Church Heritage Record 602008

The church consists of chancel with north vestries and organ chamber above, south chapel, nave with clearstory, north and south transeptal chapels, north and south aisles, south-west tower and west porch. The three west bays of the nave have been partitioned off and floored over above capital level to provide a large hall over an entrance hall and meeting room together with a kitchen and other facilities.

Chancel 7.65m by 11m, south chapel 5.05m by 7.7m, nave 7.75m by 29.2m, north and south transepts 5.9m by 9.25m, north and south aisles 3.7m wide and south-west tower 4m by 4m.

The church replaced St. Peter, Dale End, a Greek Revival church of 1827 by Rickman and Hutchinson that was nearer the centre of Birmingham and was demolished in 1899. The church at Springhill was built under the Birmingham Churches Act 1897; it was designed by F. B. Osborn and consecrated in 1906. In 1966 the church was reordered, the altar moved forward and the choir stalls removed.  In 1967 the three west bays of the nave were partitioned off and a floor inserted. A new entrance hall was made in the fourth bay from the east, entered from porches in the north and south aisles. The architects were Denys Hinton and Associates of Leamington Spa.

This is a large and elaborate church in late Gothic style. The composition of the exterior viewed from the south is lively with a great variety of gabled compartments, both axial and transverse, stabilised by the massive tower at the south-west corner. Detailing is robust and stone has been used economically but to good effect. The gabled chancel has octagonal corner turrets topped with miniature belfries and spires, together with gabled buttresses of two stages weathered below. On the north are vestries and on the south a parallel, gabled chapel with two-stage weathered buttresses and plain eaves. The nave is also gabled and has an almost continuous clearstory. There are transverse chapels of two bays on both sides; that on the north is a parallel compartment, but on the south the chapel is at right angles and has two gables facing south. Both chapels are wider than the aisles and have gabled porches in the re-entrant angles and buttresses of two weathered stages. The aisles are low and have similar buttresses. New entrances have been made in the central bays on each side by inserting a steel joist below the arched heads of each three light window and removing the brickwork below. The openings are filled with steel railings with gates and inner porches have glazed walls. At the west the gabled end of the nave is framed between an octagonal corner turret similar to those at the east and the tower; below is a porch with three gables with doorways in the outer bays. Over the west window is a statue of St. Peter in a canopied niche and above a finial and cross.  The tower rises in four stages and has weathered angle buttresses. The ground stage has a door with pointed head on the west and a pointed two light window on the south. The second stage has two-light windows with pointed heads on three sides and the third has rectangular windows of two lights. The belfry stage is tall and has two large pointed openings on each face. The parapet is crenellated between four massive corner pinnacles.

Inside the nave has been cut in half and the north aisle screened off, but what remains is still impressive. The east bay of the chancel has windows on the north and south, each of two cusped lights with decorated tracery under a pointed head. The west window is of five lights, divided by a transom with Perpendicular tracery under a pointed head. The two remaining bays are separated from the sanctuary by full height wall-shafts and are arcaded. The arcade on the north is the taller and houses a double organ loft with curved fronts supported on a stone screen of four bays with four-centred heads that also gives access to the vestries. The lower arches on the south are similar, being plain-chamfered with labels, and give access to the south chapel. This has a window of three lights at the west and a pair with two lights on the south. All have pointed heads and Perpendicular tracery. The chancel arch is tall and wide, the rectangular inner order carried on shafts with moulded caps and bases, and is framed by a continuous wave-moulded outer order. The division is also marked by three steps.

The nave is of six bays with arcades and clearstory on both sides, except on the south of the west bay. This is the site of the tower, the ground stage of which is open to the nave. Both arcades are divided by a respond between bays two and three that marks the division between chapels and aisles. The arches are pointed and of two chamfered orders. Capitals are octagonal and have wave- and hollow-moulded capitals and bases. The clearstory has two windows per bay and each consists of two cusped lights under a four- centred head and label. The bays are framed by wall shafts that rise from above the piers. At the west a pair of doors open into the porch and above is a window of five lights similar to that in the east wall of the chancel. The north and south chapels have pairs of matching windows in the outer walls. Each is of three ogee lights with Perpendicular tracery under a pointed head. The chapels are connected to the aisles by arches of almost triangular profile. The aisles are lit by groups of three ogee lights except in the east bays where there are two lights against the chapel porches.

The work of 1967 consists of a concrete floor at capital level in the three west bays of the nave and aisles supported on concrete beams, brick piers and cross-walls. The elevation to the nave consists of a glass screen divided by brick piers at the lower level above which is a large white rectangular screen with peripheral glazing in panels to allow for the arched profile of the roof. The screen has a pair of loading doors above which is a large crucifix.

The chancel roof is of three bays defined by arched principals with wall posts that are supported on the foliate caps of the wall shafts. The wagon roof is boarded and divided into panels by moulded ribs and purlins. The nave roof is divided into six bays by principal trusses with collars and arch braces that rise from the foliate caps of the wall shafts. The collars carry king and queen posts. There are intermediate principals of the same form but they spring from wall plate level. These trusses support three tiers of side purlins and the upper and lower pairs have vertical arched wind braces that span the bays. The roofs of the aisles and chapels are less elaborate.