St Clement's Church, Nechells

St Clement’s Church, Nechells was a former parish church in the Church of England in Birmingham.[1]

St Clement’s Church, Nechells
52°29′58″N 1°52′1.5″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

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.

The surviving buildings of St Clement's on Stuart Street pictured in 2014 (with the church hall to the left of the main porch), now used by the Birmingham Victory Unity Centre.

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

1. N. Pevsner and A. Wood, The Buildings of England, Warwickshire, Penguin Books, 1966, p. 130. ISBN 0 14 071031 0
2. P. Ballard (ed), Birmingham's Victorian and Edwardian Architects, Oblong, 2009, p. 102. ISBN 978 0 9556576 2 7.
3. "Consecration of St Clement's Church, Nechells". Aris’s Birmingham Gazette. Birmingham. 5 September 1859.
4. "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)
5. Ballard, p. 102
6. Pevsner and Wood p. 130. ISBN 0 14 071031 0
7. Church Plans On Line, St Clement Nechells.http://www.churchplansonline.org
8. W. Dargue, A History of Birmingham Churches from A-Y - St Clement Nechells. http://ahistoryofbirminghamchurches.jimdo.com/aston-ss-peter-paul/st-clement-nechells/
9. "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.