Carrs Lane Church, also known as The Church at Carrs Lane is a church in Birmingham that is most known for having the largest free-standing cross in the UK.

History

The church was founded as an independent chapel in 1748 and then enlarged in 1812 at a cost of £2,000 to seat 600 people, not least due to the popularity of the preaching of

John Angell James John Angell James (6 June 1785 – 1 October 1859), was an England, English Nonconformist (Protestantism), Nonconformist clergyman and writer. James was a typical Congregational church, Congregational preacher of the early 19th century, massive ...

. A further enlargement was undertaken in 1820 to designs by the architect Thomas Stedman Whitwell, which was then re-fronted by

Yeoville Thomason Henry Richard Yeoville Yardley Thomason (17 July 1826 – 19 July 1901) was a British architect active in Birmingham. He was born in Edinburgh to a Birmingham family, and set up his own practice in Birmingham 1853–54. Life Yeoville ...

in 1876. The church became part of the

Congregational Union Congregationalism (also Congregational Churches or Congregationalist Churches) is a Reformed Christianity, Reformed Christian (Calvinist) tradition of Protestant Christianity in which churches practice Congregationalist polity, congregational ...

in 1832. The current building was begun in 1968 by Denys Hinton and Partners and completed in 1971. It became part of the United Reformed Church when the Presbyterian and Congregational churches merged in 1972. The church bears a

blue plaque A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom, and certain other countries and territories, to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving a ...

erected by

Birmingham Civic Society Birmingham Civic Society is a voluntary body in Birmingham, England, and is registered with the Civic Trust. History The society was founded at an inaugural meeting on 10 June 1918 in the Birmingham Council House. The first president of th ...

in 1995 to commemorate Dr R. W. Dale, minister at Carrs Lane from 1854 until his death, and prominent preacher of the "

Civic Gospel The Civic Gospel was a philosophy of municipal activism and improvement that emerged in Birmingham, England, in the mid-19th century. Tracing its origins to the teaching of independent Nonconformist (Protestantism), nonconformist preacher George D ...

". Since the closure of the Methodist Central Hall, Birmingham, the building has been shared with the Methodist Congregation, as a

local ecumenical partnership In England and Wales, a local ecumenical partnership (or project) is a partnership between churches of different denominations. First piloted in 1964, over 850 now exist to promote unity between different Christian denominations. The missiolog ...

under the name "The Church at Carrs Lane".

Organ

The church has a pipe organ by Hill Norman and Beard dating from 1970. A specification of the organ can be found on the National Pipe Organ Register.

Organists

* Samuel Stanley (composer) 1792 - 1803 (afterwards organist at Ebenezer Church until 1822) *Adam Wright 1845 - 1876 *William C. Stockley 1876 - 1889 *Walter Humphreys 1889 - 1895 (formerly organist of Wesley Chapel, West Bromwich) *C.H. Pett 1895 - 1901 *Maurice Davies 1901 - ???? *R.A. Ernest Payne ???? - 1915 * Charles William Perkins 1915 - 1920 *Graham Godfrey 1920 - 1930 *Cyril Stanley Christopher 1930 - 1967

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Birmingham Churches completed in 1971 United Reformed churches in Birmingham, West Midlands