Church Heritage Record 620177

W tower, galleried 7-bay nave (now partitioned with W narthex containing WCs and kitchen to N) and shallow chancel with vaulted crypt the length of the nave.

21m x 15m

The area was first mentioned in the Domesday Survey as Tibintone, but became known as Tibbington. The site of Tipton’s ancient parish church, to the NE, dates to the C13 or C14. St John’s (originally St Martin’s) stands on the site and has a tower of 1683 and a rebuilt nave of 1854.

Heritage Gateway and the Archaeology Data Service identify many records within the surrounding area. The records mostly relate to C19 industry and many relate to the Birmingham Canal (such as a Grade II listed mid-C19th cast iron towpath bridge and a Grade II listed flight of 3 locks and attached footbridge, c.1829) which is to the N of the site.

Tipton railway station opened to the E of the church in 1852. The Borax soap works, built in 1874, were demolished after 1979 and the site redeveloped. Victoria Park, a registered Grade II site, to the SE was laid out on a derelict colliery site and opened 1898-1901. There is an early C19 Grade II listed pub on Owen Street to the SW of the church.

The archaeological potential of the site is low, and there are no burials.

Tipton was subsumed quite early into the spreading industrial development of the Black Country. The Birmingham Canal arrived in Tipton in 1770 and many warehouses and wharves developed to the E around Dudley Port.

Collieries and ironworks were founded and expanded throughout the C18 and C19, and the population expanded simultaneously. It grew from 4,280 in 1801 to 18,891 in 1841. The first railway through Tipton arrived in 1850.

St Paul’s was built as a Commissioner’s Church as a chapel of ease to St Martin’s and begun in 1837. Tipton had been identified by the Bishop of Lichfield, Bishop Ryder, who had carried out a survey of needs of his parishes. He highlighted the effects of industrialisation on population growth and resultant shortage of seats.

Port records that whilst others thought brick was unsuitable for the exterior of a church Ebbels was happy with it as a material. The cost of the church, which was met by a grant from The Church Building Commission as well as voluntary contributions, was approximately £5,000 and was completed in 1839. It was designated as an Ecclesiastical parish in 1843. The original seating capacity was 1,300. A crypt was built the length of the nave, which was used during WWII as an air raid shelter.

There was a fire in the church in 1964 which destroyed the pulpit, further damage is not known. In 1985 works to reorder the interior were carried out with a division inserted to form a W narthex beneath the W gallery, and a ceiling inserted at the top level of the original 3-sided gallery to make a contained worship space seating 150 seats. The upstairs galleried seating remains but is used only for storage. In 1986 the congregation was joined by that of St Martin’s and they became a united parish.

In 1995 Owen Street was redeveloped by Sandwell Council and included the removal of old church wall and gates and the installation of a paved landscaped area.

A bat has previously been found in the worship area though there was no clear evidence at the time of visiting.

St Martin and St Paul’s was built in a style typical of a Commissioners’ church. It was constructed in red brick with nave and aisles under a single roof (and gallery internally). Each bay of the N and S walls contains a tall pointed lancet window separated by a brick buttress. The decorative iron ends of historic tie-bars (stretching horizontally above the crypt and at gallery level) can be seen on the N and S elevations. Both sides are finished by a straight parapet which screens the low pitched roof behind it. A 3-stage W tower with crenelated parapet and corner pinnacles has a hidden pitched roof. It has louvred lancet openings at the belfry stage, and above the central, W-facing door, a 3-light Perpendicular W window with stone surrounds and tracery, and iron ferramenta. Attached to its N and S are projections with hidden hipped roofs, which contain the gallery stairs. At the E end flat-roofed extensions contain the vestry and vestry corridors. The E window, above the chancel projection, is a Perpendicular 4-light window with stone tracery and iron ferramenta. The E vestry window below it has previously been rendered but this has mostly fallen away. Windows are protected by plastic secondary glazing and grills.

The church is entered through a W door in the base of the tower which enters a lobby area. The floors are all level. Through another set of doors is the carpeted narthex area, which is a space beneath the W gallery, with kitchen and WCs to the N, and is also used as a meeting room. It has a low inserted ceiling and is divided from the nave by a solid block wall with glazed double doors.

In the SW and NW (through the gentleman’s WC) corners are cantilevered stairs with metal handrails, allowing access to the former gallery level. The W end of the upstairs has also been partitioned to create a separate space, though it is no longer in use. It has a wood boarded floor and is lit by wall-mounted strip-lights. To the W, within the space of the tower is tiered seating. Paint loss has revealed stencilled decoration. Beyond the partition to the E the tiered seats of the gallery remain in situ, though views into the nave are blocked by the inserted ceiling. The area is used for some storage now.

Back at ground level, the main worship area in the nave is a comfortable space, with carpet laid over boards, and painted plastered walls. Seating is provided by individual, wood chairs (late C19/early C20) supplemented by some upholstered seats in several different styles. Choir stalls, previously at the E end, have been relocated to the W end of the N and S aisles. The inserted ceiling sits above the height of the painted wood-panelled gallery frontals and the cast-iron columns with plain moulded capitals which support the original gallery are still in evidence. The insertion conceals the decaying fabric above and interrupts the height of the windows.

The tall lancet windows (5 within nave section, 2 within W section) have cast-iron, lozenge-shaped panes and contain clear glass. Wall-mounted iron radiators are situated beneath each window. The space is lit by ceiling lights (fluorescent tubes and halogen floodlights). The aisles are beneath the former galleries and have sloping soffits. A stair well at the E end of the N aisle leads down to the brick vaulted crypt which extends the full length of the nave.

The floor is level to the chancel where there is a single step up. The floor is covered in blue carpet and the walls are painted blue. Boards painted with the text of the 10 Commandments and the Lords Prayer and Apostle’s Creed are positioned within a two panel plaster reredos on the E wall. Text along the top of the wall either side can also be seen in historic photographs of the interior. There are also plaques commemorating former incumbents to either side.

A door to the S has a step down and leads through to a corridor paved in stone flagstones to the vestry which is to the E of the altar. There is also access to the boiler house.