Page 7 - HB- Church Road

Church Road Redditch Heritage

The Buildings of Church Road

The Institute Building

The building once housed the Redditch Scientific and Literary Institute. The
forerunners of institutions for technical education were the Mechanics’ Institutes and the Literary
and Scientific Institutes, and in 1850 a Literary and Scientific Institute was opened in Redditch.
The Library and Reading Room were first housed in 4, Prospect Hill, on the second floor above
the shop of William Hemings, the printer and stationer.

The working man’s ticket was issued at four shillings a year, or one shilling and sixpence per
quarter, and entitled admission to the Working Man’s Reading Room, use of the Library and
admission to back seats at lectures. There was no room in the shop for lectures, so the Managers
of the National School, St. Stephen’s, in Peakman Street gave permission for lectures and
entertainment to take place in the school buildings for an annual fee. In 1872 the School of Art
opened on Unicorn Hill and remained there for fourteen years.¹
It was later felt that the Institute needed more space, so building began in Church Road in 1885,
when Lieut. Col. the Hon. George H. Windsor-Clive, MP laid the foundation stone. An account of
this ceremony is on the following page. The new Institute building cost about £2,500 and this
money was gained from voluntary subscriptions and donations, and grants from the Science and
Art Department, the Worcestershire
Exhibition Fund and the
Needlemakers’ Company.² In 1886
Earl Beauchamp, the Lord-Lieutenant
of Worcestershire, opened the new
premises for the School of Art, the
Institute and its library. The new
building consisted of a library, reading
room, elementary, advanced and
modelling rooms. There were also
a master’s room and caretaker’s
apartments and offices.³The report of
the luncheon in the Public Hall and the
speeches that followed were fully
reported in the Worcester Journal of
9 January 1886. The Institute
building was held by six trustees and
it was thought that one day it might
house a public library.

From Worcester Journal 9 January 1886

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