St Agatha's Church, Sparkbrook

The Church of St Agatha is a parish church in the Church of England in Sparkbrook in Birmingham, England.BackgroundIt was designed by W. H. Bidlake and is now a Grade I listed building.Made of brick and decorated with stone, building started in October 1899. It was funded by the sale of the site of Christ Church, New Street which was demolished the same year to make way for shops and offices - Christchurch Buildings. That site later became Victoria Square after Christchurch Buildings were demolished in 1970. St Agatha was consecrated in 1901 by the Bishop of Worcester (Charles Gore) as Birmingham was in the diocese of Worcester until 1905 at which time Gore was made the first Bishop of Birmingham. A parish was assigned to the church in 1902 from Christ Church, Sparkbrook, and St Paul's Church, Balsall Heath. The font and only bell came from Christ Church, along with its foundation stone dated 1805. In 1959, the church hall received a licence for public worship.The building has had an eventful history; the sanctuary end was completely destroyed by a German bomb in 1940 and the entire roof was lost in a fire in 1957. From 1940 to 1960 parts of the building were bricked off and the sense of lightness that the interior now has was temporarily lost.