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St James The Less Church Ashted

Sorry Lindy, I can't find a photo but below is some background material on the church from the Victoria County History. I think it is quite interesting, and I have seen photos of it, but I can't trace them just now. Later perhaps.
Peter

"The church of ST. JAMES THE LESS, Ashted, was founded in 1789, when Dr. John Ash's house was converted into a chapel after his departure from Birmingham. The chapel was opened for divine service in 1791, and was consecrated in 1810. It was originally a proprietary chapel owned by a Mr. Brooks, and later by a Dr. Crofts, and in 1810 it was vested in four trustees for 60 years. The incumbent was styled a perpetual curate, but there was no endowment and all expenses, including the support of the minister, were met by the seatholders. In 1853 a parish was formed out of Aston; in 1859 began a series of grants by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners to endow the living, which became a vicarage in 1868. In 1881 the patronage was transferred to the Aston Trustees, and the living was further endowed with £40 out of the revenues of Aston. The net annual income of the vicarage in 1953 was £397. Until 1830 it seems that none of the seats in the church was free. In that year the seating arrangements were altered so as to provide 150 free seats for the poorer inhabitants of the heavily populated hamlet of Ashted. Enlargement of the church in 1835 made another 850 free seats available. Towards the end of the century efforts were made to improve the proportion of the number of seats in Anglican churches to the number of inhabitants: a mission room to hold 100 was built in 1882, and in 1889 a mission room was opened in Dollman Street (later known as St. John's Mission) in a building designed to serve as the transept of a possible subsequent church. This mission has been licensed for public worship since 1908. Another mission, in Lawley Street, later known as St. Peter's, was opened in 1896 and licensed from 1908 until the Second World War.
The church of St. James, in Barrack Street and Great Brook Street, was a converted 18th-century house, a plain rectangular building of brick, with a semi-circular projection on one side surmounted by a turret with cupola. It was lengthened by about half its original length in 1835, and was restored in 1887–9. It was seriously damaged during the Second World War, and was demolished c. 1956. The registers begin in 1810".

[From: 'Religious History: Churches built before 1800', A History of the County of Warwick: Volume 7: The City of Birmingham (1964), pp. 361-79. URL: https://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=22975.
Date accessed: 14 July 2007]
 
Lindy, I did have twp photo's of St James...but can only find this one...the other is better than this....it has to be on my system somewhere...I will keep looking...in the mean time I hope this one will be of some use..
Found the other photo.....Its not what I call a nice looking church...some of my family married there in the 1850's
 

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I have been watching this thread as my husbands family were connected to St James the Less.
Peter thank you for posting its history very interesting.

John great photo's I have never seen any of St James. I would like to down load them for my records if thats ok, please. Wendy
 
Wendy.....Of course you can download them...that's is why I post them...:)
 
I think they were left where they were, I know at the time all the tombstones were laid flat and set into the grass. I can't say if they are still there. I know its all parkland now.

cheers,

pmc1947
 
St James, Nechells

Snygyst,

Your enquiry the other day tweaked my interest because when I had visited the museum stores in Dollman Street the previous Saturday on my way home I commented to my wife on how much the area where the church had stood had changed.

Today I decided to take a little trip to investigate, What I found was the usual story of neglect and disrepair. Since I was last in the area they have built a sort of terrace of remembrance and laid a few of the tombstones into the ground set in concrete.

The whole structure is falling apart and looks like its not cared for at all. It looks to me as if it is used as a playground.

The thing is this little trip has tweaked my interest again, I have attached some photo’s the one tombstone states the date of death as 3rd of April 1675. As the church was not there then it’s obviously an error, it must be the way I took the photo or wear on the tombstone. Can anybody out there enlighten me as I don’t want to go all over there again to check?

cheers

pmc1947
 

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St James, Ashted

Hi pmc1947,
Are these photographs of St James headstones? If so what street are they actually on and I'll be there with my camera.
David.
 
St James Nechells

Hello Syngyst,

As far as I am aware they are the original gravestones.
When the church was demolished they were just set in to the grass in a green area.

This terrace must have been built since I left the area, thats why I thought the area where the church had been, was changed when I passed by the other day. The directions you want are.

Off Vauxhall Rd you will find Barrack St. If you drive up the hill near the top on the right hand side you will see some delapidated steps leading in to what looks like an overgrown park.

The tombstones are set into the ground scattered around the area, If you are going to photograph them, I would take a brush to clean them off first if I were you.

cheers,

pmc1947
 
St James, Nechells

Cromwell,

I had a look at the photo's of St James Church on the Blitz thread. I found them very interesting. I also noted with interest what you had to say about the congregation being trapped in the cellar when the church was bombed.

I mention this because when I was young I used to play in the church graveyard, I never actually saw the curch because the church had been demolished most probably during the war, but they left a structure standing that I now assume to be the entrance to an underground shelter.

Of course the story then was it was the entrance to the crypts, so even after the door got broken none of us kids would venture down the stairs.(too scared of ghosts)

So it has only took fifty odd years to discover that it was only an air raid shelter like many others we had explored at the time.

cheers,

pmc1947
 
Hi pmc1947 and thanks for your help.
And to think I actually walked past this area while searching for a conventional graveyard.
I have taken several photographs which I will post on my brummages website when time permits. I have also attached a photo and it's negative of the "1675" headstone which shows it's just a worn 1875.
I will be returning soon with broom as well as a brush to try and unearth a few more.
A man who lived nearby told me that a group of people were examining the headstones yesterday (Thursday).. he thought maybe they were council officials... but were they web-ring members popping over for a look-round?
Regards David.
 
And here are the attachments which were unattached to the previous message. :redface: At least I hope so.
David.
 
We called round to the memorial garden today. I took several photo's mainly to get names here are a list taken from the headstones it is by no means complete. If you recognise a name send me an email and I will send you the picture.

John Price
Miriam Twist
Thomas Hatton
William Smallwood
Sarah Patrick
Joseph Patrick
Mameby?
William Gadd
Thomas Andrews
Francis Andrews
John Wilkes
Charles Sarsby
Ann Sarsby
Henry Bourne
William Wilkinson
Ann Insley These two are from Hartshorne Derbyshire
Thomas Insley
Thomas Hatton
John Wheel
Ann Smart
Andrew Gallantry
Harriett Gallantry
Thomas Millward
Eliza Carr
Joshua Stubbs
Ellen Stubbs
John Stubbs M.B.E.
 
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