new church and new parish in Birmingham, to be called the parish of St. Philip.” The preamble recites that there was only one church in the parish of Birmingham, and that it was expedient to build another in the “high town quarter.” It then carves out of the parish of St. Martin, the parish of St. Philip, and constitutes it a rectory. The church was consecrated in 1715, and partly rebuilt and enlarged in 1884. Its situation, between Colmore Row and Temple Row, is the finest in the town.

=St. Bartholomew.=--The next ecclesiastical structure in order of time, was St. Bartholomew’s, built in 1749 as a chapel of ease to St. Martin’s, to accommodate the then rapidly increasing population east of St. Martin’s. The land was the gift of Joseph Jennens, whose name is still commemorated in Jennens Row. In the year 1847, it was created a district chapelry, and in 1869, a part of the district was assigned to the consolidated chapelry of St. Gabriel. The churchyard and the adjoining burial ground of St. Martin, containing four acres and a half (called the Park Street Burial Ground) were, in the year 1880, converted by the Corporation into a public garden. There is a mission room in Fox street, attached to the church.

In the year 1772, the first Church Extension Society was formed in Birmingham for the purpose of building “one or more churches,” which resulted in the passing of another Act of Parliament (12 Geo. III., c. 64, A.D. 1772) “for building two new chapels, and providing burial places thereto.” The first built of these two chapels was--

=St. Mary’s=, completed in 1774 on land granted by Mary Weaman, who gave her christian name to the church and her surname to the adjoining street. It was originally a chapel of ease to St. Martin’s, but was created a district chapelry in 1841. The chapel was thoroughly renovated in 1857, and in 1882 the disused burial ground was, at the cost of the Corporation, laid out as a garden for public use.

=St. Paul’s.=--The other of the two churches built under the act of 1772 was St. Paul’s, in what was then the northernmost part of Birmingham. It was built in 1779, on land given by Charles Colmore out of a large estate he had there. It was created a district in the year 1841.

=Christ Church=, at the top of New Street, which enjoys the unenviable distinction of being the ugliest church in the town, was authorised by a special act of parliament of the year 1803 “for erecting a new church to be called Christ Church, in the town of Birmingham.” All the sittings were to be free, and it therefore obtained the name of “the Free Church.” It was consecrated in 1813, but not finished until three years later. In 1865 it was constituted a consolidated chapelry out of the parishes of St. Martin and St. Philip. Attached to the church are mission rooms in Pinfold street and Fleet street.

This was the last of the churches for which a special Act of Parliament was required, for in the year 1818, the Act 58, Geo. III. c. 45, was passed, establishing the Church Building Commission and granting a sum of one million (increased six years afterwards to a million and a half) for building additional churches throughout the kingdom, and for the division of parishes.

=St. George’s.=--The first result of this in Birmingham was St. George’s Church near Tower Street, consecrated July 30th, 1822. At that time the site was surrounded by green fields, and it was known as St. George’s in the Fields. In pursuance of the provisions of the Act of 1818, it was constituted a separate parish, taken out of St. Martin’s, and because St. Martin’s was a rectory, St. George’s became a rectory also. The Church itself was enlarged in 1882. There are mission rooms in New Summer Street and Smith Street, licensed for worship. The district chapelries of St. Stephen and St. Matthias, have been constituted out of the original parish of St. George.

=St. Peter’s= in Dale End was consecrated August 10th, 1827, as a chapel of ease to St. Philip’s Church, in which parish it was. It was destroyed by fire in 1831, and rebuilt in 1837. In 1847, it was constituted a district chapelry.

=St. Thomas’s= in Holloway Head was consecrated October 22nd, 1829, and like St. George’s, was constituted a new parish, carved out of St. Martin’s, and a rectory under the 58 Geo. III. c. 45. Parts of the original parish have been assigned to the districts of Immanuel and St. Asaph.

=All Saints=, built near Lodge Road at Birmingham Heath, was originally a small Church, consecrated September 28th, 1833, and greatly enlarged in 1881. It is a parish and rectory formed in the year 1834, out of St. Martin’s parish, and a portion of the parish has been since assigned to the district chapelry of St. Cuthbert. There are two mission halls, one in Heaton Street, and the other at Nineveh Schoolroom, attached to All Saints. This was the last of the rectories created under the Act of 1818. All the districts subsequently created have been either assigned by the Bishop or formed under the Peel Acts, 1843 and 1844, or the New Parishes (Marquis of Blandford’s) Act, 1856.

=Bishop Ryder’s Church=, in Gem Street, was built in 1838, on land granted by the Governors of King Edward’s Grammar School. It is so called after Dr. Ryder (b. 1777, d. 1836) who was successively Bishop of Gloucester (1815-1824), and afterwards of Lichfield and Coventry (1824-1836), and who greatly interested himself in church extension in the poorer and more populous parts of his diocese. In the year 1840 a separate district was assigned to it.

In the year 1838 a society was formed for building ten new churches in Birmingham; only five were built, and these were St. Matthew’s, St. Mark’s, St. Luke’s, St. Stephen’s, and St. Andrew’s. Three of these, namely, St. Mark’s, St. Luke’s, and St. Stephen’s were in the parish of Birmingham. The other two will be noticed under Aston parish.

=St. Mark’s= is in King Edward’s Road, Summer Hill, and is built on land granted by the Governors of King Edward’s Grammar School. It was consecrated in 1841, and in the same year constituted a district out of St. Martin’s parish. There is a mission room in Steward Street.

=St. Luke’s=, in the Bristol Road, almost on the border of the parish of Edgbaston. It was consecrated September 28th, 1842. In the year 1844 it was constituted a district parish out of St. Martin’s.

=St. Stephen’s=, Newtown Row, built on part of the estate of the Governors of King Edward’s Grammar School, was consecrated July 23rd, 1844, and then constituted a district chapelry out of the parish of St. George. A portion of it has since been assigned to the district of St. Nicolas. There is a mission room in Theodore Street.

=St. Jude’s=, in Tonk Street, in the midst of one of the poorest districts of the town, was consecrated 26th July, 1851, and enlarged in 1879. In the year 1845, before the building of the church, it was constituted a district out of the parishes of St. Martin and St. Philip.

=St. John’s= (Ladywood), Monument Road, built on land granted by the Governors of the Free Grammar School, was consecrated March 15th, 1854. By an order in Council, gazetted June 20th, 1854, it was constituted a district chapelry out of St. Martin’s parish, and has since (1876) had the district chapelry of St. Margaret’s carved out of it. The church was greatly enlarged in 1881.

=St. Matthias’=, Wheeler Street, is the church of a new district chapelry formed in the year 1856 out of the parish of St. George, and part of that district has since been assigned to St. Saviour’s. The church was consecrated June 4th, 1856, and enlarged in 1879.

=St. Barnabas’=, Ryland Street North. The parish was formed out of St. Martin’s in the year 1861, the church having been built and consecrated October 24th, 1860. At a very little distance is

=Immanuel Church=, in Broad Street, which occupies the site of what was once the chapel of the Magdalen Asylum. It was consecrated May 7th, 1865, and is the church of a parish formed in that year out of St. Thomas’s parish.

=St. David’s=, Bissell Street, is the church of a district chapelry formed in the year 1866 out of St. Luke’s parish. The church was consecrated in July, 1865.

In January, 1865, The Birmingham Church Extension Society was formed. In 1867 Miss Ryland contributed a sum of £10,000 towards the same objects and subsequently a second donation of £10,000. Out of these donations the cost of the churches of St. Gabriel, St. Lawrence (see Aston), and St. Nicolas was mainly defrayed.

=St. Nicolas’=, in Lower Tower Street, consecrated July 12th, 1868, and, by order in Council, 18th June, 1869, constituted a district chapelry out of St. Stephen’s parish.

=St. Asaph’s=, Great Colmore Street, of which the site was presented by Mr. Cregoe Colmore, was consecrated December 8th, 1868. By order in Council, 18th June, 1869, it was constituted a district chapelry out of the parish of St. Thomas.

=St. Gabriel’s=, in Pickford Street, Digbeth, was consecrated January 5th, 1869, and by order in Council 7th August, 1869, was formed as a consolidated chapelry out of the parishes of St. Martin and St. Bartholomew.

=St. Cuthbert’s=, St. Cuthbert’s Road, Birmingham Heath, was consecrated March 19th, 1872, and is a vicarage constituted by order in Council 15th October, 1872, out of the parish of All Saints.

=St. Saviour’s=, Bridge Street, Hockley, was consecrated May 1st, 1874, and in the same year constituted a district chapelry out of the new parish of St. Matthias.

=St. Margaret’s=, Ledsam Street, Ladywood, consecrated October 2nd, 1875, and by order in council 12th February, 1876, constituted a district chapelry out of the parish of St. John, Ladywood.

=Christ Church=, Gillott Road, Summerfield, built in memory of the forty-nine years’ ministry of the late Rev. George Lea, M.A., at Christ Church, Birmingham, and St. George’s, Edgbaston. It was consecrated April 30th, 1885; the same year it was created a district chapelry out of St. John’s, Ladywood.

Now passing into the

PARISH OF EDGBASTON.

=St. Bartholomew.=--The parish church, dedicated to St. Bartholomew, is at the junction of Church Road and Priory Road, and close to Edgbaston Park and Hall. There is said to have been a church on the site in 775. The present church now (1886) in course of enlargement was rebuilt in 1810. The vicars of Edgbaston have been remarkable for longevity. The Rev. John Pixell, who was inducted in 1760, was succeeded by his son the Rev. Charles Pixell in 1794, and he held the living for 54 years. On his death, in 1848, the late Rev. Isaac Spooner became vicar, and held it until his death in 1884.

=St. George’s.=--The rapid increase of population in this parish, the West End of Birmingham, led to the building of St. George’s Church, at the end of Calthorpe Road, about half a mile nearer the town than the old church, to which it was a chapel of ease. It was consecrated November 28th, 1838. It was greatly enlarged in 1885, and constituted a separate district in 1852, by the Church Building Commissioners.

=St. James’s= in St. James’s Road, was another chapel of ease, consecrated 1st June, 1852. In the same year it had a separate district assigned to it by the Church Building Commissioners.

=St. Augustine’s=, near the top of the Hagley Road, was built in the year 1867, as another chapel of ease to Edgbaston Old Church, to serve the increasing population of the northern portion of the parish. It was consecrated September 12th, 1868, and cost £9,000. A tower and spire, added in 1876, cost £4,000 more. It has not yet (1886) any district legally assigned to it.

=St. Ambrose=, a temporary church, in the Pershore Road, is another chapel of ease in the southern portion of the parish. It is the gift of Mrs. Spooner, as a memorial of her late husband, the Rev. Isaac Spooner, vicar of the parish 1848 to 1884.

PARISH OF ASTON.

We have to deal only with the portion of this parish which is included in the Borough, and commence with the chapel of

=St. John’s=, Deritend, which is the second most ancient church in the town. It is situate just over the Aston side of the stream which divides that parish from Birmingham, and was founded in 1375 by some inhabitants of the hamlets of Deritend and Bordesley, because of the inconvenience of resorting to the parish church of Aston, three miles away. The then Lord of the Manor of Birmingham gave the land, and the inhabitants built the chapel, and by an agreement, still extant, dated 29th May, 1381, and made between the Prior and monks of Tykeford, patrons of the parish church of Aston, the vicar of Aston, the Lord of the Manor of Birmingham, and thirteen of the inhabitants of Deritend and Bordesley, with the consent of the Bishop of the diocese, then called Coventry and Lichfield, the inhabitants of Deritend and Bordesley were empowered to appoint, “at their own charges,” a chaplain to celebrate divine service in a certain chapel in honor of St. John the Baptist there lately built.[36] The chaplain is still elected by the vote of the inhabitants of Deritend and Bordesley, and down to the year 1842 the proceedings did not differ from those of a contested political election. The last election took place June 15th, 1870, when the present chaplain, the Rev. W. C. Badger, M.A., was elected by a majority of 1561 votes over his opponent. The present chapel dates from 1735. There is a mission room in Darwin Street. Part of the district conventionally assigned to it was, by order dated 29th December, 1885, legally created a “Peel district” without a church, by the name of =St. Basil’s=.

This chapel of St. John remained from the fourteenth to the eighteenth century the only chapel of ease to the parish church of Aston for the increasing population of that part of the town which gradually extended itself into Aston parish. In the early part of this century a genteel suburb had formed itself at the east end of the town, on the Coleshill road, of which the eastern portions of Great Brook Street and Ashted Row are still evidences.

Dr. Ash, a celebrated physician of Birmingham, and founder of the General Hospital, built what Hutton calls a “sumptuous house” there. When he left it to live in London it was altered into a proprietary chapel by a Mr. Brooke, an attorney, who gave his name to the street. The chapel was opened on the 9th of October, 1791, but was sold in 1798 and afterwards became--

=St. James’s Chapel=, Ashted, consecrated August 7th, 1807. From its close proximity to the cavalry barracks, it was called “The Barrack’s Chapel.” A separate parish was allotted to it out of the Aston parish, in the year 1853. There is a mission room in Vauxhall Road.

=Holy Trinity Chapel=, at the top of Bradford Street, was the result of a meeting for church extension, held in October, 1818. It was consecrated 23rd January, 1823, and a district carved out of Aston parish was allotted to it in the year 1864. Parts of that district have since been assigned to St. Alban and All Saints’, Smallheath. There is a mission hall in Sandy Lane.

=St. Matthew’s=, Great Lister Street, was consecrated 20th October, 1840, and made the church of a district, 1842. The town has since extended for a mile eastward, and districts out of St. Matthew’s district have been carved out and assigned to the district chapelries of St. Clement, St. Lawrence, and St. Anne, Duddeston, (_q.v._) There is a mission room in Lupin Street.

=St. Andrew’s=, in St. Andrew’s Road, near the Coventry Road, was consecrated September 30th, 1846, having been constituted a district chapelry out of the parish of Aston. Attached is an iron church, dedicated to =St. Oswald=, opposite Smallheath Park.

=St. Clement’s=, in Nechells Park Road, was consecrated August 30th, 1859, and a district out of St. Matthew’s, Duddeston, assigned to it in 1860. It has a mission room in High Park Street, and a mission hall in Cuckoo Road.

=Christ Church=, near the Stratford Road, Sparkbrook, built on land given by Mr. S. S. Lloyd, was consecrated October 1, 1867, and a particular district assigned to it 21st November, 1867. There is a mission hall in Dolobran Road.

=St. Lawrence’s=, in Dartmouth Street, was consecrated June 25th, 1868, and by order in Council, 14th September, in the same year, constituted a district chapelry out of the parish of St. Matthew.

=St. Anne’s=, in Cato Street, Nechells, built partly out of funds provided by the Church Extension Society, was consecrated 22nd October, 1869, and by order in Council of December 7th, was constituted a district chapelry out of the district of St. Matthew. Attached is a mission room in Great Francis Street.

=All Saints’=, Cooksey Road, Smallheath, was built by the friends of the late Rev. Joseph Oldknow, D.D., who was for many years vicar of Holy Trinity, Bordesley (_q.v._) in memory of him. It was consecrated July 28th, 1883. It had been previously made a district by order in Council, 5th August, 1875.

=St. Catherine’s= in Scholefield Street, Nechells, consecrated November 8th, 1878, and constituted a district chapelry out of St. Clement’s, Nechells, by order in Council, dated 20th March, 1879. There is a mission room in Smith Street.

=St. Alban the Martyr=, at the corner of Conybere Street and Ryland Street, consecrated May 3rd, 1881. This is one of the finest churches in the Borough, and the services are ritualistic. A mission chapel dedicated to St. Alban was first opened in September, 1865, and, in 1873, a school chapel dedicated to St. Patrick, and situated in Highgate Street. These are now both attached to the larger church. By order in Council dated 19th August, 1871, a district had been previously assigned to it out of Holy Trinity parish.

The other particulars relating to the Churches in the Borough will be found in the following alphabetical list.

ALPHABETICAL LIST OF THE CHURCHES IN THE BOROUGH OF BIRMINGHAM.

A means Aston Parish, B Birmingham Parish, E Edgbaston Parish, R Rectory, and V Vicarage.

------+-------------+---------------+------------+-----------+-----+----- | | | |Net Value | |Free Parish| | | | £ +------+ |Sit- of | | Incumbent | | |Population |tings +---+ | and | | |last census.|for | | Degree, | | | +-----+poor. | Benifice. | and | Patron. | | |Total| | | Year of | | | |Church | | admission. | | | |accomm- | | | | | |odation. --+-----------------+---------------+------------+----+------+-----+----- B |All Saints R|P.E. Wilson, |Trustees | 238| 28656| 715| 300 | | M.A. 1882| | | | | | | | | | | | A |All Saints, |G.F.B. Cross, |Trustees | 150| 9123| 720| all | Small Heath V| M.A. 1875| | | | | | | | | | | | B |Bishop Ryder V|J. Phelps |Trustees | 300| 7737| 840| 200 | | Gardiner, | | | | | | | D.D. 1875| | | | | | | | | | | | B |Christ Church V|E.R. Mason, |The Bishop | 330| 4158| 1600|1100 | | M.A. 1881| | | | | | | | | | | | A |Christ Church, V|G. Tonge, M.A. |Trustees | 400| 12730| 900| 450 | Sparkbrook | 1867| | | | | | | | | | | | B |Christ Church, V|G.S. Walker, |The Bishop | -- | -- | 800| 450 | Summerfield | M.A. 1885| | | | | | | | | | | | E |Edgbaston Old V|Cresswell |Lord | 542| 10024| 673| 139 | Church | Strange, | Calthorpe | | | | | | M.A. 1885| | | | | A |Holy Trinity, V|A.H. Watts |Trustees | 330| 12563| 1500| 900 | Bordesley | 1883| | | | | | | | | | | | B |Immanuel V|R. Bren, M.A. |Trustees | 297| 9011| 805| 605 | | 1885| | | | | | | | | | | | A |St. Alban the |J.S. Pollock, |Trustees | 150| 12723| 1000| all | Martyr, Dist. | M.A. 1871| | | | | E |St. Ambrose | | | | | | | | | | | | | A |St. Andrew, |J. Williamson, |Bishop and | 320| 10000| 800| 200 |Bordesley V| M.A. 1876| Trustees | | | | | | | alt. | | | | | | | | | | | A |St. Anne V|T.J. Haworth, |The Bishop | 300| 5302| 810| 400 | | M.A. 1873| | | | | | | | | | | | B |St. Asaph V|R. Fletcher, |Trustees | 360| 10800| 1000| 500 | | M.A. 1879| | | | | | | | | | | | E |St. Augustine Ch.|J.C. Blissard, |The Bishop | 500| -- | 650| 50 | | M.A. 1868| | | | | | | | | | | | B |St. Barnabas V|Percy Waller |Trustees | 385| 7250| 1050| 650 | | 1881| | | | | | | | | | | | B |St. Bartholomew V|James Eagles, |Rector of | 300| 6500| 1800| 800 | | M.A. 1851| St. Martin | | | | | | | | | | | A |St. Catherine V|T.H. Nock, M.A.|Trustees | -- | 7149| 750| 400 | | 1879| | | | | | | | | | | | A |St. Clement V|J.T. Butlin, |Vicar of St.| 310| 9500| 850| 500 | | B.A. 1879| Matthew | | | | | | | | | | | B |St. Cuthbert V|W.H. Tarleton, |Trustees | 250| 8002| 720| 596 | | M.A. 1872| | | | | | | | | | | | B |St. David V|H. Boyden, B.A.|Trustees | 315| 10382| 985| 733 | | 1866| | | | | | | | | | | | B |St. Gabriel V|W.H. Cariss, |The Bishop | 350| 5700| 650| all | | M.A. 1884| | | | | | | | | | | | B |St. George R|J.G. Dixon, |Trustees | 400| 16065| 2150|1450 | | M.A. 1875| | | | | | | | | | | | E |St. George V|C.M. Owen, M.A.|Lord | 450| 7000| 1350| 450 | | 1883| Calthorpe | | | | | | | | | | | A |St. James, V|J. Orr, M.A. |Trustees | 300| 16000| 1350| 450 | Ashted | 1885| | | | | | | | | | | | E |St. James V|W.E. Ivens, |Lord | 250| 6231| 900| 225 | | M.A. 1885| Calthorpe | | | | | | | | | | | A |St. John, Ch.|W.C. Badger, |Parishioners| 300| 10448| 890| 150 | Deritend | M.A. 1870| of Deritend| | | | | | | and | | | | | | | Bordesley | | | | | | | | | | | B |St. John, V|J.L. Porter, |Rector of | -- | 14176| -- |1050 | Ladywood | M.A. 1869| St. Martin | | | | | | | | | | | B |St. Jude V|T.G. Watton, |The Bishop | 350| 7000| 1000| 600 | | M.A. 1873| | | | | | | | | | | | A |St. Lawrence V|J.F.M. Whish, |The Bishop | 320| 5778| 750| 400 | | B.A. 1879| | | | | | | | | | | | B |St. Luke V|W.B. Wilkinson,|Trustees | 300| 10486| 800| 300 | | M.A. 1875| | | | | | | | | | | | B |ST. MARTIN R|W. Wilkinson, |Trustees |1048| 17405| 2200| 140 | | D.D. 1866| | | | | | | | | | | | B |St. Margaret P.C.|H.A. Nash |The Bishop | 300| 6653| 800| all | | 1875| | | | | | | | | | | | B |St. Mark V|R.L.G. Pidcock,|The Bishop | 350| 16000| 1000| 400 | | M.A. 1877| and | | | | | | | Trustees | | | | B |St. Mary V|H. Foster Pegg,|Trustees | 275| 5657| 1600| 350 | | M.A. 1866| | | | | | | | | | | | A |St. Matthew, V|J. Byrchmore |Trustees | 300| 8216| 1504| 679 | Duddeston | 1879| | | | | | | | | | | | B |St. Matthias V|J.S. Davies, |Trustees | 300| 10000| 1000| all | | M.A. 1886| | | | | | | | | | | | B |St. Nicolas V|W.H. Connor, |The Bishop | 300| 5220| 566| all | | M.A. 1876| | | | | | | | | | | | B |St. Paul V|R.B. Burges, |Trustees | 300| 15100| 1200| 600 | | M.A. 1867| | | | | | | | | | | | B |St. Peter V|R. Dell, M.A. |The Bishop | 310| 2500| 1500| all | | 1870| | | | | | | | | | | | B |St. Philip R|H.B. Bowlby, |The Bishop | 949| 2885| 1750| 560 | | M.A. 1875| | | | | | | | | | | | B |St. Saviour V|M. Parker |Trustees | 380| 5000| 730| all | | 1874| | | | | | | | | | | | B |St. Stephen V|P. Reynolds, |The Bishop | 250| 12560| 1150| 700 | | LL.B. 1854| | | | | | | | | | | | B |St. Thomas R|T.D. Halsted, |Trustees | 650| 11000| 2100|1500 | | M.A. 1870| | | | | --+-----------------+---------------+------------+----+------+-----+-----

NON-CONFORMISTS.[37]

The earliest Nonconformist place of worship, of which any record remains, was “The Old Meeting,” which, with its graveyard, has so recently as the year 1882 been removed for the enlargement of the railway station in New Street.

As old Birmingham was not a corporate town it did not come within the provisions of The Five-Mile Act (A.D. 1665), and was naturally the resort of persecuted Nonconformists from the neighbouring boroughs. On the first Declaration of Indulgence put forth by Charles the Second in 1672, rooms were licensed for public worship, and in 1687 eleven dissenters bought a plot of land in what was then called Philip Street, and built a meeting house, finished in 1689, the year of the passing of The Toleration Act. As the total cost of land and building was only £220, it could not have accommodated many hearers, and we find that another meeting house, called the “Lower Meeting House,” was built in Deritend in a yard which was until lately called “Meeting House Yard,” now taken into the continuation of Milk Street into Deritend. This second chapel was injured in the Sacheverell Riots in 1715, and afterwards the congregation removed, in 1732, to what was formerly the “New Meeting,” in Moor Street, where they remained until the last day of the year 1861.

The worshippers at both these two original meeting houses called themselves, and were called “Presbyterians,” used as the antithesis to “Episcopalian,” although they were really “Independent” in their form of church government. In theology both congregations were at first Calvinistic, but Mr. Howell, the sixth in succession of the ministers of the Old Meeting, having become an avowed Arian, the more orthodox minority withdrew in the year 1747, and founded the church in Carr’s Lane--(see “Congregationalists.”) It is creditable to the good feeling of the separatists that none of them sold their shares in the “Old Meeting” and one of them was re-appointed a trustee thirty years afterwards. From Arianism the congregations of both the Old and New Meetings gradually became Unitarian and are henceforth treated under that title.

=Unitarians.=--The Old Meeting House, built in 1689, was burned in the riots of 1791, and afterwards rebuilt. It had attached a burial ground which was used by both the congregations of the Old and New Meetings, and in which were interred the remains of many of the foremost men in the public life of Birmingham for two centuries.[38] As before stated the meeting house and ground were sold to the London and North Western Railway Company in 1882, and the remains of the dead were transferred to a separate piece of ground in the Borough Cemetery at Witton, and the Congregation have built a new

OLD MEETING CHURCH, in the Bristol Road, which was opened in 1885.

THE NEW MEETING HOUSE, of which Dr. Priestley was the minister from 1780 to 1791, was destroyed in the riots of 1791 and rebuilt on its original site in Moor Street. The situation having become inconvenient it was (1861) sold to the Roman Catholics and became St. Michael’s, Moor Street (_q.v._), and the New Meeting congregation removed to

THE CHURCH OF THE MESSIAH, Broad Street, opened 1st January, 1862. The Rev. H. W. Crosskey, LL.D., is the minister.

NEWHALL HILL CHAPEL was next in order of time to the Old and New Meetings, and was built in 1840 by members of both congregations, who had previously a house for worship and Sunday schools in Cambridge Street.

HURST STREET CHAPEL was built in the year 1844 as a mission chapel and has been since enlarged. Another mission more immediately connected with the New Meeting is

LAWRENCE STREET CHAPEL, which was originally built as a place of worship for the Baptists then occupied by the disciples of Zion Ward, and afterwards used by the followers of Robert Owen, who were at one time numerous in Birmingham.

THE BIRMINGHAM FREE CHRISTIAN SOCIETY have a chapel in Fazeley Street, served by Lay preachers.

=Baptists.=--It is somewhat singular that two of the oldest chapels belonging to this body, namely, Cannon Street and Freeman Street, have now ceased to exist. Cannon Street Chapel was built in 1737 on a part of what was then a cherry orchard (which gave its name to Cherry Street). The original building was greatly enlarged in 1806. In those days the well-to-do tradesmen of Birmingham lived in the town, and the town chapels consequently drew their occupants from the immediate neighbourhood. Gradually, however, the old members died, and their sons and daughters went to live in the suburbs, and so Cannon Street, which was the flourishing mother church of the Particular Baptists, dwindled in numbers. Fortunately the site of it was required by the Corporation of Birmingham, and it was sold for £26,500, and is now occupied by the Central Arcade in Corporation Street. The purchase money was, under a scheme sanctioned by the Court of Chancery, expended in aid of several Baptist chapels in the town and suburbs.

The Chapel in Freeman Street is said to have been older than Cannon Street to which place the worshippers at Freeman Street joined themselves in 1752, and the edifice itself was taken down in 1856. The next Chapel in order of date was built in Bond Street (near Constitution Hill) was opened in the year 1786, and was for many years a flourishing church, but gradually decayed in numbers and influence, and is now occupied by the United Methodists (_q.v._).

The chief existing places of worship now belonging to the Baptists are

NEWHALL STREET CHAPEL, originally built in 1791 by the followers of Emanuel Swedenborg.

GRAHAM STREET or MOUNT ZION CHAPEL, opened in 1824 by the celebrated Edward Irving. Twenty years afterwards the pulpit was occupied for some time by the late George Dawson, and subsequently, from 1851 to 1874, by the Rev. Charles Vince, whose death was felt as a public calamity.

HENEAGE STREET CHAPEL, of which the foundation stone was laid 1st of August, 1838, to commemorate the emancipation of the West Indian negroes.

CIRCUS CHAPEL, Bradford Street, opened 1848, so called because it was formerly a circus.

WYCLIFFE CHURCH, in the Bristol Road, opened in 1861.

CHURCH OF THE REDEEMER, Hagley Road, built by a portion of the congregation of Graham Street, aided by a contribution of the Cannon Street trustees, and opened in 1882.

There are also chapels in Guildford Street, Hope Street, Lodge Road (Hockley), Great King Street, Stratford Road, Spring Hill, Victoria Street (Small Heath), Warwick Street (Deritend), and Wynn Street (Great Colmore Street).

There is also a chapel belonging to the Particular Baptists of Calvinistic views in Frederick Street (Newhall Hill), built in 1850 with the proceeds of an old chapel in Bartholomew Street, which was called the “Cave of Adullam,” and removed by the extension of the railway into New Street.

The General or Arminian Baptists had the chapel in Freeman Street (now removed), and in September, 1786, opened the existing chapel in LOMBARD STREET.

=Congregationalists.=--CARR’S LANE.--This Church was formed, as before stated, in 1747, by members of the first Nonconformist Meeting house, the “Old Meeting,” who did not agree with the Arianism of the then minister, Mr. Howell. The first building was opened in 1748, and was then, as was the custom with meeting houses, built in a yard to screen it from observation. It has been several times enlarged and rebuilt. The names of the Rev. John Angell James, who was minister here from 1806 to his death, 1st October, 1859, and of his successor R. W. Dale, LL.D., the present minister, are known throughout the christian world.

EBENEZER CHAPEL, in Steelhouse Lane, was built in 1818 by the admirers of a minister celebrated in his day, the Rev. Jehoiada Brewer, who laid the foundation stone in 1816, but died before the building was finished.[39] From endowments furnished by three members of this congregation, Mr. Mansfield and his two sisters, Miss Mansfield and Mrs. Glover, a college for the education of ministers was established at Spring Hill, Dudley Road, then removed to Moseley, and is now intended to be reconstituted at Oxford as “Mansfield College.”

HIGHBURY CHAPEL, Graham Street, originally formed by the remnant of the Livery Street congregation, was opened in 1845.

FRANCIS ROAD (Edgbaston) CHAPEL was built to commemorate the fiftieth year of the pastorate of Carr’s Lane Chapel, by the late Rev. J. A. James. He laid the foundation stone 11th September, 1855.

The Congregationalists have also chapels in Gooch Street, Moseley Road, St. Andrew’s Road, Saltley, Small Heath, Parade (Tabernacle), and Winson Green Road, and several others outside the Borough, but in immediate proximity to it..

=Society of Friends.=--George Fox records in his journal that he held a meeting in Birmingham in the year 1655, and there is good reason to believe in the existence of a small society from that date, meeting in private houses until 1703, when a plain brick meeting house fronting Bull Street was built. There may have been an earlier meeting house in Monmouth Street, where there was a burial ground, acquired in 1851 by the Great Western Railway, and now the site of the Arcade. The meeting house in Bull Street was several times enlarged, and in 1856 it was pulled down, shops built fronting the street, and a more commodious meeting house built in the rear. There is also another meeting place in Bath Row. Meetings for religious worship and instruction, conducted by members of the Society, are held on Sundays at Severn Street Schools, and the Board Schools in Moseley Street and Bristol Street. The Early First-Day Morning School, and the other schools and classes at Severn Street, established by the Friends, have done, and are doing an incalculable amount of good.

=Wesleyan Methodists.=--John Wesley preached his first sermon in Birmingham in 1743, but it was not until 1764 that his followers acquired an old play house in Moor Street as their first chapel which he opened. In 1782 they had so prospered as to build a chapel in Cherry Street, which was opened by John Wesley himself, then in his eightieth year. This chapel, enlarged in the year 1823, is now (July, 1886) to be pulled down, and a new chapel built in Corporation Street.

The rapid increase of numbers necessitated additional chapels in Bradford Street (1786), BELMONT ROW (1789), MARTIN STREET, (Broad Street) (1834), NEWTOWN ROW CHAPEL (1837), WESLEY CHAPEL, Constitution Hill (1838), besides a chapel in Bell Barn Road for which the present BRISTOL ROAD CHAPEL (1854) was substituted.

For the purposes of connexional organization the Birmingham district is divided into seven circuits, which include not only the chapels already mentioned but also thirty-three others within the Borough and its suburbs, including Smethwick.

METHODIST NEW CONNEXION.--This section of the Methodist Community, which separated from the Wesleyans in 1797, only on questions of the share of the laity in church government, first built a chapel in Oxford Street (1811) now disused, then another in the northern part of the town, Unett Street (1838), and have since built smaller ones in Moseley Street, Priestley Road (Stratford Road) Ladywood, Heath Street and Crabtree Road (Brookfields) in the Borough. These and a chapel at Smethwick are divided into two circuits supplied by three circuit ministers.

THE PRIMITIVE METHODISTS.--This body has thirteen chapels in and near to the Borough, divided into three circuits, and served by four regular ministers. The largest of these is in Gooch Street, and the others in the Borough are in Sparkbrook, King Street, Lord Street, Nechells, Garrison Lane, Whitmore Street (Hockley) and Ladywood.

THE UNITED METHODIST FREE CHURCHES have two circuits and two circuit ministers and chapels in Rocky Lane (Nechells) Bond Street, (recently acquired from the Baptists, _q.v._) and Muntz Street (Birmingham Heath) besides one at Washwood Heath.

THE WESLEYAN REFORMERS.--Have one regular minister and two chapels in Upper Trinity Street and Floodgate Street.

=The English Presbyterian Church.=--These are the orthodox Presbyterians, as distinguished from the churches which, like the Old Meeting congregation, became Arian or Unitarian. They first occupied what is now the Baptist Chapel at Mount Zion, which was opened by the celebrated Edward Irving (see Baptists), and then a chapel in Newhall Street, afterwards the church in BROAD STREET, which is their principal edifice. They have also churches at Camp Hill and New John Street West.

=The Christian Brethren= have a head place of worship at the Central Hall, Great Charles Street, and other meeting places in Green Lane (Small Heath), New John Street West, Camp Hill, and Icknield Port Road in the Borough, and four others in the outskirts.

Several other religious bodies have only one or two places of worship, and among these may be named--

=The Bloomsbury Institution= Mission Hall, in Bloomsbury Street.

=The Boatmen’s Hall= in Bridge Street (Broad Street).

=The Catholic Apostolic Church=, in Summer Hill Terrace, a new church built by the congregation formerly assembling at what was called the Irvingite Church, in Newhall Street.

=The Christadelphians=, who meet in the Temperance Hall, in Temple Street.

=The Church of the Saviour=, in Edward Street (Parade), built in 1847 for Mr. George Dawson, M.A., on his leaving the Mount Zion (Baptists) Chapel (_q.v._). A free church, founded on the principle that common Christian worship and pursuit of religious truth, and not doctrinal agreement, are the true bases of Christian union.

=The Jewish Synagogue=, in Blucher Street, top of Severn Street, was built in 1856, to supply the place of a smaller synagogue in Severn Street. It cost upwards of £8,000.

=The New Church=, or Swedenborgians, had for their first chapel the one in Newhall Street (now occupied by the Baptists, _q.v._) then, in 1830, removed to a new chapel in Summer Lane, and subsequently, in 1875, to an elegant church, a little way over the Borough boundary, in Wretham Road (Soho Hill).

=The Welsh Calvinistic Methodists=, who have a chapel in Granville Street (Bath Row), and another in Hockley Hill, just over the Borough boundary.

=The Welsh Congregationalists= have a chapel in Wheeler Street.

=Roman Catholics.=--There is no record of any Roman Catholic place of worship in Birmingham from the Reformation until the publication, by James the Second, of the illegal Declaration of Indulgence in 1687. In that year the foundation of a church and convent, dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene, was laid near the street still called Masshouse Lane, and probably on the site of the present Church of St. Bartholomew (_q.v._). It was scarcely built when it was pulled down at the Revolution of 1688. The priests (who were of the order of St. Francis) removed to a farm house in a lane near Harborne, the approach to which, at the top of Richmond Hill Road, Edgbaston, was known as Masshouse Lane.

The first chapel in the town was the one dedicated to ST. PETER, in St. Peter’s Place, a little way out of Broad Street, built in 1786, and a burial ground and schools added and subsequently enlarged.

The next was a chapel in Shadwell Street, built in 1809, and dedicated to St. Chad, which afterwards gave place to ST. CHAD’S CATHEDRAL, Bath Street, built after the designs of A. Welby Pugin at a cost of £60,000, and consecrated June 22, 1841.

ST. ANNE’S, Alcester Street, was originally a distillery, and was acquired by the Fathers of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri, of whom John Henry (now Cardinal) Newman was one. In 1852, the Fathers removed to the Hagley Road (_q.v._), and St. Anne’s became a secular mission.

CHURCH OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION, Hagley Road, Edgbaston. Here, in addition to the Church, is a residence for the Fathers of the Order of St. Philip Neri, and a school for the education of the sons of the Catholic gentry. It is interesting to every educated man as having been for more than a quarter of a century the abode of John Henry (Cardinal) Newman.

ST. MICHAEL’S, Moor Street, formerly the New Meeting House of the Unitarians (_q.v._), and purchased from that body in 1861, and opened in 1862.

ST. JOSEPH’S, Nechells, formerly only a chapel of the cemetery there served from St. Chad’s, became a church with two priests in the year 1872.

ST. CATHERINE OF SIENNA in the Horse Fair was consecrated September 28, 1875, and

ST. PATRICK’S in the Dudley Road was opened in 1876.

Birmingham is one of the Roman Catholic Sees created by the celebrated Papal-Decree of 29th September, 1850. To that date from 1584, when the last of the old Roman Catholic Prelates died, the English Romanists had been governed in matters ecclesiastical by Vicars-Apostolic, of whom the last and best known was Bishop (_in partibus_) afterwards Cardinal Wiseman.

* * * * *

After this enumeration of the numerous churches and chapels, which the limited number of pages at the writer’s disposal necessarily reduces to almost a catalogue, it may be useful to summarise the general results of the religious life of the town.

It must never be forgotten that every church and chapel is a centre of educational and philanthropic work of many kinds. The clergy of the established church have almost a monopoly of day schools, whilst the various denominations of dissenters for the most part leave the education of the poor to the Board schools. Night schools are common to both churches and chapels--Sunday schools are universally attached to both. Then there are the auxiliary organisations of Bible Classes, Lending Libraries, Provident Societies, Sick Clubs, Saving Clubs, Clothing Clubs, Improvement Societies, Mothers’ Meetings, Dorcas Societies, Lectures on Health and Domestic Economy by ladies, and, attached to some churches and chapels, classes for instruction in elementary Science and Literature.

Of the three parties into which the established church is commonly divided, viz., Low, High, and Broad, the general tone of the Birmingham clergy for the last fifty years has been decidedly low. A glance at the table will shew that the rights of presentation to the mother church of St. Martin and the other three rectories of All Saints, St. George, and St. Thomas, and also to many of the newly-created vicarages, are vested in trustees. With the exception of two or three of the new churches, such as those of St. Alban the Martyr, and the Oldknow Memorial Church, these trustees have been of the type of the Simeon Trustees.

For many years Holy Trinity, Bordesley, was the sole representative of High Church ritual and doctrine, both of which have made great progress the last quarter of a century, and at many of the churches the services are distinctly “higher” than formerly. The same influences have been at work among Nonconformists. The old pattern of meetinghouse has given place everywhere to a more ecclesiastical style, and even where the structure cannot be altered, the walls are coloured and decorated. The congregational plain song of half a century ago is varied and improved by chanting and anthems, and in one Nonconformist Church may be seen a surpliced choir.

The “Broad” Church party is scarcely represented in Birmingham, and with the exceptions of the Head Master and some of the other Masters of the Free Grammar School, and the Rector of St. Martin’s, who, from his position, is naturally a representative man, the Birmingham clergy do not concern themselves much with either the political, municipal, scientific, or literary pursuits of their fellow townsmen. They have the good reason that the work of their parishes makes such demands upon them that they have neither time nor strength for any other labours. Hence the public work of the town (with the exception of the School Board, on which the clergy have been always strongly represented) has for the last forty years been more influenced by the leading Nonconformist ministers than by the clergy.

Whilst the religious activity of the Nonconformists has not abated, they have gained immensely in influence in all the governing bodies and public institutions. For example, for a century previous to the year 1873, no dissenter had been elected a Governor of the Free Grammar School; now there are nine Nonconformists out of the twenty-one Governors. The religious activity of the Church has been widened and deepened by the development of the parochial system, whilst the natural “set” of nonconformist activity towards political and social reforms has won for them the control of political and municipal affairs. This cannot be better illustrated than by a few particulars of the composition of the Birmingham Town Council, which has acquired the reputation of being above the average of Town Councils in the social standing and ability of its members. Of the sixty-four members of which the Town Council is composed, seventeen only are churchmen. Of the sixteen Aldermen (assumed to be elected by the Council on account of services either exceptional in kind or duration) only one is a churchman. The forty-seven members of the Council not belonging to the Established Church, are composed of six Baptists, nine Congregationalists, six members of the Society of Friends, one Jew, one Presbyterian, two Roman Catholics, nine Unitarians, six Undenominational, and seven members of the Wesleyan and other Methodist bodies. The preponderance of Quakers and Unitarians in the Council, in proportion to their numerical strength in the country, is very remarkable. The number of members of the Society of Friends in England and Wales, is about one to every 1,725 of the population, according to the census of 1881. The number of their members and attendants on their services in Birmingham, is about one to every 527 of the population of the Borough; whilst in the Council their numbers are nearly one in ten (accurately 9.375 per cent.) or more than fifty times their numerical proportion. It is not possible to determine so accurately the number of Unitarians, but it may be safely asserted that their representation in the Council is many times in excess of _their_ numerical proportion.

BURIAL GROUNDS AND CEMETERIES.

Most of the Churches built in Birmingham up to the year 1834 had churchyards added to them. The Churchyard of St. Martin being found inadequate, nearly three acres of land in Park Street was consecrated in the year 1813 as a burial ground, and have been since laid out as a public garden (see St. Bartholomew). There were burial grounds attached to the Old Meeting, to the Baptist Chapel, Cannon Street, and to the Friends Meeting House; there was also a piece of ground in Walmer Lane, appropriated by a Congregationalist, Joseph Scott, for the burial of Protestant Dissenters (A.D. 1779). There were also burial grounds for the Jewish Community in a spot called the Froggery, now part of New Street Station, in Granville Street and Betholom Row.

In 1832, a joint stock company was formed for constructing the General Cemetery at Key Hill--the area of which is about twelve acres. Divided from it by Pitsford Street is the Church of England Cemetery, consecrated in 1848. In 1850 the Catholic Cemetery of St. Joseph was established.

By successive orders in Council most of the intra-mural burial grounds were closed, and in the year 1860 the Corporation purchased 105 acres of land at Witton for a Borough Cemetery. Of this area, fifty-three acres are consecrated for use by members of the Established Church; thirty-five are set apart for Nonconformists, two acres and a half have been sold for the use of the Hebrew Community, and the residue is appropriated for the use of Roman Catholics. There are four distinct buildings for the use of the Church of England, Roman Catholics, Nonconformists, and Jews. To this Cemetery the coffins from Scott’s burial ground (72), Cannon Street Chapel (142), and the Old Meeting House (1503), have been removed.