All Saints Centre

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History of the Church

The church of All Saints was consecrated in July 1860 as a daughter church of St Mary Moseley. It was considerably smaller than the present building but designed in such a way that it could be enlarged at a later date. The church accommodated 430 people and 150 of those sittings were rented. Some of the present pews are still numbered for that reason.

The services were administered by Revd R J Villiers curate of St Mary but in January 1863 Kings Heath became a parish in its own right and Revd R J Villiers was appointed the first vicar. In 1866 a spire was added as a gift from the Misses Anderton of Moseley and in 1870 a vicarage was built.

In 1882 the North aisle and choir vestry were added so that the church could now accommodate 577 people. A further extension at the west end was considered but had to be delayed because of lack of funds.

John Cartland of the Priory, Vicarage Road, died in 1888. He had generously given both time and money to the church and a new reredos at the back of the altar was erected to his memory. When, four years later his wife Ann died, the family erected not only the wrought iron screen but also an alabaster memorial to their memory.


General view of All Saints Church 1948	View of Churchyard during work to flatten gravestones in 1948

In 1899 the west end of the church was added with two more vestries and the seating now numbered 907. Revd W J Roxburgh was appointed vicar in 1907 and he saw the need for a small chapel where regular week day services could be held, so some of the pews in the south aisle were removed and an altar placed at the east end. The stained glass window of the Annunciation in the Lady Chapel is dedicated to the
Revd W J Roxburgh and his wife.

Pew rents were finally abolished in December 1916. A memorial to those men killed in the first war was put in place in 1923 and contains the names of over 150 men including two members of the Cartland family. At the same time the Calvary was erected in the churchyard with the date of the second war added in 1947.

By 1948 the churchyard was closed for burials so the gravestones were laid flat and a Garden of Remembrance created on the north side for ashes. A year later the font was removed from its rather cramped position by the south door and a new baptistry created at the west end of the church.

The first stained glass window to be put in was that of the East window in 1881 to the memory of Stanley Everitt and the last is on the north side of the sanctuary in memory of Harriet Johnson who died in 1932.