This visit focuses on a corner of north Worcestershire that is especially fertile territory for religious historians. The tour will start at l0.30am at Stourbridge Junction railway station, which is conveniently reached by train every ten minutes (journey time 30 minutes) from Birmingham Moor Street and which has generous free parking space.
Baxter URC, Kidderminster
The coach will take us first to Kidderminster, where the Puritan divine, Richard Baxter, was ejected from the parish church 350 years ago. We shall visit the Baxter United Reformed Church (formerly Congregational; 1884-6 by J. W. Tarring) and the Unitarian New Meeting (originally Presbyterian, 1782, and later), whose treasures include the pulpit in which Baxter preached.
We then make the short journey to Bewdley, a handsome riverside town which offers no fewer than four eighteenth-century chapels along one particularly rewarding stretch of Georgian buildings: first the Holy Family RC Church (formerly Presbyterian; built c1778 to a most unusual plan), then the buildings of the Methodists (1794, extended 1850) and Baptists (c1764, mostly rebuilt), and finally the Quaker Meeting House (1707 and later).
After lunch we shall transfer to Stourbridge, where we hope to visit the Unitarian Church (originally Presbyterian; 1787-8 by Thomas Johnson), St John’s URC (formerly Anglican; 1860 by G. E. Street), Our Lady and All Angels RC (1864 by E. W. Pugin) and Methodist Church (1927 by Crouch, Butler and Savage).
After a Chapel Tea the coach will return to Stourbridge Junction by 6pm.
Chapels Society members are welcome to download a booking form.