The Origin of the Parish

It is difficult to say exactly when the parish of West Bromwich was founded. The year 643 is often said to mark its birth, but this date seems to be far too early

St. Augustine restored Christianity to southern England when he landed on the Kentish coast in 597 and it spread gradually throughout the Saxon Kingdoms. The first bishop of Mercia, as the Saxons called the Midlands, was St. Chad. He was sent from York by Theodore of Tarsus and based himself near to Lichfield c669. He and his successors undertook a campaign to convert the inhabitants of the area to Christianity and thus the first church at West Bromwich may have been founded as a result of their influence. We cannot, however, give a more precise date than this.

The Saxon Church

Although there is no tangible evidence of a Saxon church in West Bromwich. There is a possibility that such a church existed on the present site. Doomsday Book suggests that West Bromwich, small though it was, perhaps merited some place of worship In pre-Christian times, the peasants probably had some sacred spot in the village on which to perform their pagan rituals so it would seem strange if they did not have a focus for their new religion in the form of a church after conversion to Christianity.

During the conversion of Saxon England to Christianity, the new religion was often grafted onto pagan foundations in order to effect a change of belief with the least possible upset; pagan feast-days became Christian feast-days and pagan religious sites often became Christian churches. It is possible therefore that some sort of religious worship has been performed on the site of the present church for well over 1,000 years.

The Norman Church

When we come to the Norman period, we are able to speak of the parish church with more certainty. During the restoration of 1872 several Norman remains came to light, consisting of a shaft and two capitals generally thought to be the remnants of a belfry window from the Norman tower. They are now clearly preserved as part of the north wall of the present belfry. This church probably consisted of a nave, a small chancel and perhaps. in its later days, a west tower. The building would have been very solid looking as the Normans built to last, using thick walls filled with rubble. The windows would have been small, placed high in the walls thus rendering the interior of the church dark, damp and depressing.

Once again, it is impossible to put an exact date to the building, which graced the top of Blake Street. As soon as the Normans had completed their occupation and pacification of England, they began an intensive programme of church building and rebuilding, so our Norman church might well have been constructed during the 1080s or 1090s, but these dates are again purely conjectural.

There is written evidence of a church at West Bromwich in 1125, when Simon, bishop of Worcester, confirmed Henry I’s grant of "The parish church of Bromwich together with all the lands which belong to it ", to the monks of Worcester Abbey. In turn the Prior and Convent of Worcester transferred the benefice to the monks of Sandwell Priory. This meant that the Sandwell monks were responsible for finding a vicar to serve the parish, an arrangement which remained legally binding until the dissolution of the priory in 1525. 1 he monks may have sometimes failed to carry out their obligation, and during the middle ages spiritual maladies in the parish were doubtless occasionally aggravated by the lack of a vicar.
 
 

The Gothic Churches

During the fourteenth century the Norman church with its massive walls and gloomy interior was replaced by a much lighter and more graceful building. This century, the age of Decorated architecture, saw arches embellished with elaborate carvings and floral patterns in stone. Walls, too, were decorated with stone statues in niches with intricately carved canopies, while windows became large and filled with complicated tracery. Gone now were the castle-like structures of the Norman period.

The first Gothic church at West Bromwich consisted of a chancel, a nave and a west tower. Developments in church ritual and ceremonial brought about a general enlargement of chancels, while an increase in the population of some parishes necessitated larger churches. Hence the fourteenth-century church at West Bromwich was probably considerably larger than its predecessor.

The fifteenth century witnessed the enlargement of this church by the addition of a north aisle and a chancel with its own roof. A plan which remained until 1786.

Some portions of the Gothic church have survived. The lower parts of the tower comprising the arch and window date from the Middle Ages although they were encased in modern stone in 1872.

The Gothic interior of the church would have been very different from that of today, containing perhaps many statues of the Saints and of the Blessed Virgin. Each church usually had a patron saint and there is good reason to think that ‘All Saints’ was then the church of St. Clement. A dedication changed sometime during the nineteenth century. St. Clement’s Lane in West Bromwich still keeps the Saint’s name alive.

The Reformation

West Bromwich felt the first effects of the ecclesiastical ‘‘changes of the sixteenth century before the introduction of the Reformation itself. As part of his efforts to reform the monastic orders and to acquire wealth and property to finance his educational schemes, Cardinal Wolsey dissolved a number of smaller religious houses before the general suppression of 1536 and 1539. Sandwell Priory with an annual revenue of £38 8s. 7d., was one of the houses chosen for dissolution. In 1525 the Pope authorised the suppression and shortly afterwards monastic life in West Bromwich came to an end. These changes, however, were soon to be dwarfed by the more fundamental alterations in church government and ritual associated with the national Reformation of religious life The changes in religion brought about by the Reformation naturally affected life at St. Clement’s, but not in the radical way that is often claimed. The church certainly lost its vicar with the dissolution of the priory, and thereafter lacked a minister for several years; but it is doubtful whether the monks at Sandwell in pre-Reformation times had regularly provided a man to serve the parish church as they were bound to do. The comparatively small size of the chapter perhaps prevented the fulfilment of their spiritual responsibilities, for it seems probable that the priory could support no more than four monks. There were only one or two monks in residence in 1349, and in 1361 and 1380, the prior appears to have been the only monk at Sandwell. By 1524 there were perhaps only two monks! Thus in 1525, the current situation was not greatly changed.

In 1547 a government commission examined the church property with the object of satisfying itself that all was ready for the reformed religion, but it was not until perhaps around 1626 that the church acquired its first ‘communion table’, which can now be seen in the Lady Chapel.

The Eighteenth-Century Church

The two alterations to the church plan during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries had both concerned the addition of chapels. In 1573, Walter Stanley, lord of the Manor of West Bromwich, is said to have built a chapel at the East End of the north aisle. This chapel was demolished in 1786.

The other addition to the church was the Whorwood Chapel built in 1619, on the south side of the nave, to the memory of Sir William Whorwood of Sandwell Hall. Evidence of animosity between the two men and the fact that the Whorwood Chapel was ‘to resemble that of Mr. Stanley’, suggests that each tried to outdo the other in the adornment of his benefaction.

After this, during the eighteenth century, the church underwent a period of decay. Doubtless there was much patching up of the fabric - the porch was repaired in 1706 - but on the whole, the building was seriously neglected by successive incumbents. By 1783, the state of the church fabric was causing concern to the vicar and his churchwardens. It was said that the building was ‘much dilapidated and in want of repair’, and a vestry-meeting held on June 22nd of the same year resolved that ‘an alteration to the church was absolutely necessary for the more decent worship of God and for the better accommodation of the parishioners’. The cost of the work was to be met largely by private subscription and fund-raising committees were formed immediately.

The ‘restoration’ of the church in 1786 in fact began with the total demolition of the last Gothic church apart from the lower tower and the Whorwood Chapel and this, according to Hack-wood, constituted ‘The greatest act of vandalism to which any church has ever been subjected ‘. Certainly the 1786 church was not handsome, to say the least, as surviving pictures show.

Its ground plan consisted of a nave and tower. The interior had galleries at the West End and half way along the north and south sides The galleries were subsequently extended to the east wall.

There were two windows in the East End and an altar stood under the Southeast window. It is believed that this was the altar now in the Lady Chapel. There was also a small vestry at the East End.

In 1854, through the generosity of the Earl of Dartmouth, a small sanctuary was built onto the East End, containing the High Altar and lit by a fine Venetian window. At this time also, the Whorwood Chapel, having been used as a family pew by the Dartmouth’s, became a vestry.

One of the principal features of the church was the large three-decker pulpit, which stood in the centre of the nave obscuring completely the new altar in the sanctuary. The offending object was removed in 1862 and replaced by a smaller pulpit on the south side of the nave.¹⁴

The body of the church was filled with high box pews allotted in a strict order to the principal families of the town or to those who had made the greatest contributions to the erection of the church. The vicar received seat 1 ‘adjoining the Clarke’s (sic) reading desk’s while the second pew was allotted to William Whyley of Oak House, a Churchwarden ¹⁵ The free seats were generally at the west end or in the nave under the galleries.

The Reverend Spry, incumbent from 1837 to 1865, objected to these pews on several counts, expressing his views in a stanza of a long poem lamenting the state of his church:

The present Church

The present church dates from 1872, but ideas of rebuilding the previous church were circulating well before then. The eighteenth-century church regarded by few as a thing of beauty, was already much in need of repair by the 1860’s and the Reverend Spry outlined some of the church’s defects in the following lines from his poem:

In November 1870, the vicar complained about the poor condition of the church fabric. The rain pours in at the roof, the walls are mouldy and stained, the windows let in draughts on all sides, the floor is so damp that it is almost dangerous to kneel, the belfry is unsafe, the bells useless for ringing, the whole building is . . . damp, inconvenient, uncomfortable, dirty and slovenly

Even allowing for his exaggerations, it is plain that Mr. Willett was concerned and desired change. He even implied that a dilapidated church indicated a slovenly congregation: ‘as the church is, so will the people be ‘, he wrote.

The vicar had a clear vision of what needed to be done. ‘Let us do this’, he wrote, ‘(1) . . . replace the decayed stones in the tower, rectify its pinnacles, put a south face to the clock, put the bells to rights, and open the tower arch into the church. (2) Case the present walls with stone and put in proper windows. (3) Build a chancel, placing the present sanctuary. with its window, just as it is, at the east end of the chancel. Let us build a sacristy on the south side of the chancel and an organ chamber on the north. (4) Reseat the church. (5) Re-roof the church. These are the main features of my proposal for the restoration of the church ‘

By December 1870, sets of plans for the new building were drawn up by Mr. Somers-Clarke, an architect and friend of the vicar. Then it was decided to apply for a faculty for the restoration of the old church A committee, set up to consider the plans, proposed that the new building should consist of a chancel, a nave and a north aisle, leaving the tower and the Whorwood Chapel intact. Conflict arose over the plans because the vicar wished for a south aisle behind the tower. If a north aisle were built, he claimed, the nave would have been placed a little to the south of the present nave and its west front would have been obscured by the tower; while the tower itself, cut by the high elevation of the nave roof, would have appeared stumpy. The vicar and his supporters won the day and the design incorporating a south aisle was duly adopted. An executive committee of the vicar and the principal church officers was then formed to supervise the rebuilding. The vicar estimated that the new church would cost ‘not one penny less than £5,000’. Finally, in 1871, the tender of Mr. Burkitt of Wolverhampton, to rebuild the church for £6,300, was accepted, although it was thought that the final cost would exceed this.

The last full day of worship in the old church was Sunday. 25th June 1871. The morning Eucharist’s were well attended and in the afternoon a children’s service was held with some 600 children present from All Saints’ and the neighbouring parishes. At evensong on that day, the church was filled ‘from one end to the other.

On Monday, 26 June, after a celebration of the Eucharist at 6.30 a.m., Mr. J. Mallin and his workmen began the demolition work and by the end of the day the interior of the church was a wreck. Many parishioners had a great deal of affection for their church, despite its ugliness, and its demolition was a severe loss to them. There was an immediate demand for souvenirs and small crosses made from stones of the old church were sold in aid of the restoration fund. Throughout the rebuilding, services were held in a temporary church, which also housed the organ.

The foundations of the new church were progressing well by September 1871, and in the following April, a memorial stone was laid on the site of the High Altar by the High Sheriff of Staffordshire. The building work continued rapidly and the new church was opened with great ceremony on 29 October 1872.

The day began with a service of Purification conducted by the vicar at 6.30 a.m. Three celebrations of the Eucharist then followed and Matins was sung at 11.30 a.m. This was the principal service of the day beginning with a procession from the temporary church to the new building, during which the choir sang an anthem specially composed for the occasion. The Bishop of Lichfield preached the sermon and every available seat in the church was filled. After this service there was a lunch for 200 guests, including the bishop and the neighbouring clergy in All Saints’ School. The new building had cost just over £7,000, slightly over the builder’s original estimate.

During the rebuilding one sad event occurred when Isaac Hartill, one of the young workmen, fell to his death from the scaffolding.

Finally, in 1873, members of the church officially expressed their thanks to Mr. Willett for successfully completing the restoration and everyone agreed that ‘in place of one dilapidated and inconvenient church . . . there is now a church of great beauty ‘

No substantial changes have been made to the church plan, which remains today much as it was in 1872. The church received new lighting in 1968 and an oil-fired heating system was installed during the following year.

The inside of the building was completely cleaned during several months of hard work in 1969-70. Contractors were hired to clean the stonework in the chancel, prior to the installation of the new organ; while members of the congregation undertook to restore the nave to its original glory. A dedicated band of workers toiled night after night until the interior of the nave was entirely cleaned. Also the chancel screen, pews, pulpit and lectern all received a new lease of life as they were first scraped and then re-varnished to show off their individual features in the best possible way. The sight of the building in its pristine glory duly rewarded the labourers, surely a most fitting condition as it set out upon its second hundred years.
 
 
 
 

© All Saints Parish Church 2006 (taken from 'A Short History and Guide' By G.W. Hannah (1975))