A Birmingham Heritage Week visit to St Alban's Church in Highgate

St Alban's Church in Highgate, Birmingham was open for free visits on Sunday 10th September 2023, as part of Birmingham Heritage Week / Heritage Open Days. The entrance was on Stanhope Street. The staff / volunteers were so welcoming, they gave you laminated information cards, including a map of the church. Plus you could have tea / coffee and biscuits in the church hall.

I caught the 50 bus up to Moseley Road in Balsall Heath, getting off near Moseley Road Baths, before walking to Highgate via Balsall Heath Road, then crossing at the lights near Birmingham Central Mosque. St Alban's Church was not that far away.

You can compare and contrast the church tower completed in 1938 at St Alban's Church to the new domes at the Birmingham Central Mosque extension completed in 2022.

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History of St Alban's Church

The church located at Conybere Street and Stanhope Street in Highgate was built from 1879 to 1881, and was designed by  John Loughborough Pearson.

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Both this church and Ark St Alban's Academy grew from a religious and educational mission started by the brothers James and Thomas Pollock in 1865.

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This was a developing area on the edge of Birmingham of factories and poor housing.

A tower and spire was added in 1938 by Edwin Francis Reynolds.

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The interior features stained glass east window by Henry Payne.

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In the south chapel is a copper Arts and Crafts triptych with painted panels by local artists Kate and Myra Bunce, and donated by them in 1919 in memory of their sisters and parents.

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The roof was completely renewed in 2020.

It has been a Grade II* listed building since 1952.

The church is open for heritage visits during Birmingham Heritage Week every September.

Exteriors of St Alban's Church

The approach to St Alban's Church from Highgate Street, then walked up Thomas Benson Place and James Samuel Place (cul-de-sac's named after the Pollock brothers, bollarded in the middle), to Conybere Street.

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The Birmingham Civic Society blue plaque for Kate Elizabeth Bunce was unveiled on Conybere Street in 2015. She crafted fine reredos for a chapel in this church with her sister Myra.

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The bottom of the tower with blue plaque.

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Main entrance on Stanhope Street, just up the steps, then open the door in the porch on the left.

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There is a memorial cross outside in memory of the founders of this church,  James Samuel Pollock and Thomas Benson Pollock. Which started in 1865, and finished by 1897.

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From Stanhope Street. The church also known as Saint Alban and St. Patrick Anglican- Catholic Tradition. But usually just as St Alban's Church.

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The church hall is to the rear of the church. Some heritage lampposts down this path.

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Church interiors

Just after entering, first look at the Victorian gothic architecture. Volunteers were to the right of here, they give you laminated information cards to read as you go around.

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A statue of St Alban the Martyr, whom this church was named after.

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A golden eagle lecturn for the vicar to give sermons from. Currently that is Dr Gerald Sykes (from 2017 to present).

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The High Altar is to the east of the church.

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The organ to the north side of the church, and close to the door, that leads to the church hall at the back.

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Wooden pulpit.

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Stained glass rose window to the west side of the church.

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Photos by Elliott Brown