Anglican Church Of St Faith And St Laurence

ANGLICAN CHURCH OF ST FAITH AND ST LAURENCE

An Anglican church in an Arts and Crafts-influenced Romanesque style, designed by Philip Boughton Chatwin and built in two phases between 1937-8 and 1958-60. The building is prominently sited on the corner of Croftdown Road and Balden Lane as part of a planned suburban development in Harborne, Birmingham.

The church is constructed from soft brown brick laid in a variation of Flemish Garden Wall bond, with slate roofs. The exterior is robust in character, with brick elevations set on a moulded brick plinth and a brick dentil frieze to the eaves. Plain brick pilasters express the bay structure of the long elevations. Round-arched triple lancets light the aisles, with groups of three similar windows featuring a taller central element to the clerestory. All windows have surrounds of concave-moulded brick. The chancel is set slightly below the roof line of the nave and terminates in an apsidal east end, with a string course along the sills of the clerestory windows. The rectangular ground floor has a canted first floor with hipped roofs to the outshuts created. The broad, square tower features a pyramidal roof, round-arched openings, and diaper work in the upper stage. The main entrance, at the base of the tower, comprises double plank doors with elaborate scrolled strap hinges, set into a round-arched doorway with stone dressings and a stone-faced tympanum.

The interior combines exposed brick with plastered concrete. Five-bay arcades are formed from plain round arches rising from square piers of reinforced concrete, which also serve as springers for solid semicircular diaphragm arches supporting the roof, ceiled at collar level with applied box decoration. Clerestory windows are set within exposed brick lunettes; aisle walls are similarly finished in exposed brick. The west gallery, pews, pulpit and all other timber work are in warm, light oak. Floors are parquet except in the porch and narthex, which have red tile. An octagonal stone font is positioned at the west end of the north aisle. The chancel features a polygonal east end supported on a square base with round arches to niches containing small stained glass windows. The main chancel windows are short double lancets at clerestory level with stained glass decoration. A panelled octagonal timber pulpit stands at the foot of the chancel arch on the north side.

The Lady Chapel, at the east end of the south aisle, contains stained glass by Hardman and is divided from the body of the church by part-glazed timber screening. Its windows above the altar depict the Nunc Dimittis, The Magnificat, and the Holy Family, with side windows showing scenes from the Parables. Aisle windows have stepped brick surrounds with chamfered sills. The north aisle windows display stained glass in triptychs depicting scenes from the life of Christ, while those to the south aisle show depictions of saints, including St Faith and St Laurence. Clerestory windows feature small rectangular panes of plain glass with margin glazing, as does the large west window.

The parish of St Faith and St Laurence was created from parts of the parishes of St Peter, Harborne and Christ Church Quinton. The suburb of Harborne expanded rapidly around the turn of the 20th century. Christ Church Quinton established a mission church of St Lawrence in 1901, and St Peter, Harborne set up a church to St Faith in 1904. The mission church of St Faith was initially a timber and iron building on land donated by Lord Calthorpe. A permanent site was provided in 1909. During the 1920s and 1930s, parishioners raised funds for a replacement church, including donations from Harborne War Memorial. In 1933, the proposed parish was extended to include the portion of Christ Church parish served by the mission church of St Lawrence. The combined parish of St Faith and St Laurence was established in 1937, with the first vicar appointed on 2 October 1937.

Chatwin designed the present church in 1936, and construction proceeded as far as the chancel arch in 1937. The building, then comprising nave, aisles and tower, was consecrated in 1937. Further work was postponed by the Second World War and did not resume until 1958. At that time, Chatwin and his nephew Anthony revised the earlier plans slightly and added the chancel, Lady Chapel and vestries. The church was dedicated in March 1960. A new church hall was subsequently added in the later 20th century as a single-storey structure in matching materials, largely detached from the main building.