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Church of the Messiah, Birmingham

{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2024}}

{{Use British English|date=August 2013}}

{{Infobox church

|name = Church of the Messiah

|image = Church of the Messiah, Broad Street, Birmingham.jpg

|imagealt =

|landscape =

|caption = Former Church of the Messiah, Broad Street, Birmingham.

|coordinates = {{coord|52.47792|-1.91102|region:GB-BIR_type:landmark|display=inline,title}}

|location = Broad Street, Birmingham

|country = England

|denomination = Unitarian

|founded date =

|dedication =

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|events =

|architect = John Jones Bateman

|architectural type =

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|groundbreaking = 1860

|completed date = {{Start date|1862}}

|construction cost = £10,000

|demolished date = {{End date|1978}}

|capacity = 950 people

|length = {{convert|106|ft|m}}

|width = {{convert|65|ft|m}}

|width nave =

|height = {{convert|150|ft|m}}

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The Church of the Messiah, Birmingham was a Unitarian place of worship on Broad Street. The impressive Victorian Gothic church was constructed between 1860-1862 and straddled the Birmingham Canal. The congregation pre-dates the building, and has continued following its demolition in 1978. Those who worshipped there include politicians of local and national importance.

History

The foundation of the congregation goes back to 1692 when the first meeting house was built, afterwards known as the Lower Meeting House, Deritend. When the congregation outgrew this in 1732, they moved into a new chapel in Moor Street. By the 1860s this was also too small so a new church was commissioned. The Moor Street chapel was sold to a Roman Catholic congregation, and became St Michael's Church.

The new Church of the Messiah was built to designs by the architect John Jones Bateman, the contractors being George Branson and Edwin Gwyther.The building contract and other related papers are held in the Library of Birmingham. The foundation stone was laid on 11 August 1860 and the church opened on 1 January 1862,Birmingham Journal, Saturday 4 January 1862. at a cost of £10,000. The site was unusual in that it straddled the Birmingham Canal,{{Cite book|last=Bartlam|first=Norman|title=Broad Street Birmingham|publisher=Sutton|year=2002|isbn=0-7509-2874-3}} forming part of the Broad Street canal tunnel.

Early members of the congregation included members of the Martineau family{{cite book|last1=Briggs|first1=Asa|title=Victorian Cities|date=24 March 1993|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_mWoFbgJsg8C&q=church+of+the+messiah+martineau+birmingham&pg=PA202|publisher=University of California Press | page=202|isbn=9780520079229}} who would produce many Birmingham Lord Mayors throughout the 19th and 20th centuries{{cite web|last1=Wharton|first1=Jane|title=Kate Middleton is a Brummie and related to former prime minister|date=3 June 2014 |url=http://www.express.co.uk/news/royal/479939/Kate-Middleton-is-a-Brummie-and-related-to-Neville-Chamberlain|publisher=UK Daily Express – 3 June 2015|access-date=24 July 2015}} and Samuel Carter.{{Cite web|url=http://uudb.org/articles/samuelcarter.html|title=Samuel Carter|website=Dictionary of Unitarian and Universalist Biography|access-date=20 March 2018|archive-date=20 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180320171112/http://uudb.org/articles/samuelcarter.html|url-status=dead}} Joseph Chamberlain, and his son Neville Chamberlain, prime minister 1937–1940, attended services in this church.

The congregation moved to purpose-built premises at Five Ways in 1973.

Organ

An organ was provided by Nicholson of Worcester in 1862, but by 1882 the congregation had commissioned a new one from William Hill and Son at a cost of £1571.Pipes and Actions. Laurence Elvin. 1995 This was rebuilt by Nicholson's in 1923. A specification of the organ can be found on the National Pipe Organ Register.[https://archive.today/20130419082153/http://npor.emma.cam.ac.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch.cgi?Fn=Rsearch&rec_index=N07415 National Pipe Organ Register]

Several newspaper sources suggest that the 1862 organ was built and erected by Halmshaw and Sons, who then advertised for sale an earlier organ from the Moor street Chapel, refer to Talk section for more details of this.https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/search/results/1862-01-01/1862-01-31?basicsearch=halmshaw%2borgan&somesearch=halmshaworgan&exactsearch=false&retrievecountrycounts=false {{Bare URL inline|date=August 2024}}

Ministers

Organists

  • John Gilbert Mills, ca. 1923

References

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{{BirminghamBuildings}}

Category:Churches in Birmingham, West Midlands

Category:Churches completed in 1862

Category:Unitarian chapels in England

Messiah

Category:1692 establishments in England

Category:Buildings and structures demolished in 1978

Category:Demolished buildings and structures in the West Midlands (county)