C of E
Selly Oak – St Mary Bristol Road ( O. S GR SP 038823 )
Consecrated in 1861, as a chapel of ease to St Laurence , Northfield. A parish was assigned out of St Laurence in 1862, parts of it were taken to form the parishes of St Stephen, Selly Hill (1892), and St Wulstan, Selly Oak (1911) and to be parts of the parishes of St Francis, Bournville (1926), and St Gabriel, Weoley Castle (1933); further parts were transferred to St Francis’s in 1933. St Wulstans mission church was consecrated as St Wulstan’s Church in 1906 and the Bournville mission church as St Francis’s Church in 1925. Other places licensed for public worship are the Bishop Gore Church 1939, St Bridget’s House, Weoley Park 1946 –52 the College of Ascension 1946, the Selly Oak Hospital, and the Industrial Christian Fellowship Training College, Weoley Park Road 1954.
Registers at Birmingham Central Library – Archives department
Baptisms 1861-2001
Marriages 1862-1999
Burials 1861-1954
Banns 1981 – 1994
C of E
Selly Oak – St Stephen & St Wulstan’s Serpentine Road ( O. S GR SP 097877 )
The church of St Stephen, Selly Park (established as St Stephen Selly Hill ) It was consecrated 1870 A parish was assigned out of St Mary’s Selly Oak in 1892. St Stephen’ s New Hall licensed for public worship1929. In April 1981 the parish united with that of St Wulstan, Bournbrook and the united benefice became known as St Stephen & St Wulstan, Selly Park. In addition to these two congregations there is a third congregation who meet at St Stephen Church Centre at 953 Pershore Road.
Registers at Birmingham Central Library – Archives department
Baptisms 1871-1981
Marriages 1881-1990
C of E
Selly Oak – St Wulstan Exeter Road ( O S GR SP 046827 )
Originated as an iron church dedicated to St Wulstan and opened as a mission church of St Mary’s, Selly Oak in 1893.A new church was consecrated in 1906. A parish was assigned out of St Mary’s in 1911 The church remained a chapel of ease until 1911. The church is now united with St Stephens Selly Oak.
Registers at Birmingham Central Library – Archives department
Baptisms 1894 – 1980
Marriages 1907 – 1980
Non Conformist
Baptist – Pershore Road Selly Park
Chapel was completed in 1877. Services had previously held in the Dog Pool Chapel, a wooden mission hall erected in 1867 in St Stephens Road Selly Park by members of Bradford Street Digbeth Circus Chapel.
Registers at Birmingham Central Library – Archives department Baptisms 1913 – 1955
Brethren – Tiverton Road Bournbrook
Gospel hall was registered for public worship in 1895 and is probably identifiable with the Selly Oak Hall .
Congregationalists and Independents – Dartmouth Road Bournbrook
Church hall was built in 1932. The church was formed in 1894 and in 1902 when services were being held in a corrugated iron building. For some years after 1902 Dartmouth Road Bournbrook was a mission of Francis Road.
Registers at Birmingham Central Library – Archives department Marriages 1935 – 1965
Elim Church – Alton Road Bournbrook
Elim Church formerly an un-denominational mission, was acquired in 1944. The congregation founded from Graham Street, Birmingham had formerly met in a hired hall. Bournbrook
Registers at Birmingham Central Library – Archives department Marriage 1874 – 1982
Friends – Bristol Road Selly Oak
Meetinghouse was opened in 1927. Christian Society meetings for worship are said to have been held in the Workman’s Hall, Selly Oak, from 1879. The Workman’s Hall, in Elliott Road, was a temperance club on the “British Workman” model, built on the initiative of a group of Unitarians in 1871. In 1894 George Cadbury opened the Selly Oak Institute, Bristol Road, which was used for worship, until the new meetinghouse was built in 1927.
Friends – Dawlish Road Bournbrook
Mission hall opened in 1909, and may have replaced a meeting in Tiverton Road Bournbrook registered for worship in 1900. The hall was closed in 1938.
Friends – Holly Avenue Selly Park
Dogpool Hall was registered for public worship in 1906. It was closed in 1939, and after suffering bomb damage in the Second World War, was dismantled.
Friends – Raddlebarn Lane Selly Hill
Mission hall, opened in 1922. It was preceded by another hall built on the same site in 1903, and originally known as Friends Hall, Selly Hill, which was destroyed by fire in 1916. During the intervening period the congregation met at Raddlebarn Lane Council School. The hall was closed in 1950.
Methodists – Bristol Road Selly Oak
St John’s church was opened by the Wesleyans in1835. The church originated in cottage meetings, which followed the appointment in 1829 of C Bridgewater as inspector of tolls at the Selly Oak Locks.
Registers at Birmingham Central Library – Archives department Marriage 1917 – 1956
Methodists – Elmdon Road Bournbrook
Chapel, was opened by members of Selly oak ( Bristol Road ) Primitive Methodist church in 1901. Bournbrook
Registers at Birmingham Central Library – Archives department Marriage 1929 – 1939
Other Churches and Missions – Alton Road Selly Oak
Un-denominational church was registered for public worship from 1912 to 1945.
Spiritualists – Bristol Road Selly Oak
Psychic Centre was registered for public worship in 1946.
Roman Catholic
St Edward 1889 Raddlebarn Road (O.S GR SP 0582)
St Pauls convent was founded in Selly Park in 1864 but the mission there was not established until 1889. A stable and coach house in Upland Road was used until a school was built and part used as a chapel in 1895. The permanent church was opened in 1902 and completed in 1904.
Gazetteer / Directory Entries
SELLY OAK is a manufacturing village, in the parish of Northfield, county of Worcester, 3.1 miles south-west from Birmingham. The Worcester and Birmingham, and Netherton Canals run through the parish. The church of St. Mary, erected chiefly by the munificence of the late J . F. Ledsam, Esq., lord of the manor and G. R. Elkington, Esq., of Woodbrook, was consecrated September 12, 1861; by an Order in Council, June 1862, it was made the church of a district of about 2,000 acres taken out of the parish of Northfield. It is in the Decorated style of architecture, and has nave, chancel, and transepts and tower containing 6 bells, from Messrs. Warner and Sons, London: the church was erected from the designs of Mr. E. Holmes, of Birmingham : the spire is a graceful feature in the landscape from every side: there are 611 seats all open, and of oak, of which 427 are free: there are six stained windows, five by Hardman, representing The Ascension, The Nativity, The Transfiguration, The Resurrection, and The Good Samaritan, and one by Messrs. Chance, the two last being memorials of the founders: the gas fittings, by Skidmore, of Coventry, are very elegant. The living is in the gift of the bishop of the diocese and three trustees, and is held by the Rev. Thomas Price M.A., of Magdalen Hall , Oxford. There is a mixed school and an infant school. There is a chapel for Wesleyans. Here are patent nail works and brick works. The population of this village has more than doubled itself since the last census, and is still increasing, owing, to the erection of large works for the manufacture of Elliott’s patent sheathing for the bottoms and sides of vessels. According to the census of 1861 it contained 341 houses, and 1,483 inhabitants [Post Office Directory 1861]
