Sparkhill United Church, Including Church Rooms to Rear
SPARKHILL UNITED CHURCH, INCLUDING CHURCH ROOMS TO REAR, STRATFORD ROAD
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1096067
- Date first listed:
- 10-Feb-2003
- List Entry Name:
- Sparkhill United Church, Including Church Rooms to Rear
- Statutory Address:
- SPARKHILL UNITED CHURCH, INCLUDING CHURCH ROOMS TO REAR, STRATFORD ROAD
Location
Location of this list entry and nearby places that are also listed. Use our map search to find more listed places.
Use of this mapping is subject to terms and conditions .
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale.
What is the National Heritage List for England?
The National Heritage List for England is a unique register of our country's most significant historic buildings and sites. The places on the list are protected by law and most are not open to the public.
The list includes:
 |
Buildings |
 |
Scheduled monuments |
 |
Parks and gardens |
 |
Battlefields |
 |
Shipwrecks |
Local Heritage Hub
Unlock and explore hidden histories, aerial photography, and listed buildings and places for every county, district, city and major town across England.
Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1096067
- Date first listed:
- 10-Feb-2003
- List Entry Name:
- Sparkhill United Church, Including Church Rooms to Rear
- Statutory Address 1:
- SPARKHILL UNITED CHURCH, INCLUDING CHURCH ROOMS TO REAR, STRATFORD ROAD
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- SPARKHILL UNITED CHURCH, INCLUDING CHURCH ROOMS TO REAR, STRATFORD ROAD
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- Birmingham (Metropolitan Authority)
- Parish:
- Non Civil Parish
- National Grid Reference:
- SP 09890 82771
Details
997/0/10416 STRATFORD ROAD
10-FEB-03 Sparkhill United Church, including chu
rch rooms to rear
II
Congregational church. 1932-3 by W H Bidlake. Red brick with gabled plain tile roofs.
PLAN: 4-bay aisled nave, with apsidal east end and west porch. Church hall buildings extend to rear.
EXTERIOR: Romanesque style, incorporating Moderne and Domestic Revival elements. W front comprises a tall central bay clasped by lower flanking bays. The latter have clasped buttresses, terminating in ashlar blocks below 2-light windows with plain capitals to stone shafts; Lombard frieze, with corbelled soffits to ashlar corner blocks. Central bay has double-leaf doors in plain ashlar surround, with relief foliate carving flanking date plaque in tympanum. The whole is set within a deep arch with decorative tile and brickwork. Quatrefoil-carved roundels above tall 3-bay arcade, with plain capitals to shafts, the large rose window behind being set in a recessed wall. The central bay is continued upwards with clasped buttresses and a Lombard frieze. Paired round-arched metal casements with switch tracery to leaded lights in side elevations, which have gabled bays and linking aisles formed as lean-tos. Canted east end.
INTERIOR: 4-bay aisled nave with broad pointed-arched ribs to vaulted ceiling. West screen has dentilled cornice over leaded lights in upper glazed panels. The central two arches of the aisles have 2-light windows set above double arches with central ashlar column. Tall arch to sanctuary, which has panelled wall with 2-light windows above having ashlar columns to rerearches. Bolection-panelled pulpit. Benches with panelled backs and shouldered ends. West window has central Christ in Majesty framed by roundels of winged cherubim. Memorial window showing Flight to Egypt to Rev. John Bolton Petts, d. 1934.
SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: Church Hall buildings attached to rear, in similar materials and in overall asymmetrical Domestic Revival style with gabled and half-hipped roofs.
HISTORY: A fine example of early 20th century nonconformist church architecture. It was designed by W H Bidlake, a Birmingham-based architect who is best known for the prominent role that he played in the development of the Arts and Crafts movement. This church is a late example of his work and, in contrast to his other Gothic church work, represents a bold essay in the Romanesque style. It is a bold composition which is also distinguished by studious attention to detail, such as the carved stonework and tilework to the striking entrance porch, Bidlake drawing on native and north Italian architectural traditions.
Bryan Little, Birmingham Buildings: The Architectural Story of a Midland City. Newton Abbot, 1971.
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 490033
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 04-Jun-2026 at 06:01:08.
Download a full scale map (PDF)© Crown copyright [and database rights] 2026. OS AC0000815036. All rights reserved. Ordnance Survey Licence number 100024900.© British Crown and SeaZone Solutions Limited 2026. All rights reserved. Licence number 102006.006.
End of official list entry