Umberslade Baptist Church

Umberslade Baptist Church
Christ Church Baptist Church
Umberslade Baptist Church from the south
Umberslade Baptist Church Location in the West Midlands
Coordinates: 52°20′48″N 1°47′09″W / 52.3467°N 1.7859°W / 52.3467; -1.7859
OS grid reference	SP 147 721
Location	Hockley Heath, Solihull, West Midlands
Country	England
Denomination	Baptist
Website	Umberslade Baptist Church
History
Founded	1877
Founder(s)	George Frederick Muntz junior
Dedication	Christ Church
Architecture
Functional status	Redundant
Heritage designation	Grade II
Designated	2 August 1972
Architect(s)	George Ingall
Architectural type	Church
Style	Gothic Revival
Groundbreaking	1876
Completed	Sept 1877
Specifications
Number of spires	1
Materials	Blue lias stone with limestone dressings, Welsh slate roofs

Umberslade Baptist Church is a redundant Baptist church southwest of the village of Hockley Heath, Solihull, West Midlands, England (grid reference SP147721). The church and attached school rooms and church hall were originally recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building in 1972, but on 9 July 2014, the grading was raised to II*. The building is under the care of the Historic Chapels Trust.

The church was commissioned by George Frederick Muntz, junior and designed by the Birmingham architect George Ingall. It was built in 1877 in Umberslade Park, the estate of Umberslade Hall, Muntz's country seat. A vestry was added to the east of the church in 1893. In the 2000s repairs, including re-roofing, were carried out by Midland Conservation Limited. They were completed in 2008 and cost about £500,000.

The church is constructed in blue lias stone with limestone dressings. The steep roofs are of Welsh slate and are hipped and gabled. It has a four bay nave with a north porch, north and south transepts, a chancel terminating in an apse, and a southwest tower, with a spire, incorporating another porch. The style is Decorated and it is elaborately detailed including pinnacles with finials. Around the church are lancet windows, those in the transepts have rose windows above them. The tower is in three stages. It has diagonal buttresses on three corners rising to the full height of the tower, surmounted by pinnacles. On the northeast corner is an octagonal stair turret with an embattled summit. The bottom stage of the tower has a west doorway with an arch under an ornamented porch. In the middle stage there are trefoil windows. The tall top stage has a clock face on each side over which are lancet bell openings. At the summit is a pierced quatrefoil parapet. The spire has gabled lucarnes.