Carrs Lane Church, Birmingham

Carrs Lane Church, also known as The Church at Carrs Lane is a church in Birmingham[1] and is noted as having the largest free-standing cross in the country.[2]

Carrs Lane Church
The church in April 2011
52°28′46.62″N 1°53′35.02″W
LocationBirmingham
CountryEngland
DenominationUnited Reformed and Methodist
Previous denominationCongregational
Architecture
Architect(s)Denys Hinton and Partners
Groundbreaking1968
Completed1971 (1971)

History

The church was founded as an independent chapel in 1748[3] and then enlarged in 1812 at a cost of £2,000 to seat 600 people, not least due to the popularity of the preaching of John Angell James.[4] A further enlargement was undertaken in 1820 to designs by the architect Thomas Stedman Whitwell, which was then re-fronted by Yeoville Thomason in 1876. The church became part of the Congregational Union in 1832.

The current building was begun in 1968 by Denys Hinton and Partners and completed in 1971. It became part of the United Reformed Church when the Presbyterian and Congregational churches merged in 1972. The church bears a blue plaque erected by Birmingham Civic Society in 1995 to commemorate Dr R. W. Dale, minister at Carrs Lane from 1854 until his death, and prominent preacher of the "Civic Gospel".

Since the closure of the Methodist Central Hall, Birmingham, the building has been shared with the Methodist Congregation, as a local ecumenical partnership under the name "The Church at Carrs Lane".[5]

Organ

The church has a pipe organ by Hill Norman and Beard dating from 1970. A specification of the organ can be found on the National Pipe Organ Register.[6]

Organists
  • Samuel Stanley 1792 - 1803 (afterwards organist at Ebenezer Church until 1822)
  • Adam Wright ???? - 1845 - 1876
  • William C. Stockley 1876 - 1889[7]
  • Walter Humphreys 1889[8] - 1895 (formerly organist of Wesley Chapel, West Bromwich)
  • C.H. Pett 1895 - 1901
  • Maurice Davies 1901 - ????
  • R.A. Ernest Payne ???? - 1915
  • Charles William Perkins 1915[9] - 1920
  • Graham Godfrey 1920 - 1930
  • Cyril Stanley Christopher 1930 - 1967

References
  1. The Buildings of England. Warwickshire, Nikolaus Pevsner. p.112
  2. "Carrs Lane History". Carrs Lane Church. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  3. "The Jubilee of Carrs Lane Church". Birmingham Daily Post. Birmingham. 26 September 1870. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  4. Thomas T. Harman (1885), Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham: A history and guide, arranged alphabetically: containing thousands of dates and references to matters of interest connected with the past and present history of the town – its public buildings, chapels, churches and clubs – its Friendly Societies and Benevolent Associations, philanthropic and philosophical institutions – its colleges and schools, parks, gardens, theatres, and places of amusement – its men of worth and noteworthy men, manufactures and trades, population, rates, statistics of progress, &c., &c., Cornish Brothers, p. 240, Wikidata Q66438509
  5. "A new church is born..." (PDF). Retrieved 6 October 2016.
  6. "NPOR [N07421]". National Pipe Organ Register. British Institute of Organ Studies. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  7. Handford, Margaret (1992). Sounds Unlikely. Six Hundred Years of Music in Birmingham. Birmingham and Midland Institute. p. 174. ISBN 0951442473.
  8. "Carr's Lane Chapel". Birmingham Daily Post. England. 9 October 1889. Retrieved 10 January 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  9. "Carrs Lane Church". Birmingham Daily Post. England. 13 March 1915. Retrieved 10 January 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
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