St Mary's Church, Bramall Lane is a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

in the City of Sheffield, England.

History

St Mary's Church is one of three churches that were built in Sheffield under the

Church Building Act 1818 A Commissioners' church, also known as a Waterloo church and Million Act church, is an Anglicanism, Anglican church in the United Kingdom built with money voted by Parliament of the United Kingdom, Parliament as a result of the Church Buildin ...

(the other two being St George's Church, Portobello and St Philip's Church, Netherthorpe), and is the only one still to be used as a church. The church was designed by Joseph Potter and cost £13,927 (). A grant of £13,941 was received from the Church Building Commission to cover the cost of building and other expenses. The foundation stone was laid on 12 October 1826 by the Countess of Surrey, and the church was consecrated on 21 July 1830. The church is built in the

Perpendicular In elementary geometry, two geometric objects are perpendicular if they intersect at a right angle (90 degrees or π/2 radians). The condition of perpendicularity may be represented graphically using the ''perpendicular symbol'', ⟂. It can ...

style, with a high tower, It was damaged by bombing during the "

Sheffield Blitz The Sheffield Blitz is the name given to the worst nights of German ''Luftwaffe'' bombing in Sheffield, England, during the Second World War. It took place over the nights of 12 December and 15 December 1940. In 1940, Sheffield was a city o ...

" and when restored was divided: the

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ove ...

and two east

bays A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a gulf, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a narr ...

of the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

remained in use as a church, the rest of the building used as a community centre. In 1839 some

Chartists Chartism was a working-class movement for political reform in the United Kingdom that erupted from 1838 to 1857 and was strongest in 1839, 1842 and 1848. It took its name from the People's Charter of 1838 and was a national protest movement, w ...

, suspicious of the big new Anglican churches, unsuccessfully attempted to fire-bomb St Mary's. It is recorded in the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, an ...

as a designated

grade II* listed building 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 ...

Present day

In 2000, a major internal refurbishment took place resulting in the church and community centre becoming a combined space. The space is also used to host conferences. There are close links between the church and

Sheffield United F.C. Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

, whose ground is situated on Bramall Lane. During the refurbishment in 2000, church services took place at the football club.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bramall Lane, St Mary Churches completed in 1830 19th-century Church of England church buildings Grade II* listed buildings in Sheffield Churches in Sheffield Church of England church buildings in South Yorkshire Commissioners' church buildings Grade II* listed churches in South Yorkshire 1830 establishments in England

History

Present day

See also

References

External links