St. Mary's Church was built in 1774, under an Act of 1772,[1][2] on Catharine Street (later renamed Whittall Street), then on the northern edge of the town of Birmingham, as a chapel of ease to St Martin in the Bull Ring. The building was designed by Joseph Pickford.[3] It was named to mark the donation of the land on which it stood, and £1,000 of its £4,500 building costs, by Mary Weaman.
Two years after opening, part of a gallery collapsed during a service, but the incident did not result in any injuries. Cast iron columns were added, to support the rebuilt galleries.
William Hutton, in the second edition of his An History of Birmingham (1783) wrote:
Though the houses for divine worship were multiplied in Birmingham, yet the inhabitants increased in a greater proportion; so that in 1772 an act was obtained for two additional chapels. St. Mary's, therefore, was erected in 1774 [St Paul’s was the other.], in the octagon form, not overcharged with light nor strength; in an airy situation and taste, but shews too little steeple, and too much roof. If a light balustrade was raised over the parapet, with an urn in the centre of the roof, the eye of the observer would be relieved. The clock was seldom seen to go right, but the wonder ceases if there are NO WORKS within.
St Mary's on the Ordnance Survey 25 inch map of 1892-1914. Note also Weaman Row, which no longer exists.Memorial card to victims of the explosion at Messrs Pursall and Philips
Structural problems were discovered in 1866 and the tower and spire were subsequently rebuilt in a Gothic style. A further rebuilding took place some time later.
Its registers of baptisms (1774–1812) and burials (1779–1812) are at St. Martin's.[2] Its silver communion service is at St. Mary's, except for two flagons which are in the collection of Birmingham Assay Office.[2] A tablet commemorating William Thompson, formerly in the church, and now in St Martin in the Bull Ring, reads:
In memory of the Rev. William Thompson, who was the first President of the Wesleyan Methodist Conference. He died May 1st, 1799, and was buried in the vaults of this Church.
The site is now occupied by Waterfall House. A thoroughfare at the north-west side of the site is still called St Mary's Row.
^Joseph Pickford of Derby, Edward Saunders, Sutton Publishing Ltd. 1993. p. 118
^W.B. Stephens, ed. (1964). "Religious History: Churches built before 1800". A History of the County of Warwick: Volume 7: The City of Birmingham. Institute of Historical Research. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
^"The new vicar at St Mary's". Birmingham Daily Post. England. 30 April 1886. Retrieved 10 January 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
