The Church of St Agatha () is a

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

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 Brit ...

Sparkbrook Sparkbrook is an inner-city area in south-east Birmingham, England. It is one of the four wards forming the Hall Green formal district within Birmingham City Council. Etymology The area receives its name from Spark Brook, a small stream that f ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

, England.

Background

It was designed by W. H. Bidlake and is now a

Grade I 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 ...

. Made of brick and decorated with stone, building started in October 1899. It was funded by the sale of the site of Christ Church, New Street which was demolished the same year to make way for shops and offices - Christchurch Buildings. That site later became Victoria Square after Christchurch Buildings were demolished in 1970. St Agatha was consecrated in 1901 by the

Bishop of Worcester A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

(

Charles Gore Charles Gore (22 January 1853 – 17 January 1932) was a Church of England bishop, first of Worcester, then Birmingham, and finally of Oxford. He was one of the most influential Anglican theologians of the 19th century, helping reconcile the c ...

) as Birmingham was in the diocese of

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engla ...

until 1905 at which time Gore was made the first

Bishop of Birmingham A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

. A parish was assigned to the church in 1902 from Christ Church, Sparkbrook, and St Paul's Church, Balsall Heath. The font and only bell came from Christ Church, along with its foundation stone dated 1805. In 1959, the church hall received a licence for public worship. The building has had an eventful history; the sanctuary end was completely destroyed by a German bomb in 1940 and the entire roof was lost in a fire in 1957. From 1940 to 1960 parts of the building were bricked off and the sense of lightness that the interior now has was temporarily lost. The church was slightly damaged by the Birmingham Tornado on 28 July 2005. However the adjoining Ladypool Primary School was extensively damaged and lost its distinctive

Martin & Chamberlain John Henry Chamberlain, William Martin, and Frederick Martin were architects in Victorian Birmingham, England. Their names are attributed singly or pairs to many red brick and terracotta buildings, particularly 41 of the forty-odd Birmingham ...

tower. Major restoration work took place from 2002 to 2005, mostly funded by the National Heritage Lottery Board. This included the stabilisation of the tower. The restoration work was designed by Apec Architects. The restored church was officially reopened in January 2005 by Prince Edward and the Countess of Wessex. File:Design for St Agatha Sparkbrook Birmingham - W H Bidlake.jpg File:St Agatha's Church 1.jpg File:St Agatha's Church 2.jpg File:St-Agatha,-Sparkbrook---entrance.jpg File:St Agatha's Church 3.jpg

Vicars and priests-in-charge

St Agatha's as a church

From its beginning St Agatha's was strongly part of the

Anglo-Catholic Anglo-Catholicism comprises beliefs and practices that emphasise the Catholic heritage and identity of the various Anglican churches. The term was coined in the early 19th century, although movements emphasising the Catholic nature of Anglica ...

movement. Although situated in the Diocese of Birmingham the church is under the oversight of the

Bishop of Ebbsfleet The Bishop of Ebbsfleet is a suffragan bishop who fulfils the role of a provincial episcopal visitor in the Church of England. From its creation in 1994 to 2022, the Bishop of Ebbsfleet served traditionist Anglo-Catholic parishes that could not a ...

(currently

Jonathan Goodall Jonathan Michael Goodall (born 1961) is a British Catholic priest and a former Church of England bishop. From 2013 to 2021, he was Bishop of Ebbsfleet, a suffragan bishop who is the provincial episcopal visitor in the western half of the Provi ...

), the

Provincial episcopal visitor A provincial episcopal visitor (PEV), popularly known as a flying bishop, is a Church of England bishop assigned to minister to many of the clergy, laity and parishes who on grounds of theological conviction, "are unable to receive the ministry of ...

and is a part of

Forward in Faith Forward in Faith (FiF) is an organisation operating in the Church of England and the Scottish Episcopal Church. It represents a traditionalist strand of Anglo-Catholicism and is characterised by its opposition to the ordination of women to the pr ...

. Until the 1950s there was a ring of similar churches around inner-city Birmingham - the so-called 'Biretta Belt'. Many of those churches have closed but St Agatha's itself remains open despite being in an almost entirely Muslim ward of the city. The church's priest is shared with St Barnabas' Church, Balsall Heath.

Music

The church is noted for its music - supplemented by a recently restored three-manual Nicholson organ -its liturgy and diverse congregation, and is well known beyond the parish and the city.

Special services

Celebrants have included the Archbishop of York, the Most Reverend David Hope at the centenary Mass in May 2001.

Facilities

The church hall is used by the Birmingham City Amateur Boxing Club, originally Ladywood Amateur Boxing Club, founded by Frank O'Sullivan.

Sources

*''All About Victoria Square'', Joe Holyoak, The Victorian Society Birmingham Group,
St Agatha websiteBritish History Online: Churches built since 1800 - St Agatha, Sparkbrook
A History of the County of Warwick: Volume 7, 1964. {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Agatha's Church, Sparkbrook

Churches completed in 1901 20th-century Church of England church buildings

William Bidlake buildings Grade I listed buildings in Birmingham