St John the Baptist Church, Bromsgrove

Last updated

St John's Church, Bromsgrove
St John the Baptist Church, Bromsgrove
St John's Church, Bromsgrove - geograph.org.uk - 1087399.jpg
Church of St John the Baptist, Bromsgrove
St John the Baptist Church, Bromsgrove
52°20′02.8″N2°3′52.6″W / 52.334111°N 2.064611°W / 52.334111; -2.064611
Location Bromsgrove
Country England
Denomination Church of England
Website St Johns Bromsgrove
History
Dedication St John the Baptist
Administration
Diocese Diocese of Worcester
Archdeaconry Dudley
Deanery Bromsgrove
Parish Bromsgrove

The Church of St John the Baptist, Bromsgrove is a Grade I listed parish church in the Church of England in Bromsgrove. [1]

Contents

History

The church belonged to a particularly large Parish during the early Norman period. Henry III arranged for the church and lands to be granted to Worcester Priory in order to support the remembrance of his father King John I, who is buried there. The Priory then ran the manor and collected rents and other income until the dissolution, at which point the lands transferred to the new Dean and Chapter. [2]

In February 1643, Charles I ordered that Bromsgrove's vicar John Hall be removed from his post as a rebel. [3] Disputes about the vicarage continued through the Interregnum and Protectorate. John Hall was vicar again until 1652. His successor John Spilsbury, previously a fellow of Magdalen College, [4] was unpopular with some of Bromsgrove's churchgoers, who attempted unsuccessfully to eject him. [5] Spilsbury was removed after the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660, [4] and left the Church of England by refusing to conform to the Act of Uniformity [5] along with around 2,000 other Anglican ministers from the Commonwealth period. He was confined to his house, banished from the county and finally imprisoned for his non-conformism. [6] The toll on his health may have led to ill health and his death. [7] He did return to Bromsgrove, where he was annually visited by Hall's son John, an Anglican bishop. Spilsbury was licensed as a Congregationalist teacher in 1672 in Bromsgrove and died in 1699. [4] [lower-alpha 1] A memorial to Bishop John Hall can be found in the Church; a memorial to his father was present in the eighteenth century, according to Treadway Nash. [5]

Building

The church dates from the 12th century, but is predominantly of 14th and 15th century construction. It was restored in 1858 by George Gilbert Scott.

There are 13th century and early 16th century alabaster monuments in the north chapel and an alabaster effigy of 1517 in the chancel.

In 1855, the church built Holy Trinity Church, Lickey as a chapel of ease.

Church bells are recorded from the 1690s. [8] The first mention of a clock is from 1684. [9]

War memorial

Inside the church is a large, cast metal memorial to the men of Bromsgrove who were killed in the First World War. Among the names listed is Captain Noel Chavasse, VC & Bar, MC (1884–1917), the medical doctor and Olympic athlete from the Chavasse family. He is one of only three people to be awarded a Victoria Cross twice. [10]

Burials

Organ

There are records of organ in the church dating from 1808 when a small instrument was installed by Thomas Elliot. The opening recital was given by Bishop Simms. There have been subsequent rebuildings and renovations over the years, resulting in a 3-manual and pedal pipe organ, largely by the Malvern firm of Nicholson. A specification of the organ can be found on the National Pipe Organ Register. [11]

Organists

Churchyard

The graves of engine driver Scaife and fireman Rutherford in the churchyard Bromsgrove Scaife Rutherford 1840 refurbished.jpg
The graves of engine driver Scaife and fireman Rutherford in the churchyard

Buried side by side in the churchyard are two railwaymen, engine driver Thomas Scaife and fireman Joseph Rutherford, who both lost their lives when the boiler of a locomotive exploded in Bromsgrove station on 10 November 1840. Their gravestones both show reliefs of steam locomotives. However, the locomotive involved was an experimental one and not one of those depicted on the stones. [12]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Worcester Cathedral</span> Cathedral in Worcester, Worcestershire, England

Worcester Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of Christ and Blessed Mary the Virgin, is a Church of England cathedral in Worcester, England. The cathedral is the seat of the bishop of Worcester and is the mother church of the diocese of Worcester; it is administered by its dean and chapter. The cathedral is a grade I listed building and part of a scheduled monument.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edmund Calamy the Elder</span> English Presbyterian leader (1600–1666)

Edmund Calamy was an English Presbyterian church leader and divine. Known as "the elder", he was the first of four generations of nonconformist ministers bearing the same name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bromsgrove</span> Human settlement in England

Bromsgrove is a town in Worcestershire, England, about 16 miles (26 km) north-east of Worcester and 13 miles (21 km) south-west of Birmingham city centre. It had a population of 34,755 in at the 2021 census. It gives its name to the wider Bromsgrove District, of which it is the largest town and administrative centre. In the Middle Ages, it was a small market town, primarily producing cloth through the early modern period. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, it became a major centre for nail making.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Worcestershire</span>

The area now known as Worcestershire has had human presence for over half a million years. Interrupted by two ice ages, Worcestershire has had continuous settlement since roughly 10,000 years ago. In the Iron Age, the area was dominated by a series of hill forts, and the beginnings of industrial activity including pottery and salt mining can be found. It seems to have been relatively unimportant during the Roman era, with the exception of the salt workings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liverpool Cathedral</span> Anglican cathedral in Liverpool, England

Liverpool Cathedral is a Church of England cathedral in the city of Liverpool, England. It is the seat of the bishop of Liverpool and is the mother church of the diocese of Liverpool. The church may be formally referred to as the Cathedral Church of Christ in Liverpool the Cathedral Church of the Risen Christ, Liverpool. It is the largest cathedral and religious building in Britain, and the eighth largest church in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Ejection</span> 1662 purge of Puritan ministers in the Church of England

The Great Ejection followed the Act of Uniformity 1662 in England. Several thousand Puritan ministers were forced out of their positions in the Church of England following the Restoration of Charles II. It was a consequence of the Savoy Conference of 1661.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edmund Calamy (historian)</span> English Nonconformist churchman and historian (1671–1732)

Edmund Calamy was an English Nonconformist churchman and historian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Hall (minister, born 1610)</span> English clergyman and ejected minister

Thomas Hall (1610–1665) was an English clergyman and ejected minister.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Hall (bishop)</span> English churchman and academic

John Hall (1633–1710) was an English churchman and academic, Master of Pembroke College, Oxford, and Bishop of Bristol. He was known as the last of the English bishops to hold to traditional Puritan views.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Francis Chavasse</span> Anglican bishop

Francis James Chavasse was an Anglican priest and bishop and father of Captain Noel Chavasse. After serving in parishes in Preston, London, and Oxford, for eleven years from 1889 he was principal of the evangelical theological college Wycliffe Hall, Oxford. In 1900 he was appointed as the second Bishop of Liverpool and held the see from 1900 to 1923, during which time he played a large part in the commissioning and the early phases of construction of Liverpool Cathedral.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gilbert Talbot (soldier)</span> English knight

Sir Gilbert Talbot of Grafton, KG, was an English Tudor knight, a younger son of John Talbot, 2nd Earl of Shrewsbury and 2nd Earl of Waterford, and Elizabeth Butler.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grafton Manor</span> Manor house in Dodford with Grafton, Bromsgrove District, England, UK

Grafton Manor was established before the Norman Conquest. Grafton means "settlement at or near the wood" and may indicate a role in woodland management within a larger estate, for instance.

John Walker (1674–1747) was an English clergyman and ecclesiastical historian, known for his biographical work on the Church of England priests during the English Civil War and Interregnum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samuel Shaw (minister)</span>

Samuel Shaw (1635–1696) was an English nonconformist minister.

John Collins was an English Independent minister.

Thomas Warmestry was Dean of Worcester from 1661 until his death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Holy Trinity Church, Southport</span> Church in Merseyside, England

Holy Trinity Church in Southport, Merseyside, England, is an Anglican parish church in the diocese of Liverpool and a Grade II* listed building. It was built in the early 20th century, and designed by Huon Matear in free Decorated style. It is constructed mainly in red brick, and has a tower, the upper parts of which are in elaborately decorated stone. Many of the internal furnishings are by the Bromsgrove Guild.

The Chavasse family in the West Midlands is a British family of Catholic origin. When Claude Chavasse came from the borders of France and Savoy, he settled in Burford, Oxfordshire. His entry in the Burial Register there states: Claude Chavasse, a Roman Catholick (sic). Members of the family gained particular prominence as surgeons and clergymen. Members of the family still live in the United Kingdom today.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Talbot (died 1549)</span>

Sir John Talbot of Pepperhill, Boningale, Shropshire, was an English knight and lord of the manors of Albrighton, Shropshire, and Grafton, Worcestershire.

Robert Pierson was rector of St Mary's, Oldswinford, Worcestershire.

References

  1. The buildings of England. Worcestershire, Nikolaus Pevsner
  2. Willis Bund, Doubleday & Page 1913
  3. Atkin 2004 , p. 57; Cotton 1881 , p. 60
  4. 1 2 3 Gordon 1917 , p. 356
  5. 1 2 3 4 Cotton 1881 , p. 60 See footnote
  6. Jones 1849 , p. 259; see also Calamy 1713 , pp. 772–3
  7. Calamy 1713 , pp. 772–3
  8. Cotton 1881 , pp. 46–47
  9. Cotton 1881 , p. 53
  10. "Olympians Who Were Killed or Missing in Action or Died as a Result of War". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 3 August 2015.
  11. "NPOR | the National Pipe Organ Register".
  12. Rolt, L.T.C. Red For Danger (1966 ed.). Pan Books. p. 69. Retrieved 13 June 2016.

Notes

  1. Spilsbury married the elder John Hall's daughter. Hall's son John became a bishop, the last with Presbyterian views. Spilsbury's son John led a dissenting congregation in Kidderminster, and in turn his son Francis Spilsbury became a minister at Salters' Hall in London. [5]

Sources