Immanuel Church

Immanuel Church stands on the site of the old Magdalen Chapel in central Birmingham. Edward Holmes designed the building, and the Bishop of Worcester consecrated it in May 1865. It began as a separate parish church before being joined to St Thomas’ on Bath Row in 1939. After St Thomas’ was destroyed in a 1940 air raid, Immanuel reopened briefly to serve both congregations. By the early 1960s the church closed for good and was later demolished. The church housed a pipe organ built by Bird, moved to St Faith and St Laurence’s in Harborne when Immanuel closed. Its font was taken to St Mary’s Church in Wythall before the building itself was taken down. The parish records and some furnishings were redistributed among nearby churches. No trace of the church remains on the original site today. The location today is a quiet corner near the city centre. A small park occupies the former footprint, with benches where people sit and a few trees marking the outline. Nearby streets still carry the names Bath Row and Immanuel Road, linking the past to the present. The area feels calm, far removed from the busy streets a few hundred metres away.