St James Brownhills.

St James' Church Brownhills 2001.

St James' Church. Brownhills from the East.

The War Memorial at St James' Church Brownhills.

ST JOHNS WALSALL WOOD

The Parish Church of St John originated in a mission which was established in 1820 and the present Church was built in 1837 which makes it over 160 years old. Prior to this there was no church building of any kind in Walsall Wood, religious instruction was given in one of the Villagers cottages, then a room was made available at the Horse and Jockey public house. In 1825 the vicar of St Mathew's Walsall was licensed to hold Services in a school room.  Walsall Wood being apart of Walsall Foreign had to apply to the Walsall parish for permission to build a church, this they did in 1821, but it was refused, so they reapplied in 1822 and although the governors of the parish refused to give money to build a church they did give a £50 donation to start a fund to build a new church.

In 1836 The Earl of Bradford donated a piece of land amounting to one and a half acres, in the centre of the villager for the use of, when it was required to build a church. The money had been raised and St John's was built at a cost of £1,200 to serve the increasing mining community of Walsall Wood. It was designed by Isaac Highway of Walsall and was built in blue brick in the lancet Gothic style, it consisted of a nave with stone dressings and a square tower; of that original building only the tower and the West wall of the nave remain. In 1886 a South aisle of red brick and a sanctuary were added, and a North aisle designed by H. E. Lavender was also built in 1895. There is a vestry at the end of each aisle.
The incumbent in 1851 was the Rev PG Harper, MA. To this day there has only been 10 incumbents installed in the parish, which suggests it is a warm and friendly place where people tend to settle.The Church comes under the Deanery of Walsall. The original Vicarage was to the West of the Church, on the site of the present day St John's close. It was replaced with a new building just North of the Church in 1967 and was demolished a year later.

It was a custom in those days to buy your seat in church and 400 seats were provided, but 310 were free, which suggests that most of the community were too poor to buy their own seats in the church.

The first burial at the new church was in October 1837, when an Ann Yoxton, aged 3 months, of Clayhanger was buried in the churchyard. The original Churchyard was half an acre in size but in 1876 under the inclosure Act a total of 4 acres of land in Brook Lane was assigned as the burial ground for all denominations of the Parish.
In 1845 the status of the church was raised and it became a separate district from Walsall and was known as, Chapelry District of St. John, Walsall Wood and from then on was not dependant on Walsall Parish and could conduct it's own affairs.

In the early 1880's a fund was started in response to an article in the 'Walsall Observer' from a traveller pointing out that, "no clock existed anywhere between Lichfield and Walsall for a person to check the time". In May 1903 a clock was made and installed by the Midland Clock Works of Derby. The clock is 4 feet in diameter and its pendulum weighs 1 cwt.

Several missions have been opened from St John's. A mission was established in 1872 at CLAYHANGER. In 1879 The Mission Church of Holly Trinity was designed by D. Shenton Hill of Birmingham and built in rendered brick and had a bell in a bellcot. A Church School was attached to the Church  in 1880 and consisted of two class rooms for the education of  Girls infants of the village it later became just an Infants School .I attended this School from 1956 until 1959 and remember it has a cold forboding place, surounded by large walls and iron bar fences. The School  was moved to new premises on an adjoining site in 1968 and the Church and School house later demolished

The second effigy, which is also in marble, is something of a mystery. Some say it is of, 'Nicholas de Alrewiche', who founded the church. Nicholas was only a minor official of Cannock Forest and took his name after being given the Manor of Aldridge.  The Church had been founded long before Nicholas. The effigy was supposed to be that of Nicholas and was said to be, when in 1600 Erdeswick wrote in his,'Antiquities of Staffordshire, in the alcove on the outside of the south chancel wall. It was moved inside during the alterations of 1851. The memorial is however that of a 14th century priest, and Nicholas de Alrewiche certainly was not a priest. The second school of thought is that it is the effigy of, 'Roger de Elyngton' who was a priest and was Rector of Aldridge in the mid 1300's, he founded a Chantry Chapel and it is thought he was given a position of honour as a resting place.

The Church has many memorials, tablets and handsome monuments dedicated to notable local families and individuals. There is also sited near the door the Parish Bread Box, from which loaves of bread were distributed to the poor of the parish who had attended both the service and the sermon.

The Church records date back to 1660 and in the past bodies were buried beneath the Church floor. In 1991 when the inside of the church was renovated, the floor was excavated, in preparation for new flooring to be laid and several coffins were found and from the name plates on the coffins the names of the Tongue family were found to be the occupants. Edward Tongue was Curate of the church for 50 years between 1727 and 1777 and it is thought The Manor House was built as a wedding present for his Grandson, also Edward when he married Sidney Croxall, the youngest daughter of Edward Croxall of Shustoke, in 1814.

St Mary's Church, Aldridge. C. 1790. Showing the South view and the old Rectory to the East side.

.FOR MORE DETAILS GO TO St MARY'S PAGE

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