St Chad's Church, Rubery

St Chad’s Church stands in Rubery, a village on the edge of the Lickey Hills in Worcestershire. It began in 1895 as a small wooden mission church with a shingled campanile at the west end. The nave held three hundred worshippers and cost £530 to build. W. Jeffery Hopkins and A. B. Pinckney designed the first structure. In 1933 the parish was created from Holy Trinity Church, Lickey. Plans for a new church were delayed by the Second World War. Work finally started in 1957 under architect Richard Twentyman and finished in 1959. The new church cost £40,000, raised by the parish and a Diocesan Golden Jubilee Appeal. Nikolaus Pevsner called it a fine Modernist example. Historic England listed the building at Grade II in 2025. An organ from St Margaret’s Church, Ladywood was installed after its closure. Inside, the church offers a single wide nave with clear glass windows. The 1959 design uses plain brick walls and a flat ceiling. The organ stands at the west end, its pipes visible above the choir stalls. Outside, mature limes and oaks frame the low brick tower. The Lickey Hills rise close by, providing quiet walks and wide views over the countryside.