Salter Street Parish was was carved out of the parish of St. Mary Magdalene, Tanwoth-in-Arden and the need for a church in the area arose from the fact that the local population did not wish to put up with the six mile walk to Tanworth.
The funding required to build the church came from the sale of land at Earlswood Common, which was needed to build the reservoirs to serve the Birmingham to Stratford-upon-Avon canal (now known as Earlswood Lakes). The sale proceeds were held in a trust fund for some time before the need for a church in the area was recognised.
The church as seen today was built in 1899. It replaced an earlier church that was built in 1840, the tower being added in 1861. The parish of Salter Street (the name of the area as well as the name of the road) was created in 1843. The first minister at St. Patrick's was the Rev. Patrick Smythe and it is generally believed that it was after him that the dedication to St. Patrick arose.
The original church would have been about the same size as the present church. The nave consisted of box pews to the ground floor and galleries supported on columns on either side of the central aisle, which were accessed by staircases near the west door.
It is not known why, but in 1899 the church (with the exception of the tower) was demolished and rebuilt by 1902 to its present form. The west balcony was erected and the oak screen and the door to the tower were installed and dedicated in 1936 through the generosity of Sir Cornelius Chambers.
The next major improvements to the church took place in 2001/2002 when the open area to the rear of the vestry was filled in and the vestry extended. New building at the same time saw the creation of extra rooms, toilets and a kitchen, all of which have been a great boon to the congregation and visitors to St. Patrick's.
Answer the following questions to get the final co-ordinates:-
Esther Burman is remembered in the church porch. She died on 1st June 18AB.
There is a commonwealth war grave close to the wall between the churchyard and school. Able Seaman Houghton was killed on the CD June 1946.
Look for the celtic cross gravestone behind the church that is dedicated to a former vicar of the parish. He fell asleep in 19EF.
The cache can be found at N 52 22. (A/E)(E+F)(B+C) W 001 49 (C)(E)(D-B)