page_title: Selly Oak
section_title: Places of Worship
hierarchical_section_title: Selly Oak / Places of Worship
caption_attribution_description: English: St. Mary's Church, Selly Oak
context_page_description: Selly Oak is an industrial and residential area in south-west Birmingham, England. The area gives its name to Selly Oak ward and includes the neighbourhoods of: Bournbrook, Selly Park, and Ten Acres. The adjoining wards of Edgbaston and Harborne are to the north of the Bourn Brook, which was the former county boundary, and to the south are Weoley, and Bournville. A district committee serves the four wards of Selly Oak, Billesley, Bournville and Brandwood. The same wards form the Birmingham Selly Oak constituency, represented by Steve McCabe. Selly Oak is connected to Birmingham by the Pershore Road and the Bristol Road. The Worcester and Birmingham Canal and the Birmingham Cross-City Railway Line run across the Local District Centre.
  The 2001 Population Census recorded 25,792 people living in Selly Oak, with a population density of 4,236 people per km² compared with 3,649 people per km² for Birmingham. It had 15.9% of the population consisting of ethnic minorities compared with 29.6% for Birmingham in general. As the University of Birmingham is nearby, there are many students in the area.
context_section_description: George Richards Elkington put up most of the money to build St Mary's Church on Bristol Road in 1861, built by the Birmingham architect Edward Holmes. There are several Elkington Burials in the Churchyard, including George Richards Elkington and his wife Mary Austen Elkington., and Brass Plates to Commemorate them within the name of the church. These rather amusingly show the couple with Victorian hairstyles and a mixture of Victorian and medieval clothing.
  The Five Mile Act in 1665 meant Birmingham, although a large centre of population was not a borough, and was therefore exempt from the effects of the Act and attracted an influx of ex-preachers religious freedom made the town attractive. The Declaration of Indulgence of 1672 resulted in the licensing of meetings of which few seem to have been registered. The following is an update from the VCH City of Birmingham.
  A Psychic Centre on the Bristol Road, Selly Oak was registered for public worship in 1946.
  Christ Church, Selly Park, was formed from St Stephen’s parish.
  There are two large Pentecostal congregations in Selly Oak. Selly Oak Elim Church is situated in Exeter Road. Meanwhile, Christian Life Centre is located on Langleys Road in a purpose-built church opened in 1999 (the congregation had previously worshipped at Dame Elizabeth Cadbury School in Bournville). CLC hosts three meetings on Sundays and has a regular attendance of three hundred or more worshippers at its two morning services. CLC is also heavily engaged in social outreach work through its ACTS and ARK projects to assist vulnerable and marginalised people in the local area.
  Raddlebarn Lane Mission Hall was opened in 1922. It was preceded by a corrugated iron building, seating around 150, built on the same site by Edward Cadbury in 1903. It was originally known as the 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 and subsequently used by Birmingham Corporation for educational purposes.
  Selly Park Baptist Church was completed in 1877, at a cost of £3,400 of which W Middlemore subscribed £2,600 and, in 1892 provided 400 sittings. Services had previously been held in the Dog Pool Chapel, a wooden mission hall erected in 1867 in ST Stephen’s Road by members of Bradford Street Circus Chapel. The Sunday afternoon congregation in 1892 was 90. Church membership, 228 in 1938, had fallen in 1956 to 82. The congregation now meets in a new brick built annexe to the old church which is being renovated for use as a club.
  St Paul’s Convent was founded in 1864 by the Sisters of Charity of St Paul but the mission 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. A new chapel was built in c. 1915. The Sisters managed a maternity home in Raddlebarn Road which is now St Mary’s Hospice.
  The Society of Friends Meeting on the Bristol Road was in a brick building, seating 200, opened in 1927. Christian Society Meetings for worship are said to have been held in the Workman’s Hall, Selly oak from 1879, and in 1892 there was a Sunday evening congregation of 170 at Selly Oak meeting in a building seating 200.
  The Workman’s Hall was a temperance club on the 'British Workman' model, built on the initiative of a group on Unitarians in 1871.
  Wesley Hall, a wooden building seating 150 on the Pershore Road, Selly Park, was opened by the Wesleyans in 1920 and cost £2,033. In 1940 three ancillary rooms were in use, of which one was built as a school hall. The congregation had previously met in an annexe of the council hall. Attendance in 1920 was estimated as 50, of whom 30 were church members. In 1932 membership was 38. The hall ceased to be registered for public worship in 1956.
caption: St. Mary's Church, Selly Oak
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