St Chad's Cathedral (RC), Birmingham

St Chad’s is the Roman Catholic Cathedral of Birmingham. Located prominently (and slightly unfortunately) on the city’s inner ring road, the striking Germanic twin towers of its façade are matched by an impressive interior.

The building was designed by Augustus Pugin (1812-1852), most famous for his decorative work on the Houses of Parliament. The church was built to replace a chapel erected in 1808, and provide more accommodation to service Birmingham’s burgeoning Roman Catholic population. Construction began in 1839 and it was substantially complete by 1841. It became a Cathedral in 1850, making it the first Catholic Cathedral erected since the Reformation in England.

The church is designed in a north German 13th century style, executed in red brick with Bath stone dressings. The most prominent features are the two slender towers which frame the main façade, topped with tall broach spires. The interior is a revelation: although the plan is conventional, with transepts and an apsed sanctuary, Pugin created a ‘Hall church’, with very tall arcades and aisles of similar height to the nave. This delivers scale and spaciousness on an otherwise restricted site. The ceilings are beautifully decorated throughout, illuminated by wide expanses of plain glass.

The principal interest of its furnishings is the reliquary behind the High Altar, which houses some of the bones of St Chad, rescued from the cathedral in Lichfield after the Reformation. Recent archaeological investigation has confirmed their likely authenticity (several date from the 7th century). In the ‘north’ aisle is the impressive tomb chest to the first Bishop and instigator of the Cathedral, Bishop Thomas Walsh, executed in the Decorated Gothic style.

The Cathedral has a reputation for excellent music in its worship. It is open every day for services, visitors, and private prayer.

St Chad's Cathedral, St Chad's Queensway, Birmingham B4 6HY

St Paul's, Birmingham

For those who think central Birmingham is an unredeemed sprawl of 70s concrete, the short walk to St Paul’s church will come as something of a revelation. Head towards the Jewellery Quarter from the Town Hall, and you will discover streets of gorgeous red brick Victorian buildings, which slowly give way to modest but handsome Georgian counterparts. In the midst of it all is St Paul’s Square, centred around the lovely and historic church of St Paul’s.

History

St Paul’s is a fascinating church. It was one of two provided for by an Act of Parliament of 1772, to cater for Birmingham’s burgeoning population. It was designed by a local Wolverhampton surveyor, Roger Eykyn, with Samuel Wyatt, a distinguished local architect, acting as an advisor. The design is based loosely on that of St Martins-in-the-Fields in London. The church was consecrated in 1779, although it was 1823 before the handsome steeple was completed, to designs by Francis Goodwin.

The timing and location of the church in one of the heartlands of the industrial revolution meant that early worshippers included the likes of James Watt (1736-1819), inventor of the steam engine, and Matthew Boulton (1728-1809), metal and coin manufacturer, and Watt’s business partner.

In the mid 19th century the church was the centre of efforts to educate the local workers, and by the 1860s they had 120 reading and writing classes a week catering for 2000 adults and 2000 children. During the 20th century, the area became less residential as jewellery manufacturing developed, and the church became a centre for industrial mission, a role it still performs today, alongside a lively Sunday congregation and a strong musical tradition with regular concerts and recitals. It has also been associated with Polish Lutherans for over 60 years.

The Church

The church is essentially a classical box, of ashlar with rusticated detailing, and two tiers of windows, with tall rounded arches over smaller, squat segmental arches below. The west end has no portico, but a modest pediment, surmounted by Goodwin’s elegant Grecian steeple, provides a fitting focus.

Inside the immediate impression is of a time warp: the church retains its galleries and a complete set of high box pews and other 18th century fittings. The galleries are supported on tall Ionic columns, which also frame the astonishing Venetian style East Window. This was painted in 1785-91 by Francis Eginton, and is based on a painting by Benjamin West, a court painter to George III. Showing scenes from the life of St Paul, it is a dark and dramatic piece, and completely dominates the modest sanctuary.

Also worth a look is the east window in the south aisle, designed as a memorial to William Hollins, sculptor and architect, and executed by his son Peter in 1843. There are labels showing the location of the box pews of Watts and Boulton, and look out for the monument to the Forrest family, on the west wall, a sad testament to the high rate of mortality in the early 19th century.

St Paul's, St Paul's Square, Birmingham B3 1QZ

Cathedral of St Philip, Birmingham

St Philip's has a superb setting in central Birmingham, located in the centre of a lovely square with graveyards and lawns. It's an oasis from the surrounding hustle and bustle of shoppers, office workers and customers of the area's many bars and restaurants.

One thing that strikes you straight away is its size: it's perfectly formed, but rather small. This is because it was built (1709-1715) to be the rather imposing parish church of a then-expanding industrial and market town, rather than the Cathedral of the UK's second city. It was elevated to Cathedral status in 1905.

The building itself is in the English Baroque style, with a dignified but relatively plain exterior, without an apse or transepts. The nave has elegant piers of square Corinthian columns, with substantial galleries. These lead to a rather more sumptuous sanctuary, with more elaborate Corinthian columns with gilded capitals, and some superb stained glass by Burne-Jones. But the overall effect is rather intimate, reflecting its overall scale.

The graveyard and lawns around are a real lung for the city centre, and are lunchtimes are full of office-workers seeking some fresh air and sun. There's one notable gravestone near the west end of the church, recording Nannetta Stocker (1782-1819). She was a small person, who left the village of Kammer in her native Austria, to tour Europe. As well as being only 84cm high, she was a talented pianist and played as part of a duo with John Hauptman, who was a violinist and 8cm taller. The inscription is charming, and reads:

"In Memory of Nannetta Stocker, who departed this Life 4th May 1819, aged ** years, The smallest Woman ever in this Kingdom possessed with every accomplishment, only 33 inches high, a Native of Austria."

Colmore Row, Birmingham B3 2QB