St John's Church

St John’s Church stood in Deritend, a village on the east bank of the River Rea where Birmingham now spreads. A chapel first rose there in 1380 so villagers would not have to walk three miles to Aston Parish Church. John Rogers, the first English Protestant martyr under Mary I, worshipped there in the 16th century. The building was rebuilt in 1735 and a tower added in 1762, giving the church its landmark silhouette. By 1939 it had united with St Basil’s Church, though St Basil’s became the main place of worship. In 1947 the old church was demolished, yet its First World War memorial cross was saved and moved to St Gabriel’s Church in Weoley Castle. The church’s bells were cast in 1776 by Robert Wells of Aldbourne in Wiltshire. Eight bells were removed and recast for Bishop Latimer Memorial Church in Winson Green before moving again in 1972 to St John’s Church in Perry Barr. An organ built in 1822 for St Martin in the Bull Ring was installed in 1906 by Walter James Bird. The organ and bells carried the church’s musical tradition into new buildings after 1947. The tower’s stones were also reused elsewhere, keeping part of the old church alive. Visitors today will find no trace of the church itself, but the relocated memorial cross stands at St Gabriel’s. The bells still ring in Perry Barr, and the organ plays in its new home. The site where the church once rose is now part of Birmingham’s busy streets. A few carved fragments survive in local collections, kept as fragments of Deritend’s past. The riverbank nearby still follows the line of the old village green.