St Clement's Church, Nechells
St Clement’s Church, Nechells | |
---|---|
52°29′58″N 1°52′1.5″W / 52.49944°N 1.867083°WCoordinates: 52°29′58″N 1°52′1.5″W / 52.49944°N 1.867083°W | |
Location | Nechells |
Country | England |
Denomination | Church of England |
History | |
Dedication | St Clement |
Consecrated | 1859 |
Architecture | |
Architect(s) | J.A. Chatwin |
Groundbreaking | 1859 |
Completed | 1860 |
Demolished | 1978 |
St Clement's Church, Nechells was a former parish church in the Church of England in Birmingham.[1]
History[]
The church was the first designed by the architect J.A. Chatwin.[2] It was consecrated by the Bishop of Worcester on 30 August 1859.[3]
Aris's Birmingham Gazette describes the building as a "handsome ecclesiastical edifice .... in the Geometric style of Gothic architecture", with accommodation for 852 persons. Its cost was £3500, including the architect's fee of £300. "Considering the outlay, the design is thought to be the most successful and one of the cheapest of the new Churches in Birmingham.".[4] An alternative categorization of St. Clement's architecture describes its "rose window, doorways and octagonal turret with gabled spirelet as being in the early Decorated style."[5]
Just over a century later, Nicholas Pevsner's comment on the building and its architect was "As usual with [Chatwin], a very thorough though uninspiring Gothic design".[6]
Two of Chatwin's architectural drawings for St Clement's, showing the ground plan and the gallery are available online.[7]
St Clement's became a parish in its own right when a parish was assigned out of St Matthew's Church, Duddeston and Nechells in 1860.[8] Part of the parish was taken in 1879 to form the parish of St Catherine's Church, Nechells.
The church was declared redundant in 1975 and demolished by 1978.
Organ[]
The church was equipped with a pipe organ by Bewsher and Fleetwood from St James’ Church, Liverpool. A specification of the organ can be found on the National Pipe Organ Register.[9]
References[]
- ^ N. Pevsner and A. Wood, The Buildings of England, Warwickshire, Penguin Books, 1966, p. 130. ISBN 0 14 071031 0
- ^ P. Ballard (ed), Birmingham's Victorian and Edwardian Architects, Oblong, 2009, p. 102. ISBN 978 0 9556576 2 7.
- ^ "Consecration of St Clement's Church, Nechells". Aris’s Birmingham Gazette. Birmingham. 5 September 1859.
- ^ "Consecration of St. Clement's Church Nechells", Aris's Birmingham Gazette, 5 September 1859.http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000196/18590905/016/0004 (Subscription required)
- ^ Ballard, p. 102
- ^ Pevsner and Wood p. 130. ISBN 0 14 071031 0
- ^ Church Plans On Line, St Clement Nechells.http://www.churchplansonline.org
- ^ W. Dargue, A History of Birmingham Churches from A-Y - St Clement Nechells. http://ahistoryofbirminghamchurches.jimdo.com/aston-ss-peter-paul/st-clement-nechells/
- ^ "NPOR [R02193]". National Pipe Organ Register. British Institute of Organ Studies. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
Further reading[]
- P. Ballard (ed), Birmingham's Victorian and Edwardian Architects, Oblong, 2009. ISBN 978 0 9556576 2 7
- P.B. Chatwin. Life Story of J.A.Chatwin 1830-1907, Oxford University Press, 1952.
- Church of England church buildings in Birmingham, West Midlands
- Churches completed in 1859