Holy Name of Jesus

Introduction

Holy Name Catholic Church in Cross Lane, Great Barr, Birmingham, was built in 1938 and formally opened in December that year. The architect was Mr E Bower Norris of the firm of Sandy and Norris, Stafford. Holy Name was designed in the style then known as 'moderne' or 'international', and sometimes called art deco.

History

Father, later Monsignor, Henry Thomas Dovell Yeo of Saint Mary's, The Mount, Walsall, took up the task of establishing a mission in the locality and secured the use of a large barn or stable attached to the Scott Arms. The Mission was registered for baptisms from 4th August, 1925. Finally in 1935, Archbishop Williams sent Father James Bromley to Great Barr to assess the possibilities of developing it into a separate parish. The foundation stone was laid on 11th June, 1938 by the Vicar General of the Diocese Monsignor Provost Cronin in the absence, owing to illness, of the Archbishop.

The official opening took place on 19th December, 1938 in the presence of Archbishop Williams of Birmingham. The Consecration of the church took place in 1965, on the evening of the 7th September. In Great Barr the relics are those of the Holy Martyrs Clement and Innocent.

Architecture and furnishings

The Blessed Sacrament Altar was established in the side aisle backed by a wooden panel bearing the carved symbol of the fish, the stalks of wheat, and the chalice of wine. Besides the great event of the Papal visit, 1982 saw some minor changes in the Parish Church, with the Sanctuary re-ordered and a Day Chapel constructed.

The most innovative part of the church is the front exterior, which consists of a rectangular brick tower and entrance facade. The body of the church is rectangular ending in a semicircular apse. In the 1960s side chapels were added. Extensive alterations took place in the 1980s.

The church being built was modern in style, relying for its dignity on simplicity of proportions rather than elaborate detail, with a low tower intended to take a peal of bells when funds permitted. Inside the church, above the entrance hall, was a choir gallery with a small pipe organ. The sanctuary was higher than the general floor level, affording unrestricted view of the Altar from almost any part of the building, and there was a small side Altar set in an alcove.

The builder was the company Deakin and Boardman of Walsall. There are also elements that can be called 'Romanesque' such as the massive bell tower and the semi-circular apse. Windows and doorways are also rectangular, unlike most churches. The design is enlivened with brick detailing, including 2 sets of 3 pilasters resembling fins, perhaps reminiscent of a cinema of the period.

Other patterning is provided by the glazing bars of the windows. The interior was originally simple and rectangular.

Music and liturgy

The first Mass on 14 April 1925 was a High Mass with music provided by The Mount Choir under Mr. E.F. Joyce, accompanied by Miss Baines on the small harmonium. For liturgical purposes, the Latin gradually gave way to the use of the vernacular, and through the 1970s the parish familiarised itself with the revised Sunday and Weekday Missal.

Parish life

When Father Bromley came he had taken on the chaplaincy of the Great Barr Mental Colony (later Saint Margaret's Hospital) but it was not until 1949 that a regular Sunday Mass was recorded. It is at this time also that we find a note of parish groups and confraternities in Great Barr, including The Catholic Young Mens Society, The Union of Catholic Mothers, Children of Mary and The Grail. A large population usually involves a measure of hidden need, and with this in mind a conference of the Society of St Vincent de Paul (SVP) was started in the parish, and later, in 1971, a branch of the Legion of Mary.

As the laity became more involved, a Church Council was set up, and to help parish funds, the Covenant Scheme was adopted. On 25th January, 1951 the newspapers contained the formal proposal to establish a new primary school in Cross Lane, to be maintained by the Education Authority and to be conducted as a Voluntary Aided School. Another primary school, Saint Marks, was opened on 7th January 1970, situated in Almond Croft off the Old Walsall Road, built on an open plan basis to meet the needs of families in the Hamstead area.

Saint Marks became a Mass Centre for the area, and at the Holy Name itself an extra mass on Sunday morning and an evening mass had been added, giving a total of six masses in the parish on Sundays. On 14 February 1961 the Silver Jubilee of the Parish was celebrated with High Mass and a gathering in the school hall.

Notable people and events

Father Bromley died on 12 January, 1962. Father Bromley had been a late entrant to the priesthood after being in active service as a sergeant in France in the First World War, and he was ordained at the age of 31 on 25th May, 1929.

Visiting

On Sundays the Day Chapel is incorporated into the main church and linked into the sound system. For some time after building, a recording of bells was played through a loudspeaker, but it was eventually stopped when there were complaints in the neighbourhood about the sound levels. The walls of the church were consecrated with candles alight on 12 candlesticks, and at these 12 places the walls were anointed with the oil of Holy Chrism; the candlesticks were later removed, their place marked by small crosses set in the walls. At Christmas the Italian prisoners of war would build an Italian style crib in the alcove at the side of the church, bringing in earth as a base for a model of a complete village for The Holy Family.