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St John's Church Perry Barr

Derek, I am so pleased for you what a wonderful find these documents are so precious. To find a burial plot you will need to find out who holds the registers. I am not sure if it would be Birmingham Library or Sandwell Records office as St John's was Perry Barr. Have a look on the web or even send an email and ask the question. If you don't have any luck give me a shout...........sorry I have to get back to work now.
 
Alf well done a very good site. Did you see the bit about Tommy Ball an Aston Villa player being buried in the churchyard. Apparently he was murdered by a deranged police officer in 1924. As I know of your interest in the Villa! Please don't go off thread or I will be in trouble.:rolleyes:
 
Yes Moma

Its a good site for a local Church great photos, history etc:)
 
Alf & Moma P
Have looked at the site for St Johns and emailed the vicar there.
Fantastic site with loads of history, will be going asap to find the grave and pay my respects.
Thought you might like to see the verse that was on the card, very touching.
as always thanks for all your help.

Derek


Wife, I die, my peace is won,
I lingered but my race is run,
Choose me a grave where I can sleep,
Untroubled in the silent deep,
And when you stray at evening hour,
On my grave plant one sweet flower,
And on a Holy Sabbath day,
Bring my dear children here to pray.
"THY WILL BE DONE"
 
Again I am so pleased for you, its so nice when you find something that takes you on another journey. The church site looks realy good. The verse is so lovely thank you for sharing it with us.
 
I am so pleased for you Derek.:)

I would be interested to know what state you find the grave yard in when you go. The last tine I went some years ago now a lot of the graves stones had fallen over and the grass was waist high, I know where the family grave is but couldn't get to it. It would be lovely to go and see it again.
 
Oh Di thats such a shame, I hear this all the time, I would get in touch with the church through the web site and see what they say.
 
Morning Di & Moma P

It is sad news to hear about the state of the churchyard what a pity that there are no resources to look after them.

Di when you said you "know where the family grave is" would you be able to give rough directions once inside the grounds so that I may be able to find it. (I Hope)

Last night I also sent an email to Father Crispin Pailing, taken from the website, he is very happy to hear about my news but sad to say the plan of the graveyard was lost in a fire in the 1st half of the 20th century BUT the good news is there are people activly re ploting the headstones and he has passed on my message to them.
Will let you know how it goes and am hoping that a photo or two may follow.

Derek
 
It's a beautiful verse, Derek and really wonderful that these documents have found there way back to you. I can only dream of finding such a treasure in our family tree :)

My mom was married at St John's in Perry Barr and we took her to see it a few weeks back. I have a couple of pictures of the church which my husband took while we were there and I will put them up in a post for people to see.

Good luck with your search and I hope that you get some good news from the people plotting the headstones. x
 
I am so happy you are making good progress with your research, Derek. What a treasure that verse is. Good luck finding the grave plot. I will be pulling for you (and watching and learning,too).
 
That is really nice of you Derek, :)

You turn right at the main gate, there used to be a Willow Tree on the right near to the water tap, under which twin cousins of mine are buried, but there is no head stone, walk on the path round the church and the grave is on the right near to the boundry of the church yard. My nan Martha Horton died 1939 and Grandfather George Horton died 1930. share the grave. If it is at all as I last saw it there is no chance to get near to it, and the sad thing is that I was in the road going to Perry Park a month ago, but as I had been upset on my previous visit I didn't go into the chuchyard.
 
It was interesting to read about St John's Church, Perry Barr. I used to know it quitre well over 60 years ago, as I sang in the choir there in 1942 - 1944 or so. I also went a few times to the Sunday bSchool afterwards, but drew the line at the suggestion that I should join the Cubs, and shortly afterwards dropped out, as I think did one or two of my mates.
I do remember picking a puff-ball (which I had just learned about at school) and putting it in my cassock pocket. After a couple of weeks my pocket ponged a bit!
I also remember running out of the waste land between the Park and Church Road into the road, right in front of a moving car. You didn't see many cars on a Sunday during the war, and I did think to look first. After missing the car I just carried on running, but I do remember hearing a passer by saying the driver looked pretty shaken, and the other must have pointed at me and said 'So is he'.
Thinking about earlier discussions, I rather think that waste land could have been the site of the mill we have been talking about.
Peter
 
I went to Sunday Scholl at St Johns from about 1948-1952 when we came out of church my friend and I would spend ages in the graveyard looking at the graves,even at that early age we loved reading the inscriptions.
I also got married there in 1964 and my children were babtised there.I was so shocked when I saw it recently,at how it was so rundown ..and Blue doors??:Aah:
 
I passed there a few times last week, went a bit slower in the car to have a nose, looks like some work has been done to cut back the grass etc


bren
 
Morning Bren

Yes, it looks quite good from the road edge but when you go round the other two sides sadly, it is still waist & shoulder high in some places with nettles.
But.......managed to get a little info and met the lovely Father Crispin while there.

Derek
 
Great Derek, I hope you told him about the Forum and the interest thats on it for his church.:)

I got my Vicar interested and I'm up in Suffolk and he wants a article in his monthly Magazine.
 
Wendy said:
Alf well done a very good site. Did you see the bit about Tommy Ball an Aston Villa player being buried in the churchyard. Apparently he was murdered by a deranged police officer in 1924. As I know of your interest in the Villa! Please don't go off thread or I will be in trouble.:rolleyes:
Click to expand...


The deranged police officer was also his next door neighbour and landlord. (must've been a blues fan :D)
 
Some of the miners who died in the 1908 disaster at Hamstead pit are buried at St Johns. Apparently each grave had an urn with the miners name and the date of the disaster 4 March 1908. I would love to think they have survived and are in the long grass.
 
St Johns church.

:( Derek what a wonderful story. Is the St Johns you are talking about opposite the Church Taver as that is where my grandad Taplin is buried. If it is I was told that a number of graves were covered over for some reason. I would love to visit sometime. Most of my family on my dads side were buried in Aston Churchyard but a while back the vicar of the day decided to sell off part of the graveyard to accomodate new houses. This greatly upset members of my family. I met someone who carried out the work and what he told me upset me greatly. I never told my mom or my aunt. It all seems to revolve round financial gain and no institution is any different. TTFN. Jean. :crying::angel:
 
If you go back to the beginning of this thread, Jean you will see that St Johns grave yard is almost totally overgrown. You can't see any of the old graves. My gran and granddad are buried there, and I know their head stone was wobbly at one point, and I wanted to have it made safe again. I was so upset when I saw the state of the place, that I have never been back.

It is opposite the Church Tavern, which had a make over last year, and was still closed when we were in Perry Hall park during the summer. I put a photo of the Church Tavern on here, maybe removed by now though. :)
 
Can anyone tell me have the grounds been cleared around the headstones yet to the rear of the church?
When I last visited only the front half was cleared and many headstones still in thick undergrowth.:(
As my Gt Grandfather is buried there I would dearly love to locate his plot.
 
Sparkhill lad this is on the agenda a visit to try and find my grandad Taplins grave. I do believe some of the graves have been covered over but I must pay it a visit and when I do I will take some photo's for you. Jean.
 
Thanks so much for your kind offer of help Jean.:)
details are ( I forgot one Great) He is GT GT Grandfather William Henry FELLOWS
Born 23/03/1825...died 26/07/1885
Derek
 
my mother and i have been to st. johns church this morning. the back area of the churchyard is still very overgrown. we had a look round ourselves but as we couldnt find the grave we asked a lady who works voluntarily there and she said that they have tried really hard to find william henry fellows grave but have been unsuccessful and she thinks it is probably an unmarked grave, so im sorry no luck there.

jean i asked about your taplin (didnt know the first name you were after). the lady has taken my email address and if she finds anything she will let me know. she was very helpful, her name cotterill and it turns out my children and hers were at school together so had a nice chinwag while we were there.
 
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