| St Mary's Church | |
|---|---|
.jpg) St Mary's Church, Handsworth, Birmingham | |
 St Mary's Church | |
| 52°30′38″N1°55′9″W / 52.51056°N 1.91917°W /52.51056; -1.91917 | |
| Location | Handsworth, Birmingham |
| Country | England |
| Denomination | Church of England |
| Website | http://handsworthstmary.org/ |
| Administration | |
| Province | Canterbury |
| Diocese | Birmingham |
| Clergy | |
| Rector | In Vacancy |
St Mary's Church, Handsworth, also known asHandsworth Old Church, is aGrade II* listed[1]Anglican church inHandsworth, Birmingham, England. Its ten-acre (4 hectare) grounds are contiguous withHandsworth Park. It lies just off theBirmingham Outer Circle, and south of a cutting housing the site of the formerHandsworth Wood railway station. It is noteworthy as the resting place of famous progenitors of the industrial age, and has been described as the "Cathedral of theIndustrial Revolution".
Despite the church's strong Industrial Revolution connections, the earliestparish register for St Mary's (held at theLibrary of Birmingham) commences in 1558; while the first stone church building was erected on the site around 1160. This was a small and austereNorman structure, occupying about half of the present south aisle. The church's few surviving Norman features can be seen at the lower stages of the sandstone tower at the original church's east end.
In its long history, St Mary's has undergone successive and opinionated reconstruction, especially in 1820 and 1870. As aStaffordshire country church placed at the convergence of several cross country tracks, St Mary's became a significant part of the largest industrial city in Britain.
In his 1851History, Gazetteer and Directory of Staffordshire, William White records:
Handsworth Church, St Mary, is picturesquely situated on the Hamstead road, about two miles (3 km) NNW of Birmingham. It is an ancient structure, partly rebuilt and enlarged in 1820, and has a tower with sixbells, which like the other remaining parts of the ancient fabric, is in the decorated style of the time ofEdward III. In the chancel are two recumbenteffigies of members of the Wyrley family, and an ancient piscena. On the south side, a neat groined chapel has been raised over the vault of the late celebrated engineer, James Watt, Esq, of whom there is in the chapel a beautiful white marble statue, byChantrey. Among the numerous mural monuments in the church is one in memory of the late Matthew Boulton, Esq, ofSoho. Therectory is in the patronage of the Rev John Peel, DD, and the Rev George William Murray, MA, is the incumbent.
In 1894, part of the parish was taken to form a new parish forSt Paul's Church, Hamstead. Handsworth parish was transferred from Staffordshire toWarwickshire in 1911. The celebrated artistGeorge Willis-Pryce painted a view of the church from across a swan-lake at this time.[2] The rectory to which White refers was demolished in the 1890s to make way for the large pond ofHandsworth Park and at the start of the 21st century it is more accurate to describe St Mary's as situated on Hamstead Road in the Victorian suburb of Handsworth, in the Birmingham electoral ward ofLozells and East Handsworth; and, since 1974, theWest Midlands county.
A new organ built by Bishop and Starr was opened on 18 December 1866.[3] It was replaced at a cost of £1,260 in 1895 by a new instrument byGray and Davison.[4] This organ was later restored by Norman and Beard in 1906, andHill, Norman & Beard in 1939 and 1967. A specification can be found on the National Pipe Organ Register.[5]There is no longer a pipe organ in use at the church.
A peal of 6 bells was installed in the tower in 1701. The bells were rehung by Amos and Edward Cresser of Birmingham in 1868.[10] One bell was recast and two bells were added in 1890 by James Barwell and Sons.[11] Following a large crack in one of the bells discovered in 1954[12] the bells were recast by John Taylor and Co of Loughborough in 1955. The tenor has weight of 797 kilograms (1,757 lb).[13] The bells were inscribed at this time and dedicated to family members of those involved in raising funds for the new bells. A list of the names can be seen in the church peal book.
Since the 1970s, St Mary's churchyard has bordered on dereliction. It is a closed graveyard, with apparently empty spaces to the south of the graveyard harbouring the graves of numerous paupers whose names are recorded in the Church Register but whose remains were interred without coffins or visible memorials. The condition of the churchyard-—as a place that feels unsafe to some and whose memorials became inaccessible to many, their inscriptions overgrown with ivy, headstones broken, unstable or unreachable through the surrounding undergrowth. Even so, to those who enter the lime avenues long being kept clear of encroaching undergrowth, this wilderness contains mystery and beauty as well as melancholy. It is intended that planned improvements in the accessibility and appearance of the graveyard will be ones that restore it to respect in Handsworth, without lessening its serenity or its qualities as a haven for wildlife next to Handsworth Park. It is intended to make the place safer, more attractive and a place of education for visitors of all ages. To this end there has been a marked increase in voluntary work in the graveyard while local community leaders have voted neighbourhood renewal funds that they hope will be matched by other regional agencies to implement a plan drawn up by the City Council's Landscape Practice Group to end years of neglect and bring about a rejuvenation similar to the great improvements they have funded in the neighbouring park between 2000 and 2006.[citation needed]
St Mary's then incumbent was Canon Brian A. Hall who in March 2006 became chairman of a new group called The Friends of St Mary's Churchyard, which aimed "to be a focus for future hopes for the integrity of St Mary's Churchyard as a special place"[citation needed] – special not only for the respect accorded to the dead which ought to apply to all graveyards, but also because of the association of the church and its grounds with the founding fathers of the industrial age, and more recently with two important figures in the development offootball,William McGregor, Director ofAston Villa F.C., who organised the founding meeting of theFootball League on 22 March 1888, andGeorge Ramsay, whose headstone reads "Founder of Aston Villa".[citation needed]
James Watt lived in Handsworth and is chiefly remembered as the inventor of theseparate condenser, the greatest single improvement ever made to the steam engine. In 1774,Matthew Boulton applied his engineering talent to realising Watt's idea. It was to follow that Boulton and Watt became one of the most famous partnerships in industrial history.William Murdoch, another engineer, perfected gas lighting and gave the world the high-pressure steam engine, and became a partner of Boulton and Watt.
All three are remembered bymonuments in the core of the church. On the north wall of thesanctuary is a marble bust of Matthew Boulton, set in a circular opening above twoputti, one holding an engraving of theSoho Manufactory. This was commissioned by Boulton's son, from the sculptorJohn Flaxman.[14] On the wall opposite, below a pointed arch, is a stone bust of William Murdoch, spelled with a 'ck' – different from his own spelling. James Watt was buried in the grounds of St Mary's, but expansion of the church placed his tomb inside the church. To the south of the sanctuary, in an austere and serene space built especially for it – The James Watt Memorial Chapel – is a marble statue of Watt byFrancis Legatt Chantrey, who regarded his statue of Watt as his favourite.
Conrad Küchler, a German refugee and engraver who worked for Boulton at hisSoho Mint and who designed several British coins, was also buried in the churchyard.[15]
Under the aegis of the Birmingham & Midland Society for Genealogy & Heraldry (BMSGH),[16] who sought it from the Handsworth Historical Society and the congregation of the church, a working group of the Handsworth Historical Society, chaired by Roy Lancelott, worked between March 1980 and March 1984 to create a record of every monument in St Mary's churchyard. This record comprises six volumes, titledMonumental Inscriptions, St Mary's Church Handsworth Birmingham. Photocopies of this record, which contains sketches of various headstones and detailed maps showing their position in the graveyard, are held by the BMSGH Library (Fiche number 11054), Margaret Street, Birmingham, theSociety of Genealogists (London), the Archives & Collections section of theLibrary of Birmingham, and Staffordshire Record Office.[16] It is also indexed by Findmypast.[17] Brian Hall observes this piece of research has "brought to light once again the fascinating social history of this side of the emerging City of Birmingham during the Victorian and Edwardian period".
Fewer than a handful of monuments are now visited by relatives of those interred, and three simple headstones commemorating 14 soldiers buried duringWorld War I are tended annually by theCommonwealth War Graves Commission.[18]
Webster Booth (1902–1984), largely remembered today as the duettist partner ofAnne Ziegler, joined his two older brothers in the choir of St Mary's. He was considered to be one of the finest British tenors of his generation.
Harry Freeman, the popularmusic hall performer, was buried in the churchyard in 1922.[19]
William McGregor (13 April 1846 – 20 December 1911) was the founding member of theFootball League, and one-time manager and club administrator (then day chairman), ofAston Villa FC.
