England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Birmingham St Philip

The Parish

Birmingham is the largest city in Britain outside London with a population of 1,145,000 estimated in 2020. The city sits in the northwestern corner of Warwickshire with borders with both neighbouring Staffordshire & Worcestershire. Birmingham sits approximately 110 miles northwest of London with the Warwickshire towns of Coventry 18 miles to its southeast and Warwick also some 20 miles southeast. Birmingham has a long history in mining and metallic manufacturing, archaeologists have traced such activities back to Roman times. It was, however, the industrial revolution that turned Birmingham from modest Midlands town into industrial powerhouse. The earliest days of recognisable Birmingham begin with the granting of a market in 1186 and by the 14th century it had already become a thriving regional market, centre for specialist trades and a location for both local and foreign metal workers. It's proximity to the mines and iron of the adjacent Black Country eventually led to Birmingham becoming the major centre for metal working. Documents as late as 1538 still report Birmingham as a one-main-street market town bur populated by "many smiths" making "knives and all manner of cutting tools". Between the 15th and 17th centuries the present town centre began to be laid-out around the parish church of St Martin but in the 18th and 19th century Birmingham's area increased dramatically engulfing the surrounding villages and becoming a vast urban area incorporating Dudley, Wolverhampton, Tipton, Walsall and Sutton Coldfield as well as numerous settlements in between. The growth in population led to an Act of 1708 to establish a second parish as St Martin was proving inadequate for the growing population and consequently St Philip parish was created and assigned the eastern portion of the city's centre, it was built between 1709 & 1725, in time the junior church was selected to become Birmingham's cathedral when formal city-status was granted. Modern developments are the life blood of the city, from its dense network of canals created to move heavy materials and completed products and said to rival the mileage of Venice to the web of railway line connecting the city to every region of the country. In modern times the city has become encircled in a motorway whilst others carry traffic to all directions of the compass. Birmingham is drained (largely subsurface today) by tributaries of the River Tame, which heads northwards to reach the Trent near to Alrewas and thence to the North Sea through the Humber Estuary. Birmingham St Philip is sited at around 130 metres above the sea and land rises gently to the northwest for a further 20 metres or so within the metropolitan area. Given the dense and growing population crammed into garrets and yards within the city's centre it is difficult to obtain ideas of the population of the two parishes, estimates indicate that St Philip held around 48,000 at the end of this transcript period, the volume of marriages is indicative of an average of 27,000 between 1754 and 1837 but growing fast during that period. In Domesday Book Birmingham is a tiny holding of a Saxon survivor, William son of Ansculf, offering merely 3 ploughs and some woodland, how the place has changed since those early times.

The Church

St Philip's church, as already mentioned, was built between 1709 & 1725 in an area of the centre being rapidly developed around Temple Street & Row. A deal was struck in which an entire square was given to the church between Temple Row and Colmore Row allowing a discrete separation from the commercial and domestic development. Pevsner describes the church as "a building of National Importance" in view of its use of the English Baroque style adventurous in what was a modest 18th century town. The main body was constructed first using a locally quarried stone which proved not to lost the pollution of the city, there was needed a complete refacing between 1859 and 1871 in major piece of restoration. The main body completed in 1715 was followed by the tower which took 3 years between 1722 and final completion in 1725. Despite the relative modernity of the church there has been extensive restoration and repair besides the already mentioned poor stone quality. In 1884 the church was extended eastwards creating a full chancel and replacing what had been an apse, vestries to north-and-south-east were also created. World War II brought more challenges as Birmingham also bore much of the brunt of the blitz, the roof of St Philip was entirely burnt away and not replaced until 1847. Finally the tower's stone also gave way to the atmosphere and had to be refaced too in 1959.  Like most urban churches St Philip is one to visit after first finding a car park. The square in which it sits has a tall iron-rail fencing around it with foot entrances from many points. Whilst the Temple Row face, to the south, has a few trees bordering once within the square all aspects are readily available for the photographer.