The word church has two meanings; most commonly it’s used to describe a building – but to those who belong to the community attached to that building, it means the people. Sherbourne Community Church has developed from a variety of denominations and locations, but its people share the same aspirations to be a fellowship, a family, inclusive, always learning and always welcoming. Here’s the story of how we grew…
Holyhead Road United Reformed Church was far older than the present building on the corner of Holyhead Road and Moseley Avenue. In the nineteenth century there were two churches, Wells St. Congregational Church in the city centre and Vine St Congregational Church in Hillfields. In the blitz of 1941, Wells St. was destroyed and the congregation worshipped at Vine St.
After the war the two churches were given a plot of land as war damage compensation -our current location. A very grand and innovative building was erected and the church moved there in 1953 as one congregation, Holyhead Road Congregational Church. In 1972 the Congregational Church of England and Wales united with the Presbyterian Church of England to become the United Reformed Church. Holyhead Rd. URC was born!
The building, though impressive and with a lot of rooms, was also very expensive to maintain. The discovery of rainwater ingress in the tower in the 1980s was the last straw and the decision was made to redevelop the site. In 1987 the church at Holyhead Road left and moved to share worship at Radford United Reformed Church about a mile away on Radford Road.
A new, smaller, building went up together with a care home and flats on the previous site and the congregation moved back in 1988. It was a time of change, opportunity, and excitement – and for the church at Radford, time for some soul searching because their building also needed significant repairs. In 1997 Radford URC closed and the churches united as one community at Holyhead Road.
Hearsall Baptist Church, on Queensland Avenue in Coventry, first opened as a Sunday School in 1928 and became a church in 1938.
The Coventry Society notes that, from a heritage perspective, the Church is of great interest; its origins can be traced back as far as 1860, when for the first time a group of Baptists based in Chapelfields started to worship together. This initiative led to the construction of a meeting room and an adjoining Sunday School together with some classrooms on Lord Street, which went on to be formally adopted by Queens Road Baptist Church.
In the period leading up to the First World War, this Sunday School building was felt to be no longer fit for purpose and so the decision was taken to secure a new site to erect new, larger premises. The Queensland Avenue plot was purchased in 1915, and new Sunday School buildings were constructed by local contractors W. A. Player & Son of Earlsdon Avenue following a design by the local architect G. A. Steane. Probably due to the difficulties caused by the First World War, work on the new building did not actually start until 1927, with the Sunday School finally opening in 1928. According to an article in the Coventry Herald, a large party including the pastor at Queens Road Baptist Church – as well as other ministers and former members of the original Sunday School were on hand to witness the official opening of the site by Mr Sydney Peirson. He was Superintendent of the Lord Street Sunday School and Treasurer of the scheme responsible for the construction of the new Sunday School.
The largest room in the new Sunday School building was designed to allow also for religious services “until circumstances permit of the building of a church on the remainder of the land adjoining the present structure.” This arrangement was formally recognised some ten years later, when the Sunday School building was elevated to the status of Hearsall Baptist Church.
After the Second World War, the number of worshippers, together with the range of Sunday School activities, led to the commissioning of a purpose-built church next to the Sunday School, and in 1959 the Coventry-based architectural partnership of C. F. Redgrave and L. A. Clarke drew up plans, with A. G. Gale as the builders completing construction of the new modernist church in 1962.
As with the Holyhead Road URC building, the new church construction developed serious issues, and the members and Deacons of Hearsall Baptist Church decided to start a new adventure by merging with the URC family with whom they had already sometimes shared worship.
On Easter Sunday 2024, both churches held their final services as separate entities; from then on, both families would attend the site beside Holyhead Road. The name Sherbourne Community Church was chosen by the new church family at a shared vision day prior to the final merger, as was the logo. We have the River Sherbourne running not far from church and our aim is to be integral to the local community. On April 1st 2024, SCC was officially born!
The current premises continue to be shared with a Korean Church, and many community groups use the building throughout the week.
Sherbourne Community Church, Coventry 