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Christ Church New Street

W

Wendy

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Christ_Churrch_from_Paradise_Street_1896.jpgChristchurch was situated at the junction of New Street and Colmore Row. This magnificent church was built in 1805 by public subscription. Christchurch was demolished in 1899. The bodies in the vault, including that of John Baskerville the printer were removed and re buried in Warstone Lane Cemetery. The statue in front of the church is that of Sir Robert Peel, founder of the police force.
 
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Christchurch

A view of the church from Paradise St. putting its location in bit better perspective.
To add to your info. Wendy,it was the first church in Birmingham to have free seating for the public, but the sexes were seperated.
This gave rise to the folowing epigram:
The churches in general we everywhere find
Are places where men to women are joined;
But at Christ Church it seems they are more cruel hearted,
For men and their wives are brought here to be parted.
 

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Although it had similar Roman columns as the town hall it seemed strangely out of place to me. Was neither a focus or embelishment. I wonder if I am the only one who finds it architecturally monstrous.
 
christ church from paradise st and christ church under demolision date 1899

lyn
 

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Yes, and if you look at those pictures you can make out the old Theater Royal in New Street (the white building I think...burned down a couple of times) and a windmill in the background (location I have forgotten at the moment) also the canal office at the coal wharf at the end of Paradise Street. I don't know, I think Christ Church was a disaster from any angle. Ah yes, the windmill would be at Holloway Head I think. If you look on the 1890 survey there is a Windmill St leading off the Horse Fair now Suffolk St Queensway just south of Holloway Head so presumably presumably it was at the end of that street.
Gone by 1890 seemingly. Anyway here is the map link if it is of interest :
https://www.british-history.ac.uk/m...d=10098&ox=1334&oy=2872&zm=1&czm=1&x=196&y=46

Maybe Exeter Passage ran around it. These little streets and passages are still with us today...parts of them anyway. If you GE it ...it will all look so familiar and you can draw a line from St Phillips Tower to it and see if the line runs by the Theater Royal in the same juxtaposition as the painting.

You can also see the turn in the canal that leads off to Worcester just above the round building with a bob of some sort on top. Have no idea what that building was. Maybe someone knows here. The canal seems to be running through countryside at that point then. Most of these old paintings give us a glimpse into the past and for the most part an attempt at accuracy was made I think.
 
Thanks for adding so much depth, Rupert. It was a real pleasure to look at the British History Online map for this area. It looks to me as though he has shown Birmingham Canal Co offices at the end of Paradise St.
 
Christ Church 1890s. This pic is almost certainly not new to BHF, but I am attaching it here for completeness.
 

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Yes, there is the oyster bar. A bit strange that but I wonder how much the building was used as a church by then. If you go to 'The canals of Birmingham' on here there is an 1800 sketch of the coal wharf office (reputed to be 1800 anyway). Have no way of verifying it. The Worcester canal was started late 1700s from Brum and finished about 1820s or so. So Worcester wharf would presumably have been there by then. The little twin arched office building is another matter.
 
More excellent stuff here.
When Christ Church had been built, coins of the realm for that year were put under the foundation stone. What happened to them?
Ted
 
Thanks Rupert for reminding me about the Canals thread. I see the Old Wharf sketch or engraving is reported as being dated as 1800, so perhaps the building is older than I had understood.
 
This picture seems to be relevant to this thread since the views of Christ Church are here. Anyway this is a picture of similar period St Phillips from the dome of which the previous pictures were painted presumably. You can see the Blue Coat School here and the old Colmore Row and across the church yard Cherry St. and fine old town houses that used to be there on Temple St. I find the inset more important though as it shows a very early appearance of the Old Square I think and it was indeed a square. It has been on here before but I can't find it now and there are many new members who may be interested. Anyway link below...

https://www.bmagic.org.uk/objects/1937V841

This picture is a cornerstone of my life as I walked up Cherry Street and across that churchyard every week day on my way to school for several years. It did not change much thank goodness.
 
At one time men & women were segregated at Christ Church for seating purposes, prompting the creation of the following rhyme:
Our churches & chapels we generally find
Are the places where men to the women are joined;
But at Christ Church it seems they are more cruel hearted
For men & their wives go there & get parted.

Source Showells Dictionary - thanks to Maggie for the link.
 
I thought this may be of interest copied from some microfiche I have of Christ Church burials.


John Baskerville.

Christ church catacombs

In these catacombs rest the remains of John Baskerville the famous printer. He died in 1775 but the place of his burial was unknown until April 12th 1893, when the opening of the unregistered catacomb no 521 disclosed a coffin which on further examination was found to contain his body. The remains were left intact and the coffin was replaced in the catacomb and the proper entry made in the burial register by the vicar.

There were present:

Alderman Lawley Parker Mayor

Oliver Pemberton M.D. coroner F.R.C.S.

A. Hill M.D. medical officer

W.S.Till Esq city surveyer

Sam Timmins Esq

T.H.Ryland Esq

Represetatives of the local press and others

Charles Byron Wilcox vicar

Albert Taylor

William Gay – Churchwardens
 
600 sounds reasonable then. We were wondering if the oyster bar was originally part of the catacombs and if the outer wall was part of a building that was demolished when the church was built. probably should be on this thread but the drawings were on another.
 
Have just come across a new (to me i think) photo of Christchurch, showing the oyster bar quite well. There seem to be some rather peculiar vehicles to the left with the group of people. I have enlarged and tried to sharpen that portion. Has anyone come accross that sort of thing before?. To me they almost resemble the rail wagons used in mines, but they obviously can't be that.
mike

Christchurch_new_st_shortly__before_demolition.jpg
 
They look like the three wheeled carriages,that were used a lot,although,these seem to be made of wood,the ones I remember were basket.
We used to hire them from Parliment St in Aston.
And that is a great photo.Mike.
 
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Hello Mike,They look like wicker baskets on wheels,i would guess for carrying fish or seafood(like the old fishing creels).My G,Grandad was a fishmonger,this picture shows him plying his trade around 1900.Moss.View attachment 58399
 
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