St Luke's Church, Blakenhall is a

Grade II* listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

former

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), 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 com ...

in the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

Blakenhall Blakenhall is a suburb and ward of Wolverhampton, England. The population of the ward, including Goldthorn Park, was around 12,600 at the 2021 census. Toponymy and history Blakenhall's name, according to toponymists, comes from the Old Eng ...

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands of England. Located around 12 miles (20 km) north of Birmingham, it forms the northwestern part of the West Midlands conurbation, with the towns of ...

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 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 A "ring of bells" is the name bell ringers give to a set of bells hung for English full circle ringing. The term "peal of bells" is often used, though peal also refers to a change ringing performance of more than about 5,000 changes. By r ...

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 The Diocese of Lichfield is a Church of England diocese in the Province of Canterbury, England. The bishop's seat is located in the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Chad in the city of Lichfield. The diocese covers of seve ...

was seeking formal closure of the church as the congregation was unable to raise funding to match that offered by

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

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 (singular Sikh: or ; , ) are an ethnoreligious group who adhere to Sikhism, a religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak. The term ''Si ...

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 A tin tabernacle, also known as an iron church, is a type of prefabricated ecclesiastical building made from corrugated galvanised iron. They were developed in the mid-19th century, initially in the United Kingdom. Corrugated iron was first u ...

on Pond Lane, used as a

Mission hall A Christian mission is an organized effort to carry on evangelism, in the name of the Christian faith. Missions involve sending individuals and groups across boundaries, most commonly geographical boundaries. Sometimes individuals are sent and a ...

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