Local History

The church is currently being renovated and builders working on the site discovered newspapers, records and handwritten notes nearly 140 years old in ancient 'time capsules'.

Early civilisations used time capsules - often made from air tight clay pots -  to store artifacts and bury them in the ground for future generations to find.

Church minister David Barber said: "The capsules had been built into a wall behind two memorial stones. They'd been left there by people connected to the Church in those days."

Contents of a time capsule

Among the items stored in the capsules - one from 1872, the other 1897 - are a hand-written note about the church's history, a silver coin from Queen Victoria's jubilee celebrations and numerous Birmingham newspapers.

One of them depicts an advert for 'cocaine nibs' - which were sold as 'pick me ups' in the 1870s!

Congregation member Martin Poole said:

"It's been a real experience to find this and it just shows some of the church history. There have been three buildings on this site since 1811 and one of the buildings was pulled down after only 25 years because the church was growing so quickly they needed a bigger building.

Old newspapers and records

"We're hoping to put the artifacts back into another container and plant them back into the church along with some new information from the church today. We're hoping to have an exhibition around Easter time where the public will be able to come in and see them."

Time capsule contents

Contents of the Time Capsule from 1872:

• Handwritten note from Rev. James George Collett 1897
• Opening of the New Schools and laying the memorial stone for the New Chapel – Saturday 30th June 1872
• Kings Heath Chapel – History and list of donations – March 1872
• Hymns for the Opening Services of the Kings Heath New Schools
• Handwritten History of Kings Heath Baptist Chapel dated 1st July 1872
• 'The Freeman' Organ of the Baptist Denomination – June 8th 1872
• Birmingham Daily Gazette Monday April 15th 1872
• Birmingham Morning News’ Monday April 15th 1872

Contents of the Time Capsule from 1897:

• Silver 1897 Queen Victoria Diamond Jubilee, in a paper envelope from the Royal Mint with hand written the name J W Bond 1897
• Envelope containing i. Financial Position September 15th 1897 ii. History of the Church (latter not in envelope assume it referred to the contents of the container)
• Invitation to the laying of the Foundation Stones 27th August 1897
• Programme for the laying of the Foundation Stones 27th August 1897
• Kings Heath & Moseley Baptist Church Manual For 1896
• The Home Messenger Kings Heath Baptist Chapel monthly Journal - September 1897
• Moseley Baptist Church Magazine – March 29th 1897
• Details of the New Baptist Church Kings Heath
• 'The Freeman' Organ of the Baptist Denomination - September 10th 1897
• 'The Baptist' Family newspaper for the Baptist Denomination - September 10th 1897
• 'British Weekly' A Journal of Social and Christian Progress – September 9th 1897
• 'Birmingham Daily Gazette' 6AM Special Wed September 15th 1897
• 'The Birmingham Daily Post’ September 15th 1897 (damaged)
• 'The Birmingham News' September 11th 1897