Church of St Mary

Summary

Church constructed in 1888 to the designs of J A Chatwin, altered and extended in the C20.

Reasons for Designation

The Church of St Mary, Bearwood, erected in 1888 to the designs of J A Chatwin, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural Interest:
* the interior of the church has a striking design and is well executed with a limestone column arcade contrasting from the brick details;
* the church retains a good proportion of high-quality fittings, including the richly decorated altar by H W Hobbiss with altar table with relief carvings and intricately carved reredos and panelling;
* the church is well designed and its simple exterior remains cleverly massed, the understated design reflecting the limited budget for the build.

Historic Interest:
* the church was designed by J A Chatwin, with the C20 altar by H W Hobbiss, both prominent and well-regarded architects of the period.

History

The need for a church in the area of Bearwood, Birmingham arose largely from a rapid increase in the local population during the late C19, with the area previously largely rural in nature. The Church of St Mary’s was constructed in around 1888 to the designs of Julius Alfred Chatwin and was consecrated in May of that year. The total cost of the building was estimated to be around £3,400. The planned south-east tower was never completed, presumably due to financial difficulties, with a newspaper article of 1888 noting that at that time there was a deficiency of funds between £400-£500. The Reverend of the new church was Henry Tilley, who was later commemorated with a stained-glass window by Thomas William Camm on the south aisle of the church.

The interior of the church underwent some alteration in the early C20 with a new reredos and altar installed by Holland W Hobbiss in 1928. In the mid-C20 the church was extended to the north with a new vestry erected. The church’s organ by Nicholson and Lord was replaced in 1952 by a Compton Organ with the original organ case retained.

Details

Church constructed in 1888 to the designs of J A Chatwin, altered and extended in the C20.

MATERIALS: constructed of brick with limestone dressings under a mixture of clay-tiled and slate roofs.

PLAN: the church is oriented west to east. A former Sunday School located to the west is attached by C20 additions and not included.

EXTERIOR: the church is situated on the prominent corner of Bearwood Road and St Mary’s Road and is early English gothic revival in style with tall lancet windows. The church has simple stone banding with the brick laid in Flemish bond. The east elevation has a large projecting gable with tripartite lancet windows with continuous stone hood moulding. The church has shallow angle buttresses capped with stone. To the right (north) is the C20 former vestry.

The south elevation features the square-plan, incomplete tower at the east end with the nave and south aisle of the church projecting to the west. The tower block is topped with a brick belfry. The west-east range has four pairs of lancet windows with trefoil heads at clerestory level with a similar arrangement on the lean-to south aisle below. At the very west end is a small entrance porch with an apse to the rear (north). The west elevation of the church features a large tracery window above the apse with stone hood mould and a brick parapet topped with a stone cross final. The north elevation of the church is identical to the south with nave and north aisle containing pairs of windows. To the left (east) is the C20 vestry with flat-roofed entrance.

INTERIOR: the nave of the church is a tall, lofty space with the aisle arcade featuring squat limestone columns with moulded capitals supporting gothic brick arches with stone moulding above. The stone banding used on the exterior is continued in the nave with a pair of stone bands running at clerestory level and across the aisles. The church contains C19 floor tiling in both the nave and chancel. The nave contains fixed bench pews with plain, chamfered ends. Above the nave a crown-post roof has tie and collar beams with upper braces with the trusses supported by stone corbels. The chancel roof has a scissor brace construction. The tall gothic chancel arch is stone supported by clustered piers. The chancel features an Arts and Crafts altar table and reredos by H W Hobbiss. The altar features relief sculptures of angels facing the monogram of Christ with the surrounding decorative work by sculptors Pancheri and Hack. The chancel contains panelling and has a carved foliate frieze. A small stone piscina with trefoil arch is situated to the right (south) of the altar. There is a wrought iron altar rail and late-C19 stone pulpit with tracery detail. The tripartite lancet windows above the altar contain stained glass by Charles Kempe, installed in 1904 in memory of soap factory owner George Adkins and his wife Anne. The church’s organ is situated on the south wall of the chancel.

The aisles of the church contain further pews with simple stained glass within the quatrefoil tracery windows. The south aisle contains stained glass at its east end by Thomas W Camm, commemorating Reverend Henry Tilley, installed in December 1905. The south aisle leads to the unfinished tower at the south-east end of the building, containing a vestry with original inbuilt storage with panelled doors on the north wall. The north aisle leads to the C20 vestry extension now containing a kitchen and storage room.

At the west end of the church a small apse contains the baptistery with fixed timber seating around the perimeter, installed in the late C20. The seating surrounds the marble font which is an octagonal design supported by four columns. The baptistery walls contain four small stained-glass windows, installed in 1910 and noted by a nearby plaque as being ‘Subscribed for by the Sunday School Teachers & Scholars’. The glass is by Florence Camm, daughter of Thomas W Camm. A small south porch adjacent to the baptistery contains a scissor brace roof structure to mirror the chancel and acts as the main entrance to the church.

A door from the west end of the north aisle leads to an additional small porch, the external door with large decorative iron straps. This leads to the former Sunday School (not included).

Sources

Websites
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: 'Chatwin, Julius Alfred', accessed 4 July 2023 from https://www.oxforddnb.com/search?q=chatwin&searchBtn=Search&isQuickSearch=true

Other
Ordnance Survey Map 1904.
A Foster, N Pevsner & A Wedgwood, ‘The Buildings of England: Birmingham and the Black Country’ - Date: 2022 - pp 579-580
The Birmingham Daily Mail, 'Consecration of a New Church at Smethwick', 5 May 1888.

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