St Alphege's Church, Solihull

Image: © Rude Health Taken: 22 Oct 2013

The church is of cross-shaped plan with a chancel having a two-storey chapel north of it, a central tower, north and south transepts, a nave with north and south aisles, and a north porch. There was originally a late 12th-century church on the site, of which the only evidence of this is the east end of the south wall of the nave with a blocked window, and the marks of its steeply pitched roof on the west face of the tower. It would have been shorter and slightly narrower than the present nave. The church was enlarged by Sir William de Odingsells with the chancel, and a vaulted chamber and chapel dedicated to St. Alphege to the north of it. A north aisle with a chapel of St. Thomas Becket was added to the nave and some remains of an arch between the two still exist. This was followed in the 14th century by the addition of the transepts, with the insertion of side-arches in the tower and the enlargement of those in the east and west walls. The rebuilding and widening of the north aisle followed, along with the north porch. A little later in the 14th century the aisle was continued westwards, beyond the original west end. The present aisle was added in 1535, when both arcades were rebuilt and the nave lengthened. The top section of the tower was constructed in 1470 much later on than the lower part, probably near the date of other 16th century work, likely undertaken before the nave and aisles were completed. The original stone spire collapsed in 1757 and was rebuilt soon afterwards to a lesser height. The south aisle, owing to a structural weakness in the arcade and the pressure of the nave roof, collapsed in 1751 and was again rebuilt almost immediately afterwards, but the arcade and aisle again failed to resist the thrust of the roof in 1939 and were heavily shored with timber until the work of restoration was undertaken.

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