PROTESTANT NONCONFORMITY.
Asseblies of God. Bethel temple in Gads Lane dates from 1930. (fn. 94) Bethel church in Marsh Lane, Stone
Cross, existed by the late 1960s. (fn. 95) By then there
was also a Pentecostal church in Tanhouse Lane,
Hamstead. (fn. 96)
Baptists.
The Baptist cause in West Bromwich
was founded in 1796 to counter the Antinomians. (fn. 97)
Providence chapel in Sandwell Road (also known as
the Old Baptist Meeting) was opened in 1810. (fn. 98) By
1817 it was affiliated to the Midland Association
of Baptist Churches, and had a membership of 43.
The burial ground attached to it was presented by
George Cutler, and the mortgage on the chapel was
paid off by Mrs. Benjamin Cutler. There was
already a Sunday school before the building of the
chapel. The congregation at first belonged to the
Particular Baptist Church, 'but it gradually sank
into hyper-Calvinism and varied its course only to
reach occasionally the lower and darker depth of
Antinomianism'. On Census Sunday 1851 75 people
attended the chapel in the morning and 150 in the
evening. (fn. 99)
Meanwhile 'a few who mourned over the scene of
disorder and decay', including the minister, seceded
c. 1834. At first services were held in a private
house, but in 1835 Bethel chapel was built at the
west end of Danks Hill (the later Dartmouth Street).
The members of the church numbered 25 at that
time and 76 by 1843. A Sunday school was built
behind the chapel for the growing number of children in 1855; it was also used as a day school. On
Census Sunday 1851 the attendance at the chapel
was 106 in the morning, 120 in the afternoon, and
146 in the evening. (fn. 1) William Stokes, minister from
1838 to 1843, supplemented his stipend with the
income from his school in New Street.
The congregations of Bethel and Providence had
united by 1853, (fn. 2) and in that year Providence chapel
ceased to be used by the Baptists. (fn. 3) Despite the
amalgamation membership was down to some 56
about 1855. Bethel continued in use until 1884, but
by then it was suffering badly from mining subsidence and was closed. The congregation worshipped in the school for a short time and then met
at Prince's Assembly Rooms on the corner of High
Street and Lombard Street until a new Sunday
school was opened for worship in 1886. A church
was built in High Street in 1886-7. Designed by
Ingall & Sons of Birmingham in a mixed Gothic
style, it was of brick with Bath stone dressings.
There was a tower, but the top was removed in 1967
because the stonework was in a dangerous state.
The church was closed in 1971 and demolished in
1972; a new church in a modern style was opened
in Tantany Lane in 1974, the congregation having
in the meantime used the Unitarian church in Lodge
Road. (fn. 4) The adult membership of the church at the
beginning of 1969 was 98 and there were 88 children and young people. (fn. 5)
A chapel was built at Dunkirk in 1849. It still
existed in 1851: on Census Sunday 30 people attended in the morning and 30 in the afternoon. (fn. 6)
In 1913 the High Street church took over a mission at the Lodge Estate school in Oak Lane. The
mission had been started some years earlier in a
house in Oak Road opposite the Oak House and was
already in decline in 1913. It did not long survive
the departure of many young men after the outbreak
of the First World War.
Bible Pattern Church.
The Bible Pattern
Church registered a room in High Street in 1960. (fn. 7)
By 1971 it was meeting in a room in Bull Street.
Brethren.
The present Bethesda chapel in Witton Lane, Hill Top, belonging to the Brethren,
originated in the work of Joseph Hewitt. (fn. 8) He was a
shoemaker who came to Hill Top from Wednesbury
in 1891. At first the mission consisted of cottage
meetings and tent services, but in 1893 an iron mission room was opened at Holloway Bank. It was
extended in 1922 and named Bethesda chapel. The
present chapel in Witton Lane was opened in 1961.
In the late 1960s the Christian Brethren also
opened Hargate chapel in Hargate Lane. (fn. 9)
Catholic Apostolic Church.
The Catholic
Apostolic Church built a church in Victoria Street in
1869-70. It was taken over by the Elim Foursquare
Gospel Alliance in 1945. (fn. 10)
Christadelphians.
A Christadelphian group was
formed at Greets Green in 1889. It moved into its
first permanent hall in 1937 in Beeches Road. The
building was compulsorily purchased by the corporation in 1968 as the site was needed for the
northern loop road, and a new hall was opened in
Seagar Street in 1969. (fn. 11)
Christian Scientists.
The Christian Scientists
were meeting in Bull Street in the later 1920s but
had moved to Barrows Street by 1932. (fn. 12) The church there was demolished in 1970 because the roof had
become dangerous. A new church was opened in
Walsall Street later the same year. (fn. 13)
Congregationalists, see Presbyterians And
Congregationalists.
Elim Foursquare Gospel Alliance.
The Elim
Foursquare Gospel Alliance registered the People's
Hall in High Street in 1936 and Ruskin Hall in
Lombard Street instead in 1937; the People's Hall
was registered again in 1939. (fn. 14) In 1945 the Alliance
took over the former Catholic Apostolic Church in
Victoria Street. (fn. 15) The church was extensively remodelled in 1971-2. (fn. 16)
Friends.
Two Quakers, John Edwards the elder
and the younger, were reported in 1665. (fn. 17) In 1773
the minister at All Saints' stated that there were
three Quakers in the parish. (fn. 18) There is, however, no
record of any Quaker meeting-house.
Gospel Blue Ribbon Mission.
In 1882 the
Gospel Temperance Movement, also known as the
Blue Ribbon Army, held a four-week mission in
West Bromwich. The mission was followed by
organized temperance work, and meetings were held
in a house in Pitt Street and later in a building on
the site formerly occupied by Hudson's soapworks,
probably in High Street. (fn. 19) A corrugated-iron mission hall, capable of holding 800, was built in Pitt
Street in 1892-3. The trustees included Charles
Akrill, mayor in 1892-3 and 1896-7, and J. H.
Blades, the borough's first M.P. (1885-6). (fn. 20) In 1968
there was an average Sunday congregation of 35. (fn. 21)
The hall was demolished in 1969 after compulsory
purchase by the corporation. The mission moved in
1969 to Grant Hall at the corner of Taylor's Lane
and St. Clement's Lane as a temporary measure, and
in 1972 the hall became its permanent centre. (fn. 22)
Independents, see Presbyterians.
Jehovah's Witnesses.
A Kingdom Hall in High
Street was registered in 1941. (fn. 23) By 1971 the Witnesses were meeting in the former adult-school
building in Fisher Street. (fn. 24) A Kingdom Hall was
opened in Jervoise Street in 1973. (fn. 25)
The Labour Church.
There seems to have been
a Labour Church in the town in the mid 1890s, (fn. 26) but
the West Bromwich Labour Church held what was
described as its inaugural service in 1899 in Grove's
Assembly Room. There was a congregation of some
40, and the chairman was Henry Brockhouse, of
John Brockhouse & Co. Ltd. (fn. 27) In 1901 the church
opened its own premises, the People's Hall, a corrugated-iron building in High Street between
Shaftesbury Street and Temple Street decorated
to the design of Walter Crane. (fn. 28) A Sunday school
was formed. (fn. 29) The church still existed in 1921
when a service there in memory of Henry Brockhouse was 'largely attended'. (fn. 30) It probably continued into the 1930s, but by 1936 the People's
Hall was being used by the Elim Foursquare
Gospel Alliance. (fn. 31)
Latter-day Saints.
A Mormon chapel was
built in Temple Street in 1850. By 1851 it had an
average Sunday attendance of 150 in the afternoon
and 150 in the evening. (fn. 32) It still existed in 1854 but
was no longer used in 1876. (fn. 33)
Methodists. Wesleyan.
Charles Wesley preached
at Holloway Bank in 1742 and made several converts. At his request his brother John preached
there in January 1743, and the first Staffordshire
society was then formed at Crabb's Mill Farm, the
home of John Sheldon on Holloway Bank. In 1744
the society divided, the Wednesbury members
moving to High Bullen and the West Bromwich
members meeting in a cottage near Coles Lane. (fn. 34)
Also in 1743 another group influenced by the
Wesleys' preaching began to meet one evening a
week in a house in the Mayer's Green area. At the
end of the year George Whitefield 'broke up some
fallow ground' at Mayer's Green. The groups at
Holloway Bank and Mayer's Green suffered during
the anti-Methodist riots in the district in 1743
and 1744. (fn. 35) Among those inciting hostility towards
the Methodists was Richard Witton, the Presbyterian minister. (fn. 36) On the other hand the earl of
Dartmouth (d. 1801), the patron of All Saints', was
friendly towards Methodists, and there is evidence
that Edward Stillingfleet, the Evangelical minister
of All Saints' 1757-82, was also sympathetic. (fn. 37)
Meetings continued in private houses, including
the house of James Wheatley opposite Dagger
Hall. (fn. 38) In 1751 Wheatley was expelled from the
connexion by Wesley and was the first preacher to
come under his ban. He began to build a meetingroom on the Heath on a site in what is now Paradise
Street, (fn. 39) but he did not finish it. In 1764 it was
bought by two members of a religious brotherhood
of five young men. The brotherhood, formed c. 1760,
was the origin of the West Bromwich Heath Society
Class. At first the members had attended the Wednesbury meeting and also West Bromwich church.
They now finished Wheatley's building and opened
it as a Methodist preaching-room, though continuing to attend the parish church. One member of the
group was Francis Asbury, who was to be a founder
of the Methodist Episcopal Church of America; (fn. 40)
in 1763 at the age of 18 he had been made leader
of the West Bromwich Heath Society Class. Other
members were James Bayley, Lord Dartmouth's
park-keeper at Sandwell for 47 years, and Thomas
Ault, who like Asbury came from Great Barr. Ault
was leader from 1779 for over twenty years but left
the society when the members stopped attending
the parish church; he was the clerk at All Saints'
from 1799 to 1825. (fn. 41)
The minister at All Saints' reported fewer than
20 Methodists in the parish in 1773, and the West
Bromwich society remained small until the beginning of the 19th century. (fn. 42) Yet John Wesley attracted
large numbers when he visited West Bromwich.
On at least three of the four occasions that he
preached there the crowds were far too large to fit
into the meeting-room; on all four occasions in fact
he preached in the open air—once, possibly twice,
in the courtyard of the Oak House. (fn. 43) The small
size of the society was probably due to the fact
that Wednesbury was at first the main Methodist
centre in the district. (fn. 44) Wesley visited Wednesbury over thirty times. (fn. 45) It was also the Wednesbury meeting that Lord Dartmouth attended on
occasion. (fn. 46)
By the early 19th century, however, the West
Bromwich congregation was growing. (fn. 47) In 1803
a Sunday school was opened at the preaching-room,
and in 1806 a new chapel was built in Paradise
Street. In 1811 West Bromwich became the head
of a circuit. The size of the society fluctuated over
the next twenty years, but in 1813 a new school was
built and in 1821 the chapel was extended. By 1832
numbers had reached nearly 300 and the building
was then enlarged again. Numbers continued to increase, and in 1835 a new chapel (Wesley) was
opened in High Street; the architect was Joseph
Cutts of Birmingham. The old chapel was opened
as a Sunday school in 1836, with a day school from
1838, and remained in use until the opening of the
school in Bratt Street in 1858; in 1859 it became a
public hall. Sunday attendance at the chapel in
1850-1 averaged 1,000 in the morning, 351 in the
afternoon, and 1,300 in the evening. (fn. 48) Wesley chapel
was refronted in 1905-6 with an elaborate façade
of terracotta and red brick. (fn. 49) It was demolished in
1972, and a new church was opened on the same
site in 1974. (fn. 50)
At Hill Top, as already seen, meetings were held
from 1744 in a cottage near the top of Coles Lane.
From the early 19th century they were being held
at Martin's Farm on the corner of Coles Lane. From
1820 a barn at Harvills Hawthorn was used which
had been taken over from the Old Meeting; in 1821
the society numbered 22. A chapel was built at
Harvills Hawthorn in 1830, and the barn was used
as a Sunday school until 1834 when a new school
was opened on the opposite side of the road. A new
chapel was built at Harvills Hawthorn in 1850 and
the old building was turned into a house for the
minister. By c. 1940 numbers had declined and
services were held in the Sunday school; the chapel
had become a warehouse. The present church in
New Street, Hill Top, was opened in 1955. A number of Warrenite seceders from the society opened
a chapel on the main road in 1835, but it was closed
in 1844. (fn. 51)
Another early chapel was the 'obscure apartment',
formerly a baker's shop, near the end of Hargate
Lane at Lyndon which was in use for meetings from
the end of the 18th century; it became an official
Wesleyan chapel in 1829. It was replaced in 1834
by a new chapel off Lyndon Street, which was in
turn replaced by the present church in Hallam
Street dated 1883. (fn. 52) A meeting was started at
Ireland Green 'under Thomas Simcox's tree' in
1803 by a group of six men from Wednesbury. (fn. 53)
There was a meeting at Greets Green by 1821, and
a chapel was built on the corner of Ryders Green
Road and Greets Green Road in 1835. (fn. 54) It was replaced by the present church on the same site in
1873. (fn. 55) The Sunday-school building to the east in
Greets Green Road is dated 1856. A chapel was built in Victoria Street, Swan Village, in 1831 and
was replaced in 1865 by the present chapel in Dudley
Street. The new chapel was designed in a
Romanesque style by Loxton Brothers of Wednesbury and by 1972 had been reduced in height and
reroofed. (fn. 56) By the 1830s there was a preachingplace 'at the wharf bottom of Spon Lane'. This was
the origin of the chapel in Spon Lane built in 1841;
by the mid 1850s there was a separate Sundayschool building to the west. The chapel was rebuilt
in 1877-8 and closed in 1927 when the congregation
transferred to the church at West Smethwick. (fn. 57)
In 1970 the building was being used by the metal
pressings branch of John Smith Ltd. The chapels
at Lyndon, Hill Top, Swan Village, Greets Green,
and Spon Lane made returns at the religious census
of 1851 which show that their total attendances on
Sundays averaged 1,150. (fn. 58)
By 1847 the Wesleyans were organizing open-air
preaching during the summer at four places in West
Bromwich. (fn. 59) Between 1861 and 1890 John Skidmore, a Wesleyan lay preacher and missioner to the
canal boatmen, held open-air services on Sundays
from May to August at Middle Lock between Spon
Lane and Bromford Lane. (fn. 60) In the early 1840s
Wesleyan influence was felt in the collieries. According to a local Wesleyan minister butties belonging to the connexion were free from the dishonesty
for which other butties were notorious. At one colliery, through the influence of a Wesleyan ground
bailiff, prayers and scripture readings were held
during the dinner hour, and there were rules against
drinking and swearing. A Wesleyan miner, however,
stated that 'pits that have praying companies in
them are as few as parish churches'. (fn. 61)
By the end of the century West Bromwich had
ten Wesleyan chapels in three circuits. (fn. 62) West
Bromwich Wesley circuit (so named from 1883) (fn. 63)
consisted of seven chapels. High Street, Greets
Green, and Hallam Street have been described above.
Beeches Road chapel, built in 1871-2 to the design
of Edward Pincher of West Bromwich, replaced the
Park Village Sunday school and chapel opened about
the end of 1855. (fn. 64) At Carter's Green a schoolchapel was opened in 1863 and was replaced by a
chapel designed by Loxton Brothers in a Gothic
style and built on the site of the Junction inn in 1875-6;
it had been closed by 1949, and after being used for
some years as a warehouse it was demolished in
1970. (fn. 65) At the Lyng a centre was opened in 1872
and a chapel was built in Lyng Lane in 1881; the
church was closed in 1965. (fn. 66) At Overend a centre
had been opened by January 1871; a school-chapel
there was registered in 1877 and was replaced in
1878 by a mission church in Overend Street which
seems to have continued until the early 1960s and
was occupied by the Spring Dart Co. Ltd. in 1971. (fn. 67)
The West Bromwich chapels in Hill Top circuit
(formed in 1862 as Wednesbury Wesley circuit and
renamed in 1883) (fn. 68) were Hill Top and Swan Village.
Smethwick circuit (formed out of West Bromwich
circuit in 1876) (fn. 69) included the chapel in Spon Lane.
In 1963 Hill Top circuit was abolished, and its two
churches in West Bromwich, those at Hill Top and
Swan Village, were added to West Bromwich
Wesley circuit. (fn. 70)
In 1969 there were thirteen Methodist churches
in the area of the pre-1966 borough. Twelve were
in West Bromwich Wesley circuit: (fn. 71) Wesley (High
Street), Greets Green, Swan Village, Beeches
Road, Hallam Street, Charlemont, where a wooden
church was erected in 1926 and the present church
in Charlemont Road, designed by C. E. M. Fillmore, was opened in 1930, (fn. 72) Hill Top, Moorlands
in Hall Green Road (1959), replacing the Hall Green
Mission, formerly Primitive Methodist, (fn. 73) Yew
Tree, where services were held in Fir Tree school
from c. 1957 and the present church on the corner of
Greenside Way and Redwood Road, designed by
A. J. Jesson, was built in 1967, (fn. 74) and the former
Primitive Methodist churches at the Lyng, in Great
Bridge Street, and at Hall End. The thirteenth
church was the Woods Estate Methodist Church in
Coronation Road in Wednesbury circuit; it was
opened in 1966. (fn. 75)
The cottage at Newton where Francis Asbury
grew up was used for services in the later 18th
century, but it is not known whether they continued after his mother's death in 1802. A small Methodist
chapel was built on the corner of Newton and Hamstead Roads in 1803 or 1804, but it was sold to the
Congregationalists in 1823. (fn. 76) The Wesleyans, however, seem to have been using a chapel on the site
between at least the later 1860s and 1885. (fn. 77)
New Connexion.
The first Methodist New Connexion chapel in West Bromwich was built in 1826
in Victoria Street, Swan Village. On Census Sunday
1851 it had attendances of 80 in the afternoon and
140 in the evening. (fn. 78) It was replaced the same year
by the new Zion chapel near by in Dudley Street, (fn. 79)
which seems to have continued until c. 1870; it was
demolished c. 1914. (fn. 80) A chapel was opened at Hill
Top in 1836, (fn. 81) but nothing further is known about
it. Another chapel was built in Wood Lane in 1841.
Average attendance in 1850-1 was 55 in the afternoon and 120 in the evening. (fn. 82) It apparently ceased
to be used in the early 1890s. (fn. 83)
Primitive.
In 1833 a Primitive Methodist chapel
was opened in Sandwell Road near the junction
with Stoney Lane. Another was built at Golds
Green at the west end of Harvills Hawthorn in
1836, and by then there were also meetings in Victoria Street in Swan Village and in Rydding Square
off Witton Lane. (fn. 84) In 1837 there was also a 'Christian Primitive Methodist meeting-house' between
Newhall Street and Sams Lane. (fn. 85) A building in
Queen Street, originally intended as a public hall,
was completed as a Primitive Methodist chapel in
1847 largely with the help of the Spittle family,
local coalmasters. (fn. 86) In 1849 the chapel became the
head of West Bromwich circuit, created that year
out of Darlaston circuit and covering mainly West
Bromwich and Tipton. (fn. 87) There was a Primitive
Methodist chapel in Union Street by 1851; it was
evidently the former non-denominational meetinghouse erected by John Glover in 1833. (fn. 88)
By 1851 there were eight chapels or meetingplaces in West Bromwich. Three were identified
as the chapels in Queen Street and Union Street and
at Golds Green. On Census Sunday 1851 Queen
Street had attendances of 100 in the morning, 363
in the afternoon, and 440 in the evening; Union
Street had 32 in the morning, 40 in the afternoon,
and 70 in the evening; Golds Green had 185 in the
morning, 88 in the afternoon, and 360 in the evening. (fn. 89) Of the five unidentified places of worship four
were presumably those in Sandwell Road (which
apparently survived until the 1870s), (fn. 90) Swan
Village, (fn. 91) Witton Lane, and Whitehall Road, Greets
Green (dating from 1848). (fn. 92) The fifth was probably one of the two Primitive Methodist chapels
opened in West Bromwich in 1851. One was in
Guns Village and the other at the Lyng, in Sams
Lane. (fn. 93) There were also preaching-rooms at Hall
End and New Town by at least the end of 1852. (fn. 94) On
Census Sunday 1851 four of the five unidentified
places of worship had total attendances of some 235
in the afternoon and 370 in the evening. (fn. 95)
Seven of the chapels and meeting-places in existence in the early 1850s still existed in the mid
1890s: Queen Street (closed 1966), (fn. 96) Union Street
(rebuilt 1852, bought with the adjoining school
building by Archibald Kenrick & Sons Ltd. in 1964
and incorporated into the firm's works), (fn. 97) Golds
Green (rebuilt 1912, closed 1969), (fn. 98) Witton Lane
(rebuilt 1862, (fn. 99) closed by 1969), Greets Green
(closed by 1958), (fn. 1) Guns Village (closed by 1969),
and the Lyng. The chapel at the Lyng was rebuilt
in Moor Street in 1900, and the old chapel in Sams
Lane became the school. The new chapel was destroyed during an air raid in 1940, and the school
was then used for services. The chapel was rebuilt
in 1951. (fn. 2) Other places of worship in the mid 1890s
included an 'iron room' in Hall Green Road built
about 1876 by Annie Lloyd, (fn. 3) a chapel in Great
Bridge Street opened in 1883 (fn. 4) and presumably replacing the Swan Village chapel, and a house in
Cophall Street. (fn. 5)
All nine of the chapels, divided into two circuits,
were still in use at the time of the union of the Primitive Methodists with the Wesleyans and United
Methodists in 1932; (fn. 6) there was also a chapel in Vicarage Road, Hall End, from 1902. (fn. 7) In 1940 the
Hall Green Road mission was joined by a society
which had met in a scout hut at the junction of Hall
Green Road and Crankhall Lane. The mission was
replaced in 1959 by Moorlands Church in Hall
Green Road, designed by A. J. Jesson. (fn. 8) In 1969 the
four surviving chapels, those at the Lyng, in Hall
Green Road, in Great Bridge Street, and at Hall
End, were part of the West Bromwich Wesley circuit. (fn. 9)
Other Methodist Groups.
The Methodist Free
Church was using St. George's Hall in Paradise
Street in 1864 but had ceased to do so by 1876. (fn. 10)
The Methodist Reform Union registered the Gospel
Hall in Pitt Street in 1869 and was using the former
Providence Baptist chapel in Sandwell Road by
1892, remaining there until the early 20th century. (fn. 11)
The Wesleyan Reformers were meeting in Groves's
Assembly Room in Paradise Street by 1871 but had
ceased to do so by 1896. (fn. 12)
Presbyterians And Congregationalists (Independents), Later United Reformed Church. The Old Meeting, later Ebenezer Church.
When
Richard Hilton was ejected from the curacy of West
Bromwich in 1662 some of his parishioners also left
the Established Church. Hilton, however, went to
Prestwood in Kingswinford for a time as chaplain to
Philip Foley, and it was Thomas Badland, the
ejected curate of Willenhall, who was minister at
West Bromwich until he moved to Worcester in
1663. (fn. 13) At that time the lord of the manor, John
Shelton, was a Presbyterian. (fn. 14) In 1667 Richard
Fisher and his son and Henry Free and his son, all of
West Bromwich, were in trouble for attending a
suspect sermon at Oldbury chapel. (fn. 15) The Fishers
at least were probably Presbyterians, for in 1672
the house of a Richard Fisher at West Bromwich was
licensed for Presbyterian worship. In the same year
Thomas Creese and Richard Hilton, both described
as Presbyterians, were licensed as 'teachers', the
former in the house of John Lowe. (fn. 16) In 1693 Lowe's
house at Lyndon and the houses of Thomas Jesson
(probably Oakwood), William Turton of Hateley
Heath, and Bayly Brett were licensed for nonconformist worship and were presumably Presbyterian
centres. (fn. 17) Hilton, who lived at Walsall, was minister
of the Presbyterian congregation in 1690 and may
have so continued until his death in 1706. (fn. 18) In 1699
John Lowe of West Bromwich left 50s. a year for
the maintenance of the two fortnightly sermons then
preached in West Bromwich by dissenting ministers. (fn. 19) By then there was apparently a chapel at
Finchpath: in 1696 a building there which had
recently been repaired and which was called the
new chapel was leased by the Jessons to Moses
Bird. (fn. 20) In 1702 a weaver's child was baptized 'by
a Presbyterian minister at St. Margaret's Chapel
alias a barn' in West Bromwich. (fn. 21)
A newly built meeting-house was registered for
dissenting worship early in 1710 by Josiah Turton of
the Mill. (fn. 22) It stood near Five Ways, the area around
the junction of Swan Lane and Black Lake where five
roads meet, and was presumably on or close to the site
of the later church in Old Meeting Street. The land
seems to have been given by Elizabeth Jesson, and
the cost of building was met by subscription. (fn. 23) The
first trust deed was drawn up in 1714, and the
trustees included members of the Lowe, Turton,
Brett, and Nock families. (fn. 24) In July 1715 the Presbyterians of West Bromwich, like others in Staffordshire, suffered at the hands of the mob. Early in the
month the house of John Mayo, one of the trustees
of the meeting-house, was broken into and damaged.
From the 13th the meeting-house was repeatedly
attacked, and it was finally burnt down on the 18th. (fn. 25)
The Presbyterians received compensation from the
government, and the meeting-house was rebuilt the
following year. (fn. 26) In 1816 it was largely rebuilt on
a bigger scale, (fn. 27) and in 1839 there was another rebuilding on an adjoining site to the north. The
name was then changed from Old Meeting to
Ebenezer. (fn. 28)
In the early 18th century the West Bromwich
congregation was served from Birmingham and
Walsall and also by an itinerant minister. In 1722,
however, Richard Witton came as resident minister. (fn. 29) The congregation consisted of 350 'hearers'
in 1717. (fn. 30) In 1773 the minister at All Saints' reported between 200 and 300 Presbyterians in the
parish, some of them 'persons of property'. (fn. 31) The
congregation was little affected by heterodoxy; only
one of the ministers, Benjamin Carpenter (1776-8),
held Unitarian views. (fn. 32) A Sunday school, the first in
West Bromwich, was opened in 1786 by the minister, George Osborne, who was a pioneer of the
Sunday-school movement. The school was first held
in a barn on the opposite side of Old Meeting Street
to the chapel, but by 1838 the school building was on the corner of what is now Greswold Street. When
the chapel was rebuilt in 1839, the former chapel
was turned into premises for day and Sunday schools;
it was rebuilt in 1906. (fn. 33)
By 1834 the Old Meeting had become Independent or Congregational. (fn. 34) Average Sunday attendance in 1850-1 was 450 in the morning and 400
in the evening. (fn. 35) It was at Ebenezer that John
Blackham, a deacon of the church, started the first
adult school outside Birmingham in 1870 and
founded the Pleasant Sunday Afternoon movement
in 1875. (fn. 36) The adult membership of the church at
the beginning of 1969 was 68, and there were 106
children. (fn. 37) Ebenezer was closed in 1971 on the
opening of the West Bromwich Congregational
church and was later converted into a Hindu
temple. (fn. 38)
Even in the 18th century the Old Meeting was not
the only Presbyterian place of worship in West
Bromwich. Of the five houses registered for nonconformist worship during the century three can
be identified as Presbyterian, those of Anne
Stampes (1720), of Richard Witton (1733), presumably the minister at the Old Meeting, and of
Moses Lea (1763). (fn. 39) James Cooper, minister
1808-29, started services in a barn at Harvills
Hawthorn; he met with little success, and in 1820
the barn was taken over by the Wesleyan Methodists. (fn. 40) The former Providence Baptist chapel in
Sandwell Road was used as the Ebenezer Home
Mission for a few years from c. 1869. (fn. 41)
The former Ebenezer church is of brick faced
with stucco and was designed in a plain classical
style by one Rogers, described in 1839 as late of
Birmingham. (fn. 42) The Sunday school to the south was
built in 1906 to the design of James Withers. (fn. 43) In
the churchyard there are burials going back to the
18th century. Two silver cups were presented to
the church by Elizabeth Brett in 1765 and two by
William Whitehouse in 1841; (fn. 44) individual communion cups were introduced in 1906, (fn. 45) but the
four silver cups were in the possession of West
Bromwich Congregational Church in 1971.
Mayer's Green Church.
In 1785 or 1786 a few
members of the Wednesbury Independent congregation withdrew after a dispute over the choosing
of the minister. (fn. 46) Most of them lived in West
Bromwich, and with a few friends they at first held
prayer meetings on Sunday evenings in a private
house in Spon Lane. (fn. 47) Later they rented a barn at
Virgins End. The group was served until 1787
mainly from the King Street chapel in Birmingham,
which belonged to the Countess of Huntingdon's
Connexion. The first regular minister, Hugh Williams, who took charge after his ordination in 1787,
had served the congregation earlier while he was still
a student at Trevecca College. The countess herself
wrote to 'my well beloved congregation of the West
Bromwich Chapel' in 1790, and Williams's successor,
appointed in 1799, was recommended by her chaplain. (fn. 48) The new minister left in 1800 after failing to
secure an increase in his stipend. The congregation
then formed themselves into a Congregational
church.
In 1787 Williams began building a small chapel
in Messenger Lane, which was opened in 1788. It
was lengthened in 1790 and a gallery was erected.
Money was scarce at first, but help was given by
William Whyley of the Oak House (d. 1800). (fn. 49)
In 1805 side galleries were added to the chapel, but
even so the accommodation remained inadequate.
In 1807-8 a new chapel was built on the opposite
side of the road, a brick building with a classical
façade: even there side galleries had to be added in
1825-6. The materials from the old chapel were
reused, and William Whyley's widow Jane provided
a malt-house as a temporary meeting-place during
the rebuilding. She also contributed towards the
cost of the new chapel from the proceeds of a sale
of timber on her Oak House estate. The site of the
old chapel became a burial ground; it was bought
by the corporation in 1914. (fn. 50) A Sunday school was
established in 1804; a building was erected for it in
1807 and was extended to twice the original size in
1813. (fn. 51) Average Sunday attendance at the chapel
in 1850-1 was 430 in the morning (evidently including some 190 Sunday-school children) and 340
in the evening; about 90 young children also attended a special service in the morning. (fn. 52) Adult
membership at the beginning of 1968 was 63, and
there were 35 children. (fn. 53) In 1968 the church was
bought by the corporation under a compulsory purchase order; it was gutted by fire in 1969. The congregation was united with that of Ebenezer. (fn. 54)
A benefit club connected with the chapel was
founded in 1808. About 1855 a Bible class was
begun. It soon attracted men of different denominations and of none from all over the district, and
particular attention was devoted to the study of the
Bible in the light of contemporary criticism. In the
1880s women were admitted, despite much opposition. In the 1890s there were several clubs and
societies, a library, and a gymnasium.
A mission chapel belonging to the church was
built in Woodward Street in 1880-1. (fn. 55) It too was
bought by the corporation under a compulsory
purchase order in 1969. (fn. 56)
Salem Church, Great Bridge.
A church at Great
Bridge was formed by a small group who had previously worshipped at the Old Meeting and at Darkhouse Lane chapel, Coseley (in Sedgley). (fn. 57) In 1833
meetings were held in a room in Blades Street,
which ran between Brickhouse Lane and Great
Bridge Street, and at the beginning of 1834 a small
preaching-house was opened in Sheepwash Lane.
It was initially a branch of the Old Meeting, but in
1836 a separate church was formed. At first it consisted of eleven people, but numbers increased. Services were held in the infants' school which had
been opened in Sheepwash Lane in 1835, and there
was also a well-attended Sunday school. Salem
chapel in Sheepwash Lane was opened in 1839. Attendance on Census Sunday 1851 was 130 in the
morning, 178 in the afternoon, and 283 in the evening. (fn. 58) The adult membership at the beginning of
1969 was 47, and there were 35 children. (fn. 59) The
church is of stuccoed brick and in a classical style
similar to that of Ebenezer church; it is perhaps by
the same architect. There are extensions at the rear
in plain brick.
High Street Church.
In 1873 a group seceded
from Mayer's Green chapel after the minister had
been accused of preaching someone else's sermon.
For four years it worshipped at Prince's Assembly
Rooms on the corner of High Street and Lombard
Street. In 1877, when numbers became too large,
the group moved to the town hall, and in 1878 the
foundation-stone of a new church in High Street
was laid. It was opened in 1879 and was a building of
brick and stone in a Gothic style designed by John
Sulman of Holborn, London. (fn. 60) It was bought in
1963 by Kenrick & Jefferson Ltd., who demolished
it in order to extend their works. (fn. 61)
The West Bromwich Congregational Church.
In
1967 the Ebenezer and Mayer's Green congregations came together as 'the Congregational Church
in West Bromwich with a joint diaconate and a
joint church meeting, worshipping for the present
time in the two sets of premises and thereafter
moving towards unity as speedily as may be possible'. (fn. 62) Later the same year, on the departure of
the minister of Mayer's Green, the minister of
Ebenezer took charge of Mayer's Green as well. As
mentioned above, the Mayer's Green congregation
shared Ebenezer church from 1968. A second minister was appointed in 1970.
A site in Hardware Street was given by the corporation in place of the compulsorily purchased
Mayer's Green site, and in 1970 the building of the
West Bromwich Congregational church was begun
there as a replacement for Ebenezer. The foundation stone was laid 'on behalf of the Mayers Green,
Ebenezer, High Street Churches and Woodward
Street Mission'. The church was opened in 1971. It
is a building of brick in a modern style, designed
by Cecil E. M. Fillmore and Partners, and it includes
a hall and meeting-rooms. The organ from Ebenezer
was moved there, and stained-glass windows from
Ebenezer and Mayer's Green were placed in the
foyer.
Allen Memorial Church, Newton.
The Methodist
chapel on the corner of Newton and Hamstead
Roads was sold to the Congregationalists in 1823. (fn. 63)
In 1850-1 it had an average attendance of 35 adults,
although there was seating for 125 people. It was
then served from Birmingham. (fn. 64) It is said to have
been rebuilt as a Wesleyan chapel in the later 1860s,
and a building on the site is shown as such in 1885
on the Ordnance Survey map. (fn. 65) By the beginning of
the 20th century, however, the building was owned
by the trustees of the Carrs Lane Congregational
church in Birmingham and was being used as an
institute. (fn. 66) In 1917 it was reopened as a Congregational church by the efforts of a Miss Powell, who
had recently come to live in the district. It was replaced in 1932 by a church on the opposite corner,
built by Miss Powell's nephews, Frank, Tom, and
Harry Allen, in memory of their mother, Elizabeth
Mary Allen. It is a brick building designed by Albert
Bye of West Bromwich. (fn. 67) The adult membership
at the beginning of 1969 was 56, and there were 125
children. (fn. 68)
Quakers, see Friends.
Revivalists.
Land in Spon Lane was bought in
1821 as the site of a chapel for 'Revivalists in connection with Robert Winfield'. The chapel was
opened in 1823, with Winfield preaching. The property, however, had been mortgaged by then. In
1831 the building was sold to Lord Dartmouth,
and it was converted into a cholera hospital in
1832. (fn. 69)
Salvation Army.
The West Bromwich corps of
the Salvation Army was formed in May 1879 and opened a large hall called Ebenezer chapel in
August. (fn. 70) It registered the Gospel Hall in Pitt Street
in 1881, (fn. 71) and a barracks was opened in the former
theatre in Queen Street in 1883. (fn. 72) The barracks was
replaced by another in New Street registered in
1901, (fn. 73) and that was itself replaced by a barracks in
Walsall Street, which was registered in 1902 and
apparently remained in use until c. 1912. (fn. 74) A new
hall was opened in Spon Lane in 1925. (fn. 75) It remained in use until 1972 when it was demolished
in the course of the redevelopment of the area. A
new hall was opened near by in Spon Lane in 1973. (fn. 76)
The Salvation Army used part of Bethel chapel in
Dartmouth Street as a citadel after the Baptists had
left it in 1884. (fn. 77) A malt-house at Hill Top was
registered in 1885 but had ceased to be used by
1896. (fn. 78) By the earlier 1930s the army was working
from a converted railway coach at Hill Top, but in
1934 it moved into a reconditioned bungalow in
New Street there. (fn. 79) There is a barracks in Crankhall
Lane dated 1954. (fn. 80)
Seventh-Day Adventists.
The Seventh-day Adventists began meeting in the town c. 1950. Services
were held in various places until a church was built
in Dartmouth Street in 1970. (fn. 81)
Spiritualists.
The Spiritualists' Society was
meeting in a room in Spon Lane by 1921. (fn. 82) The
United Spiritualist Church was meeting in Walsall
Street in the early 1930s (fn. 83) and the West Bromwich
National Spiritualist Church in Old Meeting Street
in 1954. (fn. 84) After meeting for a short time in a room
in Guns Lane, the Spiritualists moved in 1972 to
the Dartmouth Park Social Centre in Dagger Lane,
and in 1974 they began to hold meetings at the
Unitarian Church in Lodge Road. (fn. 85) There was formerly a Christian Spiritualist church in Whitehall
Road; (fn. 86) it was derelict in 1970 and was then demolished.
Theosophical Society.
The Theosophical
Society was meeting in a room in Victoria Chambers,
Victoria Street, by 1916. In 1925 it had a room in
Bank Chambers, High Street, but had ceased to
meet there by 1927. (fn. 87)
Triumphant Church Of God.
After meeting
in a house and a school hall, the Triumphant
Church of God bought the former Methodist chapel
at Golds Green in 1969. (fn. 88)
Unitarians.
A Unitarian meeting and a Sunday
school were established in 1859 at the Summit
Schools in Spon Lane, founded and owned by the
Kenrick family, who were prominent Unitarians. (fn. 89)
In 1868 the congregation moved to the Assembly
Room in Lombard Street, but they had to abandon
it in 1869. In 1874 the Midland Christian Union
invited the Revd. John Harrison to re-establish
services, and he used St. George's Hall for the
purpose. The present chapel in Lodge Road was
opened in 1875. The trust deed gave its purpose
simply as the worship of God, and in the mid 1890s
Harrison was described as being 'as unconventional
and in outward appearance as unclerical as his flock
are unfettered by creed'. The chapel is a building
of brick and stone in the Early English style.
United Reformed Church, see Presbyterians
And Congregationalists.
Other Groups.
In 1833 John Glover opened a
chapel in Spon Lane for all Christians. It seems to
have been in Union Street and to have become a
Primitive Methodist chapel. (fn. 90)
A Bethel Mission in Great Bridge Street was
registered in 1933. (fn. 91)
The Gospel Hall in Price Road, Friar Park, was
registered in 1951. (fn. 92)