The former Holy Trinity Church at Camp Hill - A Birmingham Gem!

Situated in Camp Hill, Birmingham is the former Holy Trinity Church. Grade II listed, built 1820-22, designed by Francis Goodwin. Sadly it has been closed for decades.


Where is Holy Trinity Church?

The former Holy Trinity Church is at Old Camp Hill, Bordesley, Birmingham, B12 0AB. It also runs along Trinity Terrace, and is near Bordesley Middleway. There is a good view from the train passing on the Snow Hill Lines past Bordesley Station.

 

In brief

 

A commissioners church built between 1820 and 1822, designed by the architect Francis Goodwin in the Decorated Perpendicular gothic style. Sadly the church closed down in 1968. Apart from a short period as a homeless shelter in 1999, it has remained empty ever since.

Holy Trinity ChurchHoly Trinity Church from the train heading through Bordesley (June 2013). Photography by Elliott Brown

 

Holy Trinity Church - history

The Church of the Holy Trinity was built between 1820 and 1822 (during the reign of George IV). It is an example of a Commissioners' church. The architect was Francis Goodwin, and he designed it in the Decorated Perpendicular Gothic style. The church was said to have been modelled on King's College Chapel in Cambridge. It was consecrated in January 1823 by James Cornwallis the Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry. It was assigned out of the parish of St Peter and St Paul. Aston.

The church was built in the conventional rectangular plan, faced in Bath stone. Holy Trinity was also important in reflecting the High Church movement of the Anglican Church at the time. The burial ground was closed in 1873 although family graves continued to be used until 1925. Some remains were removed due to the widening of Sandy Lane / Bordesley Middleway, and many gravestones were removed after the church was deconsecrated in the late 1960s.

A group of cricketers from the church formed an Association football team here during the autumn of 1875. This was the Small Heath Alliance, which later became Birmingham City F.C.

The church closed in 1968 (and closed for good by about 1971). It was initially proposed for the church to be converted into an arts centre, but this never happened in the end. Instead for some years it was used as a shelter for homeless people until about 1999. Ever since then the church has remained empty. In the late 1970s there was proposals for it's demolition but it did not happen (thankfully). In 2014 there was plans for it to be converted for residential purposes. It became a Grade II listed building in 1970 from Historic England.

Holy Trinity Church

Holy Trinity Church

Holy Trinity Church

Holy Trinity Church

Holy Trinity Church

Holy Trinity ChurchHoly Trinity Church in Bordesley near Camp Hill (October 2009). Photography by Elliott Brown

 

 

Views from public transport

You can see the former church from buses at Camp Hill near Camp Hill Circus, as well as on the train, passing over the railway bridge that crosses over Bordesley Middleway. But for the best views, you can walk down Old Camp Hill and Trinity Terrace. Although the trees are overgrown here. It is also visible from the Coventry Road near the Grand Union Canal, on the other side of the Bordesley Viaduct.

Holy Trinity Church

Holy Trinity Church

Holy Trinity Church

Holy Trinity ChurchHoly Trinity Church in Bordesley near Camp Hill (July 2021). Photography by Elliott Brown

 

Project dates

31 Jul 2021 - On-going

Passions

History & heritage, Civic pride, Classic Architecture
Faith

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Contact

Your Place Your Space

Jonathan Bostock

0121 410 5520
jonathan.bostock@ yourplaceyourspace.com