St Luke's Church, Blakenhall is a

Grade II* listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

former parish church in the Church of England in

Blakenhall Blakenhall is a suburb and ward in Wolverhampton, England. Toponymy and history Blakenhall's name, according to toponymists comes from the Old English 'blæc', meaning 'black' or dark coloured, & 'halh' meaning 'nook' or 'corner'. It was deve ...

, Wolverhampton.

History

The foundation stone was laid on 26 June 1860 by Revd. W. Dalton, vicar of St Philip's Church, Penn. It was designed by the architect

G. T. Robinson George Thomas Robinson FSA (c.1827 - 6 May 1897) was an English architect who started in Wolverhampton, moved to Manchester, Leamington Spa and later to London. Life He was a pupil of John R. Hamilton and James Medland. He started his own practi ...

of Leamington Spa, and was consecrated by the Bishop of Lichfield on 18 July 1861. A set of eight bells were installed in 1897 by James Barwell of Birmingham, and are the last complete ring of bells to be cast by that founder. Pevsner describes the church as ''furiously unruly''.

Present use

In 2014 it was announced that parts of the tower and spire were unsafe and the roof and floor had dry rot. The Diocese of Lichfield was seeking formal closure of the church as the congregation was unable to raise funding to match that offered by English Heritage to repair the church. In 2016 a petition to save the building from demolition gained over 1,500 signatures. The church closed in 2017, and while several groups were interested in purchasing it, including a

Sikh Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism, Sikhism (Sikhi), a Monotheism, monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Gu ...

congregation, the building is now used as an antiques shop. The former congregation now meets in St. Luke's School a short distance away. Also within the parish is a tin tabernacle on Pond Lane, used as a

Mission hall A Christian mission is an organized effort for the propagation of the Christian faith. Missions involve sending individuals and groups across boundaries, most commonly geographical boundaries, to carry on evangelism or other activities, such as ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blakenhall Church of England church buildings in the West Midlands (county) Churches completed in 1861 Grade II* listed churches in the West Midlands (county) 1861 establishments in England