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St Cyprian's Church, Hay Mills

A

Andrew Cooper

Guest
Does anyone, please, have any old photographs of St Cyprian's, Hay Mills. My Great Grandparents were married there in 1910. I recently visited the church to find it locked and I am not sure wether it is still in use for public worship. Does anybody know anything please? Many thanks. Love to hear from old Brummies as I now live in the South and miss the Midlands a lot!
 
To anyone who might visit this Thread, I am researching my family history. My family (Platt) were members of St. Cyprian, Hay Mill and had a long association with the church and its Parishioners. If anyone knows where I might find access to the Parish Registers/Records (if they still exist) I would be most pleased to hear from you. It seem they are not kept at Birmingham Library.

Regards, OldBrummie.
 
St Cyprians Church photos dated & Hay Mills bridge over the river Cole dated, the wire mill & church were on the city side of the bridge, my sister was married in this church. Len.




 
Hi Len.
Photos (of the church) bring back many memories. Many thanks.
Pete. (OldBrummie)

ps Totally unrelated to St. Cyprian Church, memories of Bertram Mills and Chipperfields Circus's on the parkland on the other side of Coventry Road.
 
A bit off topic Pete, Old Brummie, but as you are a long way from Brum, enjoy!!. Len.
 
Hi Len.
The pic is well appreciated and I agree we are "off topic" but it doesn't take much to jog the old memory bank. Pete.
 
Blooming heck Len - I may even be in that photo somewhere.
 
For those of you interested in St Cyprian's we are arranging a History Day details below. Come along and share your memories and photos.
Here is a link to the wikipedia article on the church https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Cyprian%27s_Church,_Hay_Mills
and to the church near you site https://www.achurchnearyou.com/hay-mill-st-cyprian/

There will also details of those commemorated on the War Memorial such as I have managed to find at the National Archive so far, so anyone who thinks they have a relative listed on there (there's a photo of the memorial on the wikipedia site which will enlarge enough to read the individual names), please come along and lets share what we know. I am hoping to have the parish registers, passed from our out-going vicar available on the day as well.​


St. Cyprian’s Church and School Room The Fordrough Hay Mills​




Do you remember the Fordrough as it used to be?​

Are you interested in local history?



Did you get married or hold a Christening at


St. Cyp’s?


Do you have any photographs that you could share?​


Come to


‘A walk down the Fordrough’


and bring your ideas, photos and maps to share over a cuppa.​


Sunday 16th May

2-00pm until 5pm


Refreshments available


Raffle with numerous prizes​
 
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For those interested in details held in the parish registers I have confirmed that the church does hold them.

The current fees for searching in church registers are as follows:


Searching registers of baptisms for up to one hour £19, £12 of which goes to the diocese £7 to the Parish Council

For each subsequent hour the charge is £16, £9 for the diocese £7 for the PCC


This includes the provision of one copy of an entry.

It's the same for searching wedding registers.

This would appear to answer the question posed by Old brummie last November

 
Hi Grog: You probably have this quote already. ST. CYPRIAN, Hay Mills (The Fordrough, off the Coventry Rd.), originated in the schoolroom (now disused) next to the existing church, which was licensed as a mission of St. Edburgha's, Yardley, from 1864. (fn. 77) The church was erected and endowed in 1873 by J. Horsfall, who owned the near-by mill and had built the school. The church is a building of multi-coloured brick with stone dressings in the Gothic style, with chancel, nave, aisles, vestry and a south-west tower with spire; the architects were Martin and Chamberlain. It was consecrated in 1878, after a parish had been assigned in the same year out of St. Edburgha's. (fn. 78) The parish was enlarged in 1948 by further parts of St. Edburgha's. (fn. 79) The living, a vicarage since 1880, is in the gift of the bishop. (fn. 80) St. Chad's mission, South Yardley, has been licensed for public worship since 1908. (fn. 81)


From British History on line.
 
Hi Grog.
Many thanks for the info I will bear it in mind as I continue my searches. However I would much prefer to be "on the spot" and it's a bit difficult at the moment from this distance ( a cold and windy Mid North Coast of NSW, Australia.
Regards and best wishes and lots of luck with your new Government.

OldBrummie
 
Hi OldBrummie, Your welcome you are in a far flung spot out there, do pop by if you mangage to get on the spot at some point in the future.

Thanks jennyann yes I am aware of the Britsh History online source as I use it extensively for Wikipaedia articles on local villages as well as the St Cyprian web-site. The reference above is slightly misleading as, as I understand it, the original schoolroom became a Chapel and was then incorporated into the church as the Chancel. The existing schoolroom replaced the earlier one when the church was built. There are some archives, Vestry registers and the like listed as being held in Birmingham Library which I intend to view when I get the opportunity as it as also been suggested to me that the statemen tcommonly made, that the church was designed by Martin and Chamberlain, prolific Victorian archtects in Birmingham, is in fact wrong. I would like to get to the bottom of that one. I have undertaken a lot of research into the church and especially into the bio-graphies of the men listed on the first world war memorial and have details from Commonwealth War Graves Commision and from research at the National Archive in Kew hunting trough the service records of individuals . I will be at the church on Sunday and happy to share my findings with anyone who has a relative listed on there and hopefully some people will fill in some of the gaps of soliderswho as yet defy identification. WW1 service records for other ranks were badly damaged in the Blitz of 1940 and only about 60% remain and they are known as the "burnt documents". Officers are much easler and the bio-graphical notes on the Brearley brothers are from their service records or the Battalion war Diaries of their regiments at the time of their death.

Hope to see some people on Sunday

grog
 
Just as an update Sundays History Day was a great success and we have been asked to repeat the event in the future. Over 70 people visited the church and had a great day chatting to other about the recollections of the church. There were a number of former Boys Brigade members in attendance as well as a woman in her 80's who walked into the church and by chance met two old school friends who she had not seen for many years. I was given details regarding 4 of the solidiers commemorated on the war memorial including details of another Military Medal recipient whose details I had been unable to ascertain. A good day seemed to be had by all.
 
Hi grog: Glad to hear that the Sunday History Day was such a success. Years ago churches were the backbone of people's lives
and in the main those surviving hold many memories and much historical data. Thanks for posting.
 
Hi jenny ann,

Thanks for the supportive comments. I do hope we are able to hold another in the near future. I am happy to take requests for searches in the registers via this site or they can be made through the churchwardens whose details can be found on the achurchnearyou website,https://www.achurchnearyou.com/hay-mill-st-cyprian/ I suspect they will ask me to undertake the search anyway as the church's "historian" for want of a better title. Unfortunately, due to the legal position, data protection and all that and need for security of the registers, searches can only be undertaken on behalf of an individual not by the person themselves, hence the charges.


Finally, if anyone has any information regarding relatives who are commemorated on either of the War Memorials I would be delighted to hear from them or to provide them with any information that I have managed to glean from the records. The easiest way to see all the names is to look at the photographs on the wikipedia article as they enlarge to such as size that the names can be read. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Cyp...rch,_Hay_Mills

I look forward to hearing from people in the future,

Regards

Grog
 
I am researching family who lived in the Horsfall cottages, which were by the church. The Vicarage looks like a row of cottages, might that have been the Horsfall cottages, or does anyone know where they were?
 
Motherhen, Yes the cottages which are now the vcarage were originally individual cottages including two which were between the vicarage and the church. these were destroyed by bombing during WWII. Horsfall's however did provide housing for their workers and the neighbouring roads of terraced houses are still in part owned and rented out by Webster Horsfall. At our History day in May I was talking to a family whose parents had also lived in those cottages by the church. Very interesting reminisances.
 
Thank you. I am researching my cousin's family for him, his Grandmother was Beatrice Horton and she grew up there, with her parents James and Elizabeth Horton. James was a Wire Drawer, obviously at the adjoining factory. They were there on the Census for 1881 and 1891 and James was there in the 1871 Census, aged 15 living with his father William, who was also a Wire Drawer. From the position on the Census, they were close to the church, so maybe in one of the bombed cottages, if not them, certainly in the ones that now form the Vicarage. Thank you again for the help. I shall be able to add a photo to the Family Tree.
 
I have some photogarphs which would interest you which I am restoring for the church at the moment (the frames wer very dirty so I 've taken them out to clean it all up). Anyway they are taken outside the cottages looking down towards the church and are of two different celebratiions, one may be the 1897 Jubilee and the other King Edward's or George's Coronatiion as a guess. Any way I intend to scan them and post them for a wider audience, but time doesn't seem to be with me at the moment. They show the cottages very clearly as I remember them, drapped with a lot of bunting and flags as you would expect. I'll try and get the scan done in the near future, watch this space.
 
grog

I have no doubt you have these photos, in fact I think you mention the one, looking past the cottages toward the Church. The other is of the laying of the foundation Stone.

Phil

HayMillsLayingthefoundationsforStCyprians.jpg
HayMillsStCyprians1920-1.jpg
 
Thanks Phil, I'm sure my cousin will be delighted to see these. GROG, I look forward to seeing your photos, as they are of two different celebrations, one at least must be in addition to the two that Phil has posted. So kind for people to take the time to help in this way.
 
Hi Both, actually both photos are different to mine which are taken looking in the same direction as the first one, thanks for poosting those Phil, added to my collection. I 've looked for the Horton name on my list of the First World War Memorial with a nil result. I've been researching the biographical details and war service of those listed on it. Details of the Brierley brothers are on the wikipedia article.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Cyprian%27s_Church,_Hay_Mills

I 'm sure you've seen my wikipedia article and the recent photos of the church posted there but here is one of the foundation stone which I didn't include in there. It's a shame you missed the history day in May but we do intend to have another so people can view the church and meet old friends outside a religious service, I don't attend church services myself but I'm interested in the history so I do their IT stuff and my wife is a church warden there.


View attachment 53526
 
I am no longer a church goer but am very interested in churches, the buildings, the history and the part they played in people's lives and deaths. If there is to be another history day, please post it here as I would love to be able to come. It's really exciting to find a place like this still standing, with the cottages, church and factory still there. My own family are mostly from the Black Country, many worked at the Stewarts and Lloyds steelworks at Coombeswood, Halesowen, that had a huge works complex, houses (in which many of my family lived) , Shops, School, Church...all gone, not a trace apart from a small section of bricked up stables and some steps. So I was very pleased to find this for my cousin. :)
 
Here's a query that doesn't relate specifically to the church but does anyone know if it is --- Hay Mill ---- or Hay Mills.
I have been searching web sites and Census Records whilst chasing up the Chinery and Platt families and have come across
both spellings but am unsure which is the correct or official name for the district. My own feeling is that it is the former but it
would be nice to know if others have an opinion.

OldBrummie.
 
My own thoughts are that it started as Hay Mill in the singular an old spelling is Hemill but whith the development of more pools in the 19th century the plural was added so now it should be Hay Mills. I think the article below goes some way to explain the progression.

Taken from https://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/re...acher/history/jm_jones/jmj_y_waters/page3.htm

HAY MILL POOLS. The 1495 Presentment refers to the 'Poole taile of Haye Mill' which had probably been in existence for 2-3 centuries by that date. The mill stood at the confluence of the Cole and Tyseley Brook (alias River Lee), its small triangular pool fed by both. By 1835 a larger mill was built about 150 yards downstream with a bigger pool : this had been drained by 1887, waterpower have given place to steam two decades earlier. The upper and earlier pool survived as a pond until the Waste Disposal Unit was built on a great concrete raft across its site : but the lower pool has been partly restored as an oblong pond beside the Unit. There were two other narrow pools on the Cole in mid-C19th, one between the embankments of the canal and railway, and the other south of the latter.
 
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