St Cyprian's Church, Hay Mills is a parish church of the Church of England in Hay Mills, Birmingham, England. It is situated on the southern side of the main Birmingham to Coventry Road A45 at the end of a lane called the Fordrough that leads to the factory of Webster & Horsfall Ltd. It has long been associated with the Horsfall family who built the church and continue to be its owners. Built in the 19th century of red brick in the Gothic Revival style it is dedicated to St Cyprian the third century martyr and Bishop of Carthage who although coming from a wealthy background gave away a portion of his wealth to the poor of Carthage, he was beheaded by the Romans in 258.Pagans and Christians, Robin Lane Fox, 1986 The church is now Grade II listed.Birmingham City Council web site
History
James Horsfall was a wire drawer from Digbeth who invented high tensile steel wire. He moved to Hay Mill, a disused blade and sword factory at a water mill on the River Cole, rebuilding it as a steam-driven mill. The mill originally belonged to Hay Hall in Tyseley. In 1855 his company merged with Joseph Webster's of Penn Mill, Sutton Coldfield. He was a major manufacturer and exporter of the piano wire to Europe in 1824. In 1853 Horsfall had patented a heat treatment process which strengthened the wire. This led to improved piano wire (giving a near monopoly), wire for making needles in Redditch, fishhooks, and umbrella frames. The firm made the armoured wire for first successful transatlantic telegraph cable in 1866, using 30,000 miles of wire (1600 tons), made by 250 workers over 11 months.History of the Atlantic Cable & Undersea Communications The strengthened wire also made possible the construction of aeroplanes and automobiles. The company today also makes springs.Webster & Horsfall web site
Horsfall built houses and, in 1860, a schoolroom for his workers’ children. This was subsequently converted into a Chapel, the present school room which stands beside the church was built in 1863. The services for the chapel were conducted by the senior curate of Yardley and in 1866, Sunday evening services were held and a Sunday School started for the children. In the following year, six buttresses were erected and two stone crosses were fixed to the apex of the roof. In 1869 the organ and organ chamber were added. In 1873 the foundation stone was laid and work began to incorporate the former chapel as the present chancel.The Parish church of St.Cyprian Hay Mill, Birmingham, booklet by then vicar Maureen Alderson 2001 To this, designed by Frank Barlow OsbornEnglish Heritage listed building status Accessed 24 December 2010 but often wrongly ascribed to Martin & Chamberlain, and built by William Partridge was added the nave, the side aisles, the gallery, porch, tower, spire and vestries.Churches built since 1800', A History of the County of Warwick: Volume 7: The City of Birmingham (1964) The church was consecrated in 1878 and the first Church Council was elected in 1899 consisting of twelve members of the church, in addition to the Vicar, Churchwardens and six Sidesmen. During the Second World War in 1940 the building was damaged by enemy action but not beyond repair.
Architecture
The church, in the Gothic style, is of red brick with a minimum use of black brick and stone dressings; it has a tile roof. It consists of a Nave, with a hammer beam roof, large plate tracery, clerestory windows and low, narrow aisles to North and South, whose bays are demarcated each by buttresses with a single lancet window, a chancel, with a barrelled roof, at the West end, vestries with a gallery above. In the South West corner there is a porch tower with a slated broach spire with 2 tiers of lucarnes it contains a bell bearing the date 1749. It was the former tannery bell, and was given to St Chad's, built by St Cyprian's and demolished in 1984, from where it went to St Cyprian's.Yardley, The Archive Photographs series, Michael Byrne, 1995 In the South East corner is the Horsfall mortuary chapel, added in 1877 in memory of his daughter, Elizabeth Horsfall and now the resting place of James Horsfall and his family. This is in the tradition and position of a medieval chantry chapel for the saying of prayers or masses for the benefactor or founder of a church or abbey. In the tympanum above the entrance there is a sculptureThe Buildings of England, Warwickshire, Nicholaus Pevsner of the transfiguration,() or perhaps the Ascension.
Stained glass
Inside, a set of excellent stained glass windows. being of good-quality, intact and an extensive scheme of stained glass, designed by Hardman & Co. who were also responsible for the stained glass in the Houses of Parliament. Those in the North aisle are illuminated allowing them to be viewed despite them having no natural light being enclosed as a security measure. The restoration was made possible by a donation from a late parishioner and the windows blessed at Easter 2010 with the following words; Almighty and eternal God, we give you thanks and praise for these stained glass images of your saints. For as often as we look on these images with our bodily eyes, As we look at them may we consider the actions of your saints and think about their sanctity for our inmitation. Bless and sanctify these windows made in honour and in memory of your only begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ and of these saints. We also remember our faithful servant John Ellison in whose memory these lights were re-installed. May the light of Christ always shine in our hearts. AmenChurch windows blessing by Rev. Tony Johnson 2010
West front
By ascending to the galley the stained glass of the West front can be viewed near at hand. The top circular window shows a dove symbol of the Holy Spirit which came to the disciples at Pentecost.
There are then three large lancet windows.
The left window has at the top pictures of the birth of Christ and below the Annunciation to Mary.
The centre window has at the top St Cyprian engaged in preaching and below his martyrdom by being beheaded as a distraught clergyman holds his vestments.
The right window has at the top the presentation of Christ to the temple above and below the adoration of the magi.
South aisle
Moving towards the Horsfall Chapel there are 5 lancet windows with depictions of five of the apostles St Bartholomew, St Philip, St James, son of Alphaeus, St Paul and St Peter.
North aisle
Here in the lancet windows are depictions of the other 7 apostles and the Virgin Mary St Simon, St Jude, St Thomas, St Matthew, St Andrew, St James, son of Zebedee, St John, and Virgin Mary the illumination of these windows was restored in 2009 and they can now be seen in all their splendour.
Clerestory windows
The North clerestory windows contain representations of female saints, while those on the South side contain their male counterparts.
South clerestory
From the rear, west to east, front.
1st window Left: St Alban, the first British Christian martyr,.. Centre: St George, engaged in slaying the dragon, Right: St Edmund King, King of the East Angles holding an arrow symbolic of his being shot for refusing to deny his Christian faith.The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, translated and edited by M. J. Swanton (1996), paperback,
2nd window Left: St Cuthbert, holding a head in his hands, Centre: St Benedict, holding a book probably containing his Monastic Rule followed by Benedictine monks. Right: St Germanus.
3rd window Left St Ethelbert, King who received Augustine and was converted by him,Ecclesiastical History of the English People, Bede, 731
Centre St Augustine, consecrated as Archbishop of the English and established his see at Canterbury around 598, Right St Bennet Biscop.
4th window Left: St Cyprian, carrying the axe by which he was martyrd and is recognised, Centre: St Edward the Confessor, Right: St Chad, holding in his hands the Cathedral at Lichfield which he founded and where he died in 672.
5th window Left: Venerable Bede, holding a book symbolic of his work Ecclesiastical History of the English People, Centre: St Oswald, the first of the English royal saints, Right: St Dunstan, appointed Bishop of Worcester in 957.Diocesan Histories, Worcester, Reverend Ian Gregory Smith & Reverend Phipps Onslow, S.P.C.K., 1883
6th window Left: St Stephen, holding stones as a reminder that he was stoned to death in AD 34-35,Eusebius quoted Josephus' account, and also recorded otherwise lost passages from Hegesippus and Clement of Alexandria (Historia Ecclesiae, 2.23). See . Centre: St Gregory, wearing the triple crown of the Pope and holding open a book of chants as he reformed the services of the church. In 595 he sent Augustine to lead a mission, usually known as the Gregorian mission, to Britain to convert the pagan King Æthelberht of Kent to Christianity. Right: St Laurence, with a grid iron symbolising his martyrdom by being burned to death.
North Clerestory 1st window Left: St Bertha, Queen of Kent whose influence led to the introduction of Christianity to Anglo-Saxon England. She was canonized as a saint for her role in its establishment during that period of English history. Augustine owed much of his favorable reception to the influence of Bertha . Centre: St Helen, mother of the Emperor Constantine Right: St Margaret of Scotland wife of Malcolm III known for her goodness to the poor and orphans.
2nd window Left: St Frideswide, holding a book as the Patron Saint of Oxford University Centre: St Walburgh, Right: St Winefride. seen holding a head as a symbol of her martyrdom.
3rd window Left: St Edith crowned and holding a crook symbolic of her royal lineage but who chose to be a humble nun. Centre: St Hilda Abbess of Hartlepool but the glass misnames her as St Chad, probably the result of repairs following wartime damage. Right: St Etheldreda again crowned and with a crook she was abbess of Ely.
4th window Left St Barbara crowned and with a chalice and a castle, the patron saints of artillery and dangerous trades. She was imprisoned in a tower which was broken open by a thunderbolt. Centre St Lucy with a lamp and a dish of a pair of eyes. She consecrated her virginity to God, refused to marry a pagan, and had her dowry distributed to the poor. Her would-be husband denounced her as a Christian to the governor of Syracuse, Sicily. Miraculously unable to move her or burn her, the guards took out her eyes with a fork. Patron saint of the blind her name derives from Lux meaning light. Right St Faith the grid iron symbolises her death by burning.
5th window Left: St Cecilia Patron Saint of Music pictured with an organ Centre: St Catherine associated with the Catherine wheel on which she was tortured. Right: St Agnes with a lily the symbol of chastity.
6th window (none of the names are preceded by the title St but all are). Left: St Dorcas raised from the dead by St Peter. Centre: St Lydia was the first recorded convert to Christianity in Europe. Right: St Lois the maternal grandmother of Timothy, she is commended by Paul for her faith here she is depicted carrying an open book in which are the words " Let thy saints rejoice in goodness".
7th window Left: Santa Maria Mag (Mary Magdalene) with the alabaster pot containing the oil with which she annoited the feet of Jesus. Centre: St Anne mother of Mary again incorrectly named St Hilda. Right: Santa St. Elizabeth cousin of Mary and the mother of John the Baptist.
Font and pulpit There is also a lovely font of a white marble angel holding a large shell, by S, Ruddock, London the monument, dedicated to Horsfall's daughter, Mrs Mary Simms upon whom the face of the angel is believed to be modelled on.
The inscription upon it reads, "Erected to the memory of Mary Elizabeth Simms the only and dearly beloved daughter of James and Elizabeth Horsfall - Sept-1879. "In life beloved, in death lamented"