Churches (53) : St Alphege, Solihull

The church of St Alphege is the parish church of Solihull. The church mostly dates from the late 13th and early 14th centuries. It was built on the site of an earlier church of which little now remains. The spire however dates from 1757CE when it was built to replace an earlier spire which collapsed. The South aisle has also been rebuilt following a collapse in the mid-18th century.

The church has a cruciform plan with a chapel dedicated to St Alphege to the North of the chancel.

St Alphege was an Anglo-Saxon bishop who became Archibishop of Canterbury in 1006CE. He was killed by Viking raiders are refusing to allow himself to be ransomed, he was the first Archbishop of Canterbury to have a violent death. Only a few churches are dedicates to Alphege who became a saint in 1078CE, most of them in Kent.