Acocks Green Congregational church

The Congregationalists were the first to have a purpose-built chapel in Acocks Green (in 1827) and also the first to construct a major church building (in 1860). The Church of England had a chapel at Hall Green by 1704 and a Parish church at Yardley, but it was the Congregationalists who made the first impact as Acocks Green started to develop after the coming of the railway in 1852. Congregationalism had one feature which may have attracted the businessmen who came to settle in Acocks Green in the 1850s and 1860s. Each church ran its own affairs, and the minister did not have the authority that a Church of England vicar had. That may have appealed to men who were accustomed to taking responsibility and making decisions. In addition, there was a strong element of debate and intellectual investigation in Congregationalism. This can only have been enhanced by the presence of Spring Hill College for Congregational Ministers at Moseley from 1856. The first pastor of the church was Rev. Dr. Richard Alliott from the College. The second pastor was also from there.  Elsewhere we describe those building up the area as pioneers. Later, as Acocks Green matured into a high-class suburb, the Acocks Green Institute, probably the greatest sign of Acocks Green's then prestige, was born in the late 1870s. An article written in 1905, looking back to the 1860s, stated that the Institute arose out of the local Congregational young men's debating society.

The relationship with the parish church in the early nineteenth century is interesting, as are the efforts at this time to bring their version of the Word of God to the parishioners. The ones who came into Yardley in the early years of the nineteenth century were 'missionaries' from Carrs Lane. By 1814 they were distributing leaflets in the village, seeking to fill a gap they perceived there was in promoting Christianity in the area. They opened a Sunday school in a nearby barn in 1820. The Brougham Education Bill of that year brought out a considerable degree of disquiety. Dissenters did not want to be taxed for the benefit of proposed schools which were to be under the control of local Church of England parish priests. Both financially and in terms of religious freedom the proposals were seen as a threat to what had been achieved, locally by Carrs Lane. An example of negativity towards the work of the Congregationalists is what was said about their efforts in Yardley by Rev. Joseph Fell in 1819:

"A Sunday school supported by Dissenters, in which thirty-one boys and twenty-four girls are instructed. The poorer classes are entitled to have their children educated free of expense at the endowed schools; but the master of the school at Yardley will not take their boys till they can read, nor the girls under any circumstances, without being paid for their instruction; in which case they are obliged to send them to the Dissenters' schools, the masters of which use both threats and allurements to induce the children to attend the school and forsake the Church. The preceding Dissenters belong to the meeting-house in Carr-Lane, at which a society called the Hampden Club was held; and in Birmingham there is a set of men who have formed themselves into a society for the instruction of children into their own principles who, on a Sunday, go out in all directions from thence to teach the country villagers in its vicinity."

The Hampden Club was a Radical organisation, which was seen widely as seditious and dangerous. Carrs Lane denied this accusation.

After coming to an arrangement with the new vicar, Rev. Henry Gwyther, who came to St. Edburgha's in 1821, they moved to a cottage in Tyseley, then built a chapel on Stockfield Lane in 1827. The coming of the railway to Acocks Green in 1852 attracted men with money to Acocks Green, and that resulted after only a few years in the construction of a church designed by no less a figure than Yeoville Thomason, of Birmingham Council House and Art Gallery fame. A newspaper article covering the laying of the foundation stone is very revealing:

The Birmingham Journal, Saturday August 13, 1859, page 6 

Acocks Green Independent Chapel 

Laying of the Foundation Stone 

The ceremony of laying the first stone of the Congregational Chapel, intended to be erected at Acock’s Green, was performed on Thursday afternoon, by the Rev. J. Angell James, under very auspicious circumstances.  A large number of persons from the neighbourhood and from Birmingham were present, it being calculated that not less than 700 persons were on the spot. Among them were the Revds. R. Ann (Handsworth), J. Hammond, G.B. Johnson, P. Sibree, J. Harte (Incumbent of Hall Green), T.M. Newnes (Warley); Alderman Allday; Councillors Hawkes and Truman; Messrs. H. Wright (Saltley), Cooke, Graham, Baxter, Balleny, J. Smith, Mander, Noakes, Cope, Worsey, Whittle, Barker, Crowley, J. Hinks, Wells, R.H. Taylor, J. Suffield, Done, Bromley, Williams, Robotham, Hopkins, T. Short, J.C. Abbott, Jennings, W. Perkins, Humble, Pemble and Purrott. It may be well to premise that the sacred edifice will be in the Decorated style of the fourteenth century. Externally, the material employed in the construction is white brick, with ornamental portions worked in of red and blue bricks, Bath stone being freely used to the windows, doors, buttresses, &c. A handsome four-light window will be placed in the west elevation, and a tower and spire at the south angle. The spire will be of timber, and covered with parti-coloured slates, blue and green, and, with the tower, will be ninety feet in height. Internally, the building will be lighted on each side by four two-light windows, have an open roof, framed with arched principals, supported upon moulded stone corbels – without galleries – and will provide accommodation for four hundred and fifty persons. The cost of erection will amount to £1,750. The whole is from the designs of Mr. Yeoville Thomason, of Bennett’s Hill, and was selected in a limited competition. The builders are Messrs. W. And B.N. Smith, of the Crescent. 

The proceedings were commenced by the singing of an hymn, which was followed by the reading of the 134^th Psalm, by the Rev. J. Hammond. 

The Rev. J. A. James, standing near the stone, then addressed the assembly. Having read a note from the Rev. H. Gwyther, Vicar of Yardley, who was unable to be present owing to absence from home and indisposition in his family, he went on to remark that they were assembled for the purpose of laying the foundation stone of a house to be erected on that spot for the worship of Almighty God according to the doctrines and polity of the Congregational Dissenters in the preaching of the Everlasting Gospel. On that occasion, and on all others of a similar nature, they were reminded of the four greatest events that ever occurred in the history of the world or of our country. They were reminded that “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son,” and promised that “Whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life;” but for which there would have been no places of worship in the globe. They were reminded of the introduction of Christianity into this country, and but for this they might have been at that very day have been participating in the orgies of Druidism, and offering hecatombs to false gods. They were reminded of the revolution of the sixteenth century, when England was delivered from the dominion of the Stuarts, and religious liberty was established; and fourthly, the passing of the Act of Toleration, which accorded to everybody the privilege of sitting under his own vine and fig tree, and of worshipping God after his own conscience. Thus they were delivered from what would have been an hindrance to events such as the one they were then met to celebrate. They were, moreover, reminded of all that as Christians they owed to God. They were at that moment basking in a glorious sunshine, and surrounded by the rich plentiful harvest which Providence had granted to them; but better than all, they were under the genial and holy influence of the Sun of Righteousness. About forty years ago several friends belonging to the congregation of Carr’s Lane, constrained by a love of Christ, and concerned for immortal souls, came to preach the glad tidings of salvation in that village. At that time the inhabitants were not favoured as they now were with Evangelical ministrations in their parish church. Error and not truth was at that time proclaimed publicly, unblushingly, and without rebuke from the pulpit of the Church of England in that neighbourhood; many discontinued their attendance at their services and it was out of pity for the condition of the neighbourhood that the friends of whom he had spoken came to preach the word of life at Acock’s Green. As Dissenters they were not bound by canonical law, territorial limit, or by Act of Parliament, but they could preach God’s word wherever they thought it was needed and where it was likely to be useful. When the present pious and catholic spirited minister of the parish church came to preach there they thought seriously of retiring and leaving the work completely to him, supposing as they did that their efforts would be no longer necessary, and if he remembered rightly some negotiations were entered into with the reverend gentleman on the subject. Mr Gwyther, however, with that catholicity of spirit for which he was so distinguished, rather wished them to continue there and to aid him in promoting the spiritual and eternal welfare of the parishioners, which, in fact, they did claim to do. The doctrines they had preached in the old chapel and those they intended to preach in the new one, were precisely those which week by week Mr. Gwyther was in the habit of dispensing from his place of ministerial service. Therefore they were fellow-workers together in the husbandry of the Lord, both worked in the same farm – he in the episcopal and they in the congregational field, separated only by a hedge so low that they could look at each other over it – not with an eye of jealousy but of true Christian divinity. From the commencement of Mr. Gwyther’s labours in that parish he had ever looked kindly upon them; he had not unfrequently been found at their meetings, he had contributed a handsome sum towards the erection of the new chapel, and he would have been amongst them on that occasion had it not been for the circumstances mentioned in the note he (Mr. James) had just read. The necessity for erecting the new chapel arose from the fact that a large number of respectable and somewhat wealthy families connected with Carr’s Land and Ebenezer chapels had come to reside in that village. Their villas were spreading around the locality, ornaments to the place, and sheltering those who would doubtless be a blessing to it. They, of course, had found it inconvenient to go to worship at Ebenezer or Carr’s Lane, and naturally wished to have some place near their domiciles. They had therefore come forward generously and contributed to the edifice now commenced; and not only they, but he might say that in praise of the liberality of the inhabitants, many of those who were members of the Church of England. He had often heard it remarked as a taunt to nonconformists that theirs was “a religion of barns.” He, for one, had no antipathy to it on that account, for when they considered that the great founder of religion was in a stable, and that in default of a cradle they laid him in a manger, they need not heed the taunt. The time was, however, coming when this taunt could no longer be applied. Not that he did not believe that true religion in a barn was more acceptable to God than false doctrine in a cathedral; but when circumstances admitted of the change from the “barn” to the chapel it would be an insult to Almighty God not to take advantage of them. Therefore, they were on that occasion, amongst others, ascending to something more elegant. He was told they were not only to have a spire to the new chapel, but also a bell, so that they were coming at last to what the Quakers call “steeple houses.” There was a little ambition in these modern times for architectural adornment in their places of worship; but it must not be forgotten that it was the truth, and the truth alone, that could convert the souls of men. The organ’s solemn peal, the “dim religious light,” the storeyed windows, the lofty columns, the pointed arches, the groined roof, and the Mosaic pavement, never yet converted a soul to God, nor turned a sinner to the practice of righteousness, but the truth had turned millions, and would turn millions more. In the new chapel would be preached the adorable Trinity; they held the proper divinity of our Lord; the divinity and personality of the Holy Spirit; they held and preached the doctrine of justification by faith with works in the sight of God and the regeneration and sanctification by the Holy Spirit of the unrenewed heart of man. They were therefore quite in harmony with the doctrines and articles of the Church of England, and he might say for himself that were he to set his hand to any other formulary he would rather choose that of the Church of England, apart of course from what related to Ecclesiastical Governance, than any other he knew of. They intended then to preach those great truths not with the view of making people dissenters, for they must observe these doctrines embodied both Churchmanship and Dissent. All that would be done there would be by the voluntary principle; it was not intended as a battery against the parish church but of additional good to the inhabitants, and he hoped the future minister would be enabled to act in perfect harmony with Mr. Gwyther. In conclusion Mr. James fervently trusted that the worship of both congregations would be acceptable to God. 

The ceremony of laying the stone was then performed, a handsome silver trowel, bearing an appropriate inscription, being presented to Mr. James for the purpose. Underneath the stone were deposited several contemporaneous publications, and in a cavity cut in its upper surface was placed a glass bottle containing the various coins of the realm. The usual formalities having been observed the rev. gentleman declared the stone well and truly laid. The Doxology was then sung, and the interesting proceedings were brought to a conclusion by a dedication prayer by the Rev. Mr. Johnson. The company afterwards partook of tea under a couple of spacious marquees contiguous to the site. The repast was provided entirely by the ladies, the price of the tickets being entirely devoted to the building fund. Afterwards the meeting was briefly addressed by the Rev. Mr. James, the Rev. Mr. Harte, Mr. Pemble and Mr. Mines. The collection realised about £22, making the result of the day’s receipts, inclusive of tea tickets, about £50. The trustees of the chapel are Messrs. Cooke, Baxter, Balleny, Graham, John Smith, Mander, Noakes, Cope, and T. Smith James.

The church opened on 20 June 1860. It must have been a striking sight at the junction of Stockfield Road and the Warwick Road, with its slim tall spire.

A report appeared on 23 June 1860 in Aris's Birmingham Gazette

ACOCK’S GREEN INDEPENDENT CHAPEL. The new place of worship erected on the Warwick Road, Yardley, by members of the congregation of Carr’s Lane Chapel and the residents at Acocks’s Green, was opened on Wednesday. In the morning there was a numerous congregation, when the Rev. R. Ann, of Handsworth, conducted the service; and the Rev. R.D. Wilson, of Ebenezer Chapel, preached from the text, “And I, if I be lifted up from the death, will draw all men unto me.” The collection amounted to upwards of £50. In the evening the service was conducted by the Rev. John Hammond, and a sermon preached by the Rev. G.B. Johnson, of Edgbaston Chapel. 

The chapel was erected from the designs and under the superintendance of Mr. Yeoville Thomason, architect, of Bennett’s Hill, by Messrs. Smith, builders, Crescent. The chapel is 66 feet long by 35 feet wide, and will accommodate 450 persons in pews and free sittings. There are no galleries, though arrangements are made for the erection of one at the west end when required. The style chosen is the Geometrical Gothic. The interior is worked with Rugby bricks, with string courses and bands of red and blue bricks; the arches to the doors and windows are of moulded bricks, in colours. The window tracery, buttresses, and gables are worked with Bath stone. The west front has a lofty gable, pierced with a four-light window; the side windows are of two lights, with tracery in the heads. At the south west angle is a tower of three stories, the lower one forming the principal entrance to the chapel. Above the tower rises a spire to the height of 85 feet. The interior has an open timbered roof of arched principals, with curved braces, resting upon moulded stone corbels; the rafters are all wrought, and the spaces between them plastered. At the east end is a canopied platform, rising to a height of nearly 20 feet. The seats are all low, and the woodwork throughout is stained and varnished. The windows are glazed with etched glass in large squares, the usual leadwork being dispensed with. An efficient warming apparatus has been provided, and the whole of the work has been carried out in a thoroughly substantial manner.

 Below is an extract from a 1905 article about the early years of the church:

Methodists opened a chapel on Shirley Road in 1863, and the Anglicans, who had grouped together to seek their own church in 1864, opened the first part of St. Mary's church in 1866. Despite further building periods over the next half-century, it never got its tower and spire. Methodists got their extension with spire in 1882.

The Congregational church was licensed for marriages on 4 September 1861. Lectures were held in the schoolroom, for example in 1862 a visiting American came to talk about slavery. In 1864 one of the Trustees, Edward Baxter of Sherbourne Road, was leading an appeal to reduce the debt on the building. A bazaar was also held to help to clear the debt in January 1867. Co-operation with Rev. Gwyther continued, for example in work on the Yardley and Acocks Green branch of the British and Foreign Bible Society. A new organ and gallery were added in June 1866. The original chapel was used as a school from the late 1850s.

The church  was enlarged in 1895, with a new schoolroom building.

The Birmingham Daily Post, Wednesday October 2^nd, 1895, page 5 

Reopening of Acock’s Green Congregational church 

The Acock’s Green Congregational Church, which has recently been enlarged, was reopened today. In the afternoon a social gathering was held in the new schoolroom, which was prettily decorated for the occasion; while in the evening there was a special reopening service, at which a sermon was preached by the Rev. Dr. John Hunter, of Glasgow. Both the gathering and the special service were largely attended. The enlargement of the church consists of the addition of two transepts, whilst the lighting of the interior has also been materially improved by the provision of a new stained-glass window and the enlargement of a window in the west end.  The organ has been renovated and four new stops added, and it has been removed from its original position behind the pulpit to the north transept. A new pulpit in oak has also been erected in the church. A large new schoolroom, with numerous classrooms, has been built. The school hall is 60ft. 9in by 27ft., divided by roof trusses into four bays, one end bay having Clarke’s revolving wood shutters in sections, so that it may be shut off as an infants’ classroom. Grouped around the hall are four classrooms. Two rooms for young men and young women, cloakrooms, bookrooms, and stores, and the two vestries before mentioned; while at the rear is a large room for ladies’ meetings, with cloakroom and lavatory adjoining, and a properly fitted-up tea or cutting-up room, with tea boiler room below communicating by a lift. Two approaches are provided to the recreation hall in case of panic or other need. The church and school buildings throughout are erected to harmonise with the older part, the style being English Early decorated. Underneath the school is a basement of considerable size, part of which it is intended to use for the purpose of a recreation-room for the children. A fireproof room has also been constructed in the basement for the use of the woodcarving class. The alterations have cost about £3,100., and towards that sum £1,000. has been raised. The increased accommodation of the church will be 93 sittings, allowing 20in. for each person throughout, but if the allowance is calculated at but 18in. each the gain would be 125. Collections will be made at the special services to be held during the month. The attendance at the social gathering yesterday was not confined to the members of the congregation, many well-known Presbyterians, Baptists and Wesleyans taking part in the proceedings. The Rev. Dr. D. W. Simon, of Bradford, is announced to preach on Sunday.

The church relinquished its marriage certificate in August 1956. The church was sold to the Bible Pattern Church Fellowship, becoming Warwick Road City Temple. It was demolished c. 1973 and replaced in the 1980s by an extension to Colliers' motor dealership.

David Powell of the Congregational Library in London drew our attention to the Surman Index of Congregationalist Ministers. Rev. Dr. Richard Alliott — president of Spring Hill College — became the first pastor of the church. He died at the end of 1863, and was succeeded by Professor George Burden Bubier from the College. He was pastor from 1864 to 1869.

The last minister appears to have been Rev. James Donald Cullingford from 1952.

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