St Mary & St Margaret Parish Church of Castle Bromwich Birmingham

A Norman Chapel has stood on this site since before 1175. Built for the Bromwich family.



Rebuilt in local stone in the 12th century.



The present church had major changes made from 1726 to 1731 by St John Bridgeman as this
overdoor inscription states. The church then rebuilt using local hand made bricks to encase
the original timber framed structure in brickwork and plaster, that can be seen today. 

It was given a Grade I Listed building status in 1961.

  The church has now achieved the unusual status of being a Norman/medieval building existing
within a Georgian external brickwork & stonework design.  
 




The heating system was installed by Henry Hope of Smethwick Birmingham during the Victorian period. It was originally fired by a
solid fuel sectional cast iron boiler that has now been removed and replaced by a wall hung gas fired boiler. The pipework distribution
was heated by gravity circulation which fed four 4"dia cast iron pipe coils laid in the three aisles at floor level against the Pew plinth.





At the Tower west end of the aisles the coils are connected by two box ended pipe coil heaters.
The design of these heaters is unusual in that they form a double set around the column.

The cast iron pipework is jointed by short slip and long slip sockets. The long sleeve sockets as shown above have the name Clark & Hope Birmingham cast into them. This was the name of the firm before it changed to Henry Hope after the death of Thomas Clark in 1875. The right hand picture shows the name H.Hope - 55 Lionel St. - Birm - Estabsh - 1816 with the Royal Warrant emblem awarded by Queen Victoria as Horticultural Builder to the Royal Properties.