St Mark’s Church, Broomhill, is distinctive both for its outstanding modern architecture and for its thoughtful, liberal approach to questions of faith.
It was founded in 1859 as an Iron Church to serve the expanding Sheffield suburb of Broomhill. In 1871, this was replaced by a fine stone neo-Gothic building designed by W H Crossland. St Mark’s became a large, active and well known church.
In December 1940, the Church was struck by an incendiary bomb. Only the tower and spire survived. For 23 years, services were held in the Church Hall. Eventually, the distinguished architect, George Pace, designed a new St Mark’s which was consecrated in September 1963. Since then, the church has progressed in many ways, including improvements to the building, strengthened links with the local community through the Broomhill Festival and the creation of the St Mark’s Centre for Radical Christianity in 2003. When St Silas, Broomhall, closed in 2000, much of Broomhall was added to St Mark’s parish.
A team drawn mainly from the congregation is currently preparing a history of St Mark’s for the 50th anniversary of the new building in September 2013. This history will be published on 27 September 2013.There will be a launch at St Mark’s Church on that evening at which speakers will include Bishop Michael Adie (Vicar of St Mark’s in the 1960s), Peter Pace (son of George Pace, the architect) and Richard Taylor (TV presenter on ‘How to read churches’ and a member of St Mark’s congregation). Copies of the book will be available from St Mark’s office thereafter. Meanwhile, further information about the publication can be obtained from the editor, David Price, at davidprice2@googlemail.com .