The necessity of additional church accommodation for a population of 2200 persons who inhabit the Suburb of Coleham having been generally acknowledged, inasmuch as most of them were destitute of sittings in the parish church, where many of the pews are freehold, and others let at such rents as are beyond the means not only of the labouring poor (who form the greater part of the township) but of the class immediately above them, a meeting of the parishioners and others interested in the spiritual welfare of this isolated district of the town, was therefore held in the vestry of St. Julian’s church, Dec. 7th, 1835, when it was resolved to be highly necessary to erect a chapel of ease in Coleham, with free sittings for at least two-thirds of the number it may contain.
A committee was formed for the purpose of carrying the proposed design into execution, and of soliciting pecuniary assistance in all proper quarters. No sooner was this announced than Salopian generosity was immediately excited, and the town and neighbourhood by their contributions, in co-operation with those of the parishioners, soon raised one thousand pounds, which has been subsequently increased by a grant of £600 from the Lichfield Diocesan Society for building churches, and a further grant of £150 from the Incorporated Church Building Society.
The parishioners of St. Julian’s, desirous also of remedying the inconvenient and crowded state resulting from repeated interments in the cemetery adjoining their church during a period of one thousand years, purchased an eligible piece of land in Meole Road, for the two-fold purpose of erecting the new church and affording additional burial ground. The foundations of the church were commenced in July, 1836, and (under active management) the structure is now in rapid progress towards completion, and will be dedicated to the Holy Trinity.
The front elevation is sufficiently detailed in the foregoing vignette; the body has four windows on each side, corresponding with those in the front. The chancel is an elliptical recess, separated from the nave internally by a circular arch.
The interior is 72 feet by 46, and intended to afford 812 sittings, 500 of which will be free, having a gallery over the principal entrance.
Without further detail of the building, it may be observed that it possesses one paramount advantage, viz. usefulness; and it is to be hoped, that as the inhabitants of the suburbs of our town become possessed of greater facilities for hearing the Word of God, they may value the blessing, and support it practically by their influence and example.
The estimated cost is about £1835; builder, Mr. Stant. The appointment of minister is vested with the incumbent of the parish church.
Religious Houses or Chapels, in former times, stood at five different approaches into Shrewsbury: of these St. Giles’s only remains.
The chapel of St. Mary Magdalene appears from the following extract to have occupied a site near Trinity church. Edward III. 5 June, 1356, granted to his beloved in Christ Roger, Hermit of the Chapel of St. Mary Magdalene, situated without Salop, a certain plat of waste called Spelcrosse, contiguous to the said chapel, and containing an acre of land: to hold the same to him and his successors, hermits there, for their habitation, and to find a chaplain to pray in the chapel for the king’s soul, &c. A deed also of 1634 mentions “The Hermitage lane leading into Meole-field.” A tea-garden near the site of “Belle Vue” was, in the recollection of many inhabitants, called “the Hermitage.”