The Old School

The Old School, Nuthurst, Warwickshire

I was last here on 8 July and mentioned in my Blip of that day the plethora of redundant churches hereabouts. This is one of them. Hidden from view in the copse, next door to Umberslade Baptist Church.

There's a little history to this structure. George Frederick Muntz came from an aristocratic Lithuanian family. Persecuted and driven to France, the family was chased away by the French Revolution. His grandfather, Philip, came to Birmingham via Amsterdam. His father, George Frederick Snr., was born in a house on Great Charles Street, Birmingham, on 26 November 1794.

George Snr. took over his father's metal works, Muntz & Purden, when his father died in 1811. He amassed a fortune through the manufacture of Muntz metal which he patented in 1832.

Muntz was an ardent liberalist and in 1829 had co-founded the Political Union for the Protection of Public Rights. He was elected MP for Birmingham in May 1840 and in 1850, took a lease of Umberslade Hall. He died in 1857. His son, George Frederick Jnr., purchased the hall that same year.

Junior was an ardent baptist. He worshipped at Henley in Arden baptist church but resolved to construct a new baptist church on land within the estate of Umberslade Hall.

The construction of the baptist church was completed in 1877. On completion it resembled a gothic Anglican church, uniquely set in its own grounds, approached by a long avenue of trees. Junior was unable to wait for the completion of his church. He commissioned a temporary one, to be made of wood and to be erected alongside. This temporary church (the one in this photograph) was completed in 1876. It therefore served as a place of worship for just one year.

Although originally a church, the building is locally known as the Old School. From 1877 it became the venue for the Sunday school and latterly the village school, remaining in use as such until 1913 when it was abandoned upon construction of a purpose built school in nearby Hockley Heath. And here it is. 101 years later.

Hey, it's Christmas Day tomorrow. Have a great day everyone!