Anglican Church Of All Saints (Formerly St Aiden)

An Anglican parish church built between 1893 and 1898 in a Perpendicular style by Thomas Frederick Proud (died 1901). The building is constructed from red brick with buff terracotta dressings and tile roofs.

Planning and Orientation

The church is orientated north-east to south-west but has been reorientated, so the ritual east end is now at the western end of the building. The plan comprises a nave with an apsidal western end (now the sanctuary), north and south aisles, a Lady Chapel at the eastern end of the north aisle, a guild chapel at the eastern end of the south aisle, two porches on the south side, and a further porch at the eastern end housing the current main entrance. The eastern end beyond the former chancel arch is now an entrance hall with meeting rooms to the north and south.

Exterior

The building sits on a moulded brick plinth with angle buttresses featuring two offsets and a moulded string course. Eaves mouldings and raised copings run along all sections. The nave is exceptionally lofty with narrow, lean-to aisles and tall two-light mullioned windows with Geometric tracery in the clerestory beneath a continuous drip mould. The aisles, divided by buttresses, are windowless.

The western end of the nave (now the east end) is apsidal with three-light windows with cusped heads. A bellcote sits at the gable end of the clerestory above. Two gabled porches are positioned on the south side: the larger, towards the western end, features four orders with its original drip mould supporting a canopied niche containing a statue. Below this are double doors under cusped ogival arches with Perpendicular tracery. A more modest secondary porch is located further towards the eastern end.

At the eastern end of the south side, adjoining the east end of the south aisle, stands the Guild chapel, a slightly higher block with a pitched roof, half-height buttresses with strip pilasters above, and lancets between. The east wall has a triple-lancet window with a drip mould. The main entrance is now at the eastern end of the building, accessed through a gabled porch in matching materials with a glazed round-arched opening.

Interior

The former chancel at the eastern end is now an entrance hall with an inserted ceiling and meeting hall above, and the chancel arch is glassed in. The canopy from the former choir stalls remains in place on the north side of the new entrance vestibule. Glass doors under the former chancel arch provide access to the body of the church.

The very high nave consists of four broad bays formed by four-centred arches on wide piers with attached columns. There is abundant decoration on the ceiling and upper wall surfaces. The rood beam, still in position at the former chancel arch, is of carved and polychrome timber surmounted by a Calvary by Frederick Bligh Bond (1864-1945).

The apsidal former baptistery at the western end of the building now serves as the sanctuary. The Lady Chapel at the eastern end of the north aisle features an intricately carved and pierced polychrome screen by Frederick Bligh Bond. Its gold-ground reredos commemorates the architect of the church. The Guild Chapel to the south has a similarly highly-decorative pierced and carved screen separating it from the aisle. Its east window, depicting Christ as the Good Shepherd, is by Bertram Lamplugh of the Birmingham School of Arts. The 15th-century font, situated at the rear of the worship space, was brought from the Church of St Stephen in Bristol.

Historical Context

Small Heath developed as a suburb during the second half of the 19th century due to industrial expansion, having originally been part of the large parish of Aston. A mission church dedicated to St Aidan was established in 1891, initially housed in a temporary iron church on a constrained garden site amid terraced housing. The congregation worshipped in the Anglo-Catholic 'High Church' tradition and grew rapidly.

By 1893, plans were made for a permanent church with greater capacity on the site. Thomas Frederick Proud designed the building, and the first section—comprising the chancel, south chapel, and two bays of the nave—was completed in 1894. The church was extended westward in two further phases, completed by the end of 1898.

Over the following decades, the church was embellished: a window by Bertram Lamplugh of the Birmingham School of Art was installed in 1907; a rood beam and screens for the north and south chapels and the creation of a Lady Chapel followed in 1910-12; and a new reredos for the high altar was added in 1921.

After the destruction of the mother church of All Saints during the Second World War, the parish was divided between St Aidan and St Gregory the Great. In 1994, as surrounding parishes had dwindled, St Aidan, St Oswald, St Gregory, and St Andrew were amalgamated into a single parish centred on the former St Aidan's site. The church was renamed All Saints to reflect this incorporation.

Between 1999 and 2001, the church underwent extensive reordering and alteration, involving reorientation of the space by 180 degrees. A new sanctuary was created in the former west baptistery and a new entrance at the east end through the former sanctuary. The chancel arch was glassed in and a new hall created at first-floor level above the former chancel. The adjacent clergy house, built in 1904 to a design by Arthur Dixon, was simultaneously converted to provide services for the church and office accommodation.

Significance

Known as 'The Cathedral of the Back Streets', the church is an outstanding example of late 19th-century building in brick and terracotta, characteristic of the best work in Birmingham during this period. The enormously lofty interior displays excellent spatial qualities enhanced by the vertical emphasis of Perpendicular tracery in the clerestory. The interior features well-crafted and intricate detailing with abundant decorative terracotta work and elaborate timber roof structures.

The artistic embellishments are of very high quality, including the important rood beam and Lady Chapel screen by Frederick Bligh Bond, glass by Bertram Lamplugh of the Birmingham School of Art, and additional work by John Hardman of Hardman and Co. Although the church was completely reorientated in 1999-2001, these changes have not seriously damaged its spatial coherence, and all its most important elements remain in place.