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Cannon Street Meeting House

W

Wendy

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I thought I would start a thread on this important building. The mural tablets from the Meeting House were taken to Key Hill Chapel but I suppose they were lost after it was demolished.

This is a drawing of the first meeting house before it was destroyed in the riots.

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Here are some drawings of the last building after it was re- built. I have also included a copy of a couple of memorial inscriptions taken from the old gravestones before demolition
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Wendy, I wondered where this meeting house was as I had never heard of it before. What was the meeting house used for?.....Meetings? :rolleyes: and if so who by?
It is very interesting for me to see the inscriptions - at the moment I am trying to find the connection between Arthur Ryland and myself.
Polly :)
 
I think it was an early Non Conformist Church this is why there is a connection to Key Hill Cemetery.
 
Sue, from Joseph McKenna's book in The Midst Of Life; Cannon Street Chapel, A baptist chapel opened in 1738. In the burial register of St Martin's there is an entry dated 6th May 1740, which reads, "Mary Inman, at New Meeting Yard". The last burial here was in 1860. In 1873 the graveyard was closed by order of the Council. Six years later the site was required for the cutting of Corporation Street and the remains of 142 bodies were transferred to Witton Cemetery. Here they were re- interred in a rectangular plot west of the Nonconformist Chapel.
 
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Wendy
I think it was unitarian. There is an article, which i have a copy of for some reason, from midland history, concerning it. Not sure how i got it, I didn't pay, but it says, at a quick glance that it was the first nonconformist chapel built after the were permitted. Will have a proper read ands post anything thta seems relevent (it is by a professional historian and is a bit heavy
Mike
 
That's interesting Mike as Joseph Chamberlain was a Unitarian.
 
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I have to disagree, Mike, I think Wendy is right and it was Baptist. The husband of Mary Smith Rogers who was one of the founders of the Women's Hospital and a saver of fallen women, was a leading figure at this church, and he was Baptist. I am writing this down from memory, as although I have lots of records, I cannot put my hand on all of them, as some are in the loft, so not swift to find. Mary Smith Rogers and her husband are buried at Key Hill.

The mural tablets from the walls of Cannon Street were probably destroyed after Key Hill chapel was demolished. They commemorated the lives of Rev James Tuner, Rev Samuel Pearce, MA, Rev Isiah Birt, Rev Thomas Morgan, Rev Thoms Swan, and Thomas King.

Shortie
 
I have just found some of the records I wanted - William Rogers was a 'consistent worker in non-conformity - especially among the Baptist Churches and distinguished himself as Chairman of the Trust Fund in connection with the sale of Cannot Street Chapel'. He was an architect and builder by trade.

Shortie
 
The Victoria County History (aka British History on-line) has some information on Cannon St Chapel.
The first Baptist congregation, known as 'General Baptists', was formed in 1729 and met in Freeman Street. They were also called Arminian Baptists.
In 1736, Mr John Atwood registered his house in High Street as the meeting place for the Particular or Calvinistic Baptists.
The Cannon Street Chapel was opened in 1738, but there were two breakaway movements. However the congregation was reunified in 1754, only to be split by another secession in 1784-6.
In 1788, the Cannon Street congregation numbered 242.
The Chapel was cleared in 1879 for rebuilding. There is or was a Cannon Street Memorial Chapel in Handsworth.
Wendy's pictures are of the Old Meeting House in Old Meeting Street, which was vaguely Presbyterian at first but soon became Unitarian.
Peter
 
It seems from the old book I have on the burials, the original building was the Presbyterian Old Meeting House. It also has a list of Mayors of Birmingham (Unitarian) some of whom ancestors lie in the Old Meeting House graveyard. I think it was Non Conformist and several denominations shared the chapel maybe this came about after they were demolished in the riots.

This is an inscription from a brass plaque which was once in the Chapel.
To the revered memory of the founders of this church. William Turton, M.A. it's first minister who was ejected from the parish church in Rowley Regis by the act of uniformity A.D. 1662. Thomas Baldwin ejected from Clent and William Fincher ejected from Wednesbury, in whose names the first meeting house erected on this site was licensed July 6th, A.D. 1689.
 
Sorry Peter I posted after your information but it seems we are along the same lines.
 
Shortie
You are correct. the 1855 PO directory lists theb meeting house in Cannon st as Baptist. i was confusing it with the old meeting house in old meeting st.
Mike
 
Easily done, Mike - there were so many small churches for dissenters in days gone by. Birmingham was the centre of non-conformism, so it's very easy to get a bit mixed up, especially with some having similar names.

Shortie
 
This is very interesting, my Redding ancestry shows many of them being baptised or married here, and I've found buriels at Key Hill.
 
My Gt Gt grandfather was baptised at Cannon Street Meeting house at the turn of the 19th Century. No marriages could take place then of course, as the church was not recognised by the Anglican church. By the time my Grandfather's children were born he had moved away from the Baptists and they were all christened into the COE.
The records of Cannon Street show both birth and baptism dates.
 
I was hoping to get a look of the Cannon Street Meeting House but sadly the thumbnails didn't respond trying to open them. I had Baptist ancestors living and working at 7 Bull Street in the early 1840s and have been trying to work out the nearest Baptist chapel - maybe it would have been Cannon Street.
 
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