All Saints', in the street of that name, leading out of Lodge Road, is a brick erection of fifty years' date, being consecrated September 28, 1833. It was built to accommodate about 700 and cost £3,850, but in 1881 it was enlarged and otherwise improved at an outlay of over £1,500, and now finds sittings for 1,760, a thousand of the seats being free. The Rev. P.E. Wilson, M.A., is the Rector and Surrogate, and the living (value £400) is in the gift of the Birmingham Trust. The Nineveh schoolroom is used for services on Sunday and Thursday evenings in connection with All Saints.
All Saints', King's Heath, is built of stone in the perpendicular Gothic style, and cost £3,200, the consecration taking place on April 27th, 1860. There are sittings for 620, one half being free. The Rev. J. Webster, M.A., is the Vicar; the living (value £220) being in the gift of the Vicar of Moseley, King's Heath ecclesiastical parish being formed out of Moseley parish in 1863.
All Saints', Small Heath.—Rev. G.F.B. Cross, M.A., Vicar. Soon after the death of the Rev. J. Oldknow, D.D., of Holy Trinity, in 1874, it was resolved to carry out his dying wishes by erecting a church in the fast-filling district of Small Heath. At first the iron building formerly used as a place of worship in Cannon Hill Park was put up, and the Vicar was instituted in October, 1875. The foundation-stone of a permanent building was laid Sept. 8, 1882, which accommodates over 1,000 worshippers. That part of the future "Oldknow Memorial Church" at present finished, comprising the nave, north aisle, and north transept, with seating for nearly 700 (all free), was consecrated July 28, 1883. The patronage is vested in trustees, the incumbent's stipend being £150.
All Saints', Stechford.—A temporary church of iron and wood, erected at a cost of £620, to accommodate 320 persons, all seats being free, was dedicated Dec. 18, 1877.
Aston Church.—It is impossible to fix the date of erection of the first church for the parish of Aston, but that it must have been at a very early period is shown by the entry in the Domesday Book relative to the manor. The parish itself formerly included Bordesley and Deritend, Nechells and Saltley, Erdington and Witton, Castle Bromwich, Ward End, and Water Orton, an area so extensive that the ecclesiastical income was very considerable. In Henry III.'s reign the Dean and Chapter of Lichfield received twenty marks yearly out of the fruits of the rectory, the annual value of which was sufficient to furnish £26 13s. 4d. over and above the twenty marks. Records are in existence showing that the church (which was dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul) was considerably enlarged about 300 years after the Conquest, and a renovation was carried out nearly a century back, but the alterations made during the last few years (1878-84) have been so extensive that practically it may be said the edifice has been rebuilt. The seating capacity of the old church was limited to about 500, but three times that number of persons will, in future, find accommodation, the cost of the extensions and alterations having been nearly £10,000. The ancient monuments, windows, and tablets have all been carefully replaced in positions corresponding to those they filled formerly, with many additions in the shape of coloured glass, heraldic emblazonments, and chaste carvings in wood and stone. The old church, for generations past, has been the centre-point of interest with local antiquarians, as it was, in the days far gone, the chosen last resting-place of so many connected with our ancient history—the Holtes, the Erdingtons, the Devereux, the Ardens, the Harcourts, the Bracebridgss, Clodshalls, Bagots, &c. Here still may be seen the stone and alabaster effigies of lords and ladies who lived in the time of the Wars of the Roses, two showing by their dress that while one was Lancasterian, the other followed the fortunes of York. The tablets of the Holte' family, temp. Elizabeth and Charles, and the Devereux monument of the Jacobean era, are well preserved, while all around the shields and arms of the ancient families, with their many quarterings, form the best heraldic collection anywhere near Birmingham. The parish registers date from the 16th century, and the churchwardens accounts are preserved from the year 1652. Among the facts recorded in the former we may note the burial of the dozen or so Royalist soldiers who lost their lives while defending Aston Hall from the attacks made on it by the Birmingham men in December, 1643; while in both there are quaint entries innumerable, and full of curious interest to the student and historian. The Rev. W. Eliot, M.A., the present vicar, was instituted in 1876 (commencing duty Feb. 25, 1877), the living (£1,600 value) being in the presentation of trustees. In connection with the Church, there are Mission Rooms in Tower Road and in Alfred Street, with Sunday Schools, Bible classes, Dorcas, and other societies. The first portion of the late additions to the Church was consecrated July 5, 1880; the new chancel on Sept. 8, 1883
Bishop Rider's, a square-towered brick edifice in Gem Street, was built in 1837-38, the laying of the foundation stone (August 23, 1837) being characterised by the almost unheard-of conduct of the low denizens of the neighbourhood, who pelted the Bishop of Lichfield with mud on the occasion. The consecration took place Dec. 18, 1838, and the building cost £4,600. The living, valued at £300, is in the hands of trustees, the present vicar being the Rev. J.P. Gardiner. The vicarage, which was completed in 1862 at a cost of £2,240, is in Sutton Street, Aston Road— too near a residence to the church not being deemed advisable even five-and-twenty years after the opening ceremony of 1837. In 1879 the galleries were removed, and the church re-pewed and otherwise renovated, the re-opening taking place July 28, there being now 860 free sittings.
Christ Church, New Street.—At first known as "The Free Church," this edifice was for no less than ten years in the hands of the builders. The cornerstone was laid July 22, 1805, by Lord Dartmouth, in the absence of George III., who had promised, but was too ill, to be present. His Majesty, however, sent £1,000 towards the building fund. It was consecrated July 13, 1813; finished in 1816; clock put in 1817. The patron is the Bishop of Worcester, and to the living (valued at £350), is attached a Prebendary in Lichfield Cathedral. The present Vicar, since 1881, is the Rev. E.R. Mason, M.A. There is accommodation for 1,500, all the seats being free, but at one time the worshippers were limited in their freedom of sitting by the males having to take their places on one side and the females on the other, a custom which gave rise to the following epigram:
"Our churches and chapels we generally find
Are the places where men to the women are joined;
But at Christ Church, it seems, they are more cruelhearted,