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.