The 1858 Restoration of All Saints church in Oakham – Part 1

Introduction

In this series of three related posts, I present transcripts of the press reports concerning the re-opening of All Saints church in Oakham in November 1858. This is done primarily to make the source documents for that event available and easily readable, and there is no discussion of their contents. That will come later. The material is all found in the British Newspaper Archive and the archive OCR text forms the basis of the transcripts, although. As with any OCR text, this has needed considerable editing, which, as I am sure the reader will find, has been imperfectly done. The material presented in the three parts is as follows.

Part 1 contains the notice of the re-opening the from the Leicester Journal of 5^th November 1858 and a report on the event itself from the Stamford Mercury of 12^th November 1858. The latter contains the text of the report by Gilbert Scott that describes the state of the church before the restoration and what, in his view, needed to be done.
Part 2 contains a report of the opening from the Leicester Journal of 12^th November 1858. This covers some of the same ground as the Stamford Mercury report, and whilst not including Scott’s report, does give details of the opening event, including the sermon that was preached.
Part 3 (this part) is from the Lincolnshire Chronicle of August 24^th 1860, and gives the text of a lecture that was given at Oakham Castle entitled “Gothic Architecture” by the Rev Canon James, one of the principal proponents of the Gothic in the region, where the changes that were made to the church are explained and justified.

Leicester Journal 5th November 1858

ALL SAINTS’ CHURCH, OAKHAM.

THE RESTORATION of this Church, in which great and general interest has been shown, is now so near completion that the of November may fixed for the RE-OPENING. It is purposed, therefore (D.V.), to have Divine Service, on WEDNESDAY, November 10th, Eleven o’clock am., Morning Prayer, with Sermon by

THE REV. E. MEYRICK GOULBURN, D.C.L,
Chaplain in ordinary to Her Majesty, and Minister Quebec Chapel, London;

Three o’clock, p.m., Evening Prayer, with Sermon by

THE REY. CANON JAMES, M.A.
Rural Dean, Vicar of Theddingworth and Sibbertoft.

On THURSDAY, November 11th, Seven o’clock p.m., Evening Prayer, with a Sermon by

THE BEV. J. R. WOODFORD, M.A.
Vicar of Kempsford, Gloucestershire.

On SUNDAY, November 14th, Eleven o’clock, in, Morning Prayer and Holy Communion, with a Sermon by

THE HON. and REV. CANON STUART, M.A.
Rector of Cottesmore.

6.30. p.m., Evening Prayer, with Sermon by

THE REV. THOMAS YARD, M.A.
Rural Dean and Rector of Ashwell.

A Collection will be made each service in aid the Restoration Fund. A deficit of about £300. remains this; to meet which the sum raised these Collections the only resource available.
The presence and aid of all who take interest this important work is respectfully invited.
In order to secure accommodation for those who reside out of the town, admission until 10.50 a.m. on Wednesday morning will be by cards only; at 10,50 the doors will be thrown open.
Those who propose to attend, are requested to apply for as many Cards as they desire, to one of the Churchwardens ; or to any resident member of the Restoration Committee; or to the Secretary, the Rev. C. A Stevens.

Heneage Finch, Vicar
Rich. Davies, Churchwardens. William Ratcllff, Churchwardens

The Agricultural Hall will, by the kind permission of its managers, be thrown open to Visitors during Wednesday, the 10th November. Arrangements have been made for the supply of Refreshments there on the arrival of the Morning trains, and during the day.

Stamford Mercury 12th November 1858

For a considerable period the very filthy and dilapidated condition of the magnificent church of All Saints, at Oakham, was a subject for regret, not only to those who worshipped within its damp and dingy-looking walls, but to all admirers of Christian architecture. At length the noble sum of £800. was given through the Architectural Society of the Archdeaconry, by unknown donors, which originated the fund that has procured the restoration of the edifice, and which was re-opened for divine worship on Wednesday last. When there seemed to be no longer doubt respecting the raising sufficient amount for beautifying the church the services of Mr. G. G. Scott, the eminent architect, were sought, and after inspecting the fabric returned to London and drew up the following report, which he forwarded to the Rev. Heneage Finch, the Vicar.

I have made a careful survey of your parish church, with a view to forming an opinion as to the extent of the reparations and restorations which are requisite to putting it into a satisfactory condition, and as to the probable cost of the work. The church is, as you are aware a remarkably fine one. It is the work of several different periods, extending from the end of the 12th to the commencement of the 16^th century. I have not been able to trace out the course of alteration and addition which has brought to its present form but may mention that its earliest feature is the inner doorway of the porch which is of the end of the 12th century. The next date are the interior of the porch itself and the lower parts of the south wall, with blank recess or window in the east side of the south transept, which are of the first half of the 13th century. Then come the corresponding parts on the north side, with the single pillars in both transepts. The chancel arch, and some minor portions, which are the beginning of the 14th: and the tower, with perhaps the pillars and arches, of the same, and some other portions, which are of the latter part of the same century; while the chancel and the clerestory, and probably the north chancel aisle, are of the 15th, and the south chancel aisle of the 16th centuries. Various, however, as are the dates of these different portions the church, they unite to forming a symmetrical and harmonious whole, having generally the aspect of a church of the 15th century.
In describing the present condition of the church, I will commence with the roofs. The roof of the nave (which pretty good roof in design, though constructed as to press somewhat severely upon the clerestory walls) is a very sad state of decay : one half of it was repaired some years ago, and means were taken to reduce the pressure upon the walls, It will be necessary to do the same throughout; but at the same time the roof will require thorough reparation. I fear that it will be found that a very large proportion of the timbers are decayed. These must be replaced with new oak, the boarding and lead renewed, and the whole restored to a perfect condition. The roofs of the nave aisles are ancient, and better condition than that of the nave itself, but require considerable repairs, and the lead and boarding must be re-laid. The roofs of the transepts have been repaired some thirty years since, and much of the timbers concealed by plastering. I would recommend the substitution of oak panelling for this, and such general repairs as may be found necessary. The chancel has a roof of modern date concealed by a flat plaster ceiling which cuts across the chancel arch. The same roof extends over the north chancel aisle, thus deforming the east end, by placing two divisions under one gable. The north aisle has most beautiful oak panelled ceiling, which happily conceals its roof from within. The south aisle of the chancel has modern roof, of the very meanest description, so that in the interior of the chancel and its aisles we have first a plain flat plaster ceiling to the chancel itself; then to the north aisle a beautiful oak ceiling, showing the manner in which the ancient builders treated their work; and on the south aisle the roof of modern hedge-carpenter, such as would disgrace a cart-shed.
The mode of treatment I would recommend would as follows. First, as the chancel roof has been originally of high pitch, would renew it in that form, and in a manner suited to the beauty of the church. Secondly, I would thoroughly restore the ceiling the north aisle, bringing the external roof to its original level Thirdly, I would put over the south aisle a ceiling corresponding in some degree with that on the north aisle. The roof of the porch and vestry would also require reparation. The walls of the church seem generally pretty substantial, but have suffered much from mutilation, and require careful reparation throughout. The cusps of the windows have nearly everywhere been cut out. The east window has been renewed on a most extraordinary design. Many of the mullions are shattered, and must be renewed, Generally, all mutilated and decayed parts must be renewed, the internal stonework cleaned, the plastering of the walls repaired or renewed as the case may be, the clerestory walls, which have been thrust out must be strengthened, the parapets reset where necessary, the pinnacles restored, and the whole rendered perfect and substantial The tower has either through settlement, or through the effects of lightening been somewhat split down its south-eastern angle, and has some few other defects. – These must be substantially repaired, and I would recommend the insertion of a tier of strong iron ties to prevent their re-appearance. The floor of the tower immediately over the church must be renewed, and the other floor and the bell timbers substantially repaired. Of the internal fittings I have but little to say. They exceed in meanness even what is usual in country churches. And there must be but one opinion about them – they must entirely cleared away, and the whole refitted in proper manner with good oak seats. There are numerous remnants of old screen work of very character, and some remains ancient seats. These will be useful guides in designing the new fittings The floors must almost entirely new. The doors must be new, excepting that to the south porch, which is ancient and ornamental, but requires restoration. The glazing should be renewed throughout, and stained glass introduced from time-to-time opportunity may offer. While these reparations are in hand, it would be very desirable that the church should be efficiently warmed.
I estimate the probable cost of the works as follows. Those connected with the church and tower with £2300; those to the chancel fabric £575 and fittings £225, (£800); those to the south aisle of the chancel, fittings £320, fittings £80 (£400); those to the north aisle of the chancel fabric £275, fittings £7L (£350): making in all about £3850. The above calculation is made on the supposition of everything being done the best manner, the roofs and the whole executed in a manner worthy of so fine a church, and need I hardly say that the church so restored would be a most noble and beautiful structure.

The above report was dated April 21,1857, and on the 30^th of the same month the Vicar convened a meeting of the inhabitants and others interested the restoration and re-seating the church. Geo. Finch Esq. presided. Mr. Scott’s report having been read, the following resolution was passed “That this meeting having heard the report of Mr. Scott on the state of the parish church, and acknowledging the liberal offer of donations to the amount of 800L towards carrying it into effect, is of the opinion that thus opportunity should be taken advantage of and make an immediate and strenuous effort to restore the church to condition befitting its high purposes. A committee wan immediately formed. Mr. Scott was employed as architect and subscriptions to the restoration fund solicited., the Rev. C. A. Stevens accepting the arduous office of honorary secretary.

The call has been liberally responded to as the following subscriptions will show.

Geo. Finch Esq. £1000
Anonymous, £400
The Dean and Chapter of Westminster, £300
The Rev. Heneage Finch, the Vicar, £200
The late Wm Ades , Esq., £150
The Church Building Society, £150
The Marquis of Exeter, Lord Aveland, the honourable Colonel Lowther, Miss Jones, Miss B. Jones Mrs. Doria, Mrs. Bicknell, the Rev. Brown (Lyndon), the Church Building Society of the Archdeaconry of Northampton, and the Governors of Oakham Grammar-school and Hospital, £100 each
The Hon. G. H. Heathcote, the Rev. J. Jones (Burley), the Hon G. J.NoeL S. Parke, Esq. (Spalding), the Hon. and Rev. A. G. Stewart (Cottesmore), the Rev Thos. Yard (Ashwell), Mr. Adam, and Mrs. Hicks (Jermyn-terrace), £50 each
Messrs. Crowson and Sons, £40
Mrs-Fydell Morcott, £35L
Messrs. Eaton, Cayley, and Co., (Stamford) £30Major-General FludyeZr (Ayston), Col. Freer (Leamington), Miss Thompson (Ketton), Colonel and Mrs. Talbot Clifton, Mr. Hough, Mr. F. King, Mr. Mackinder, Mr. Clarke Morris, Messrs. Morris and Co., Mr. Samson, and the Rev. W. S. Wood, £25 each
The Rev. c. S. Elbcott (Whitwll), Chiselden Henson, Esq. (Cheltenham), Wm. Hopkinson, Esq. (Stamford), Mr. and Miss Hunt and friends (Clapton), F.J.Mould, Esq. (Brompton) the Hon. and Rev. Noel (Exton), the Misses Wingfield (South Luffenham), Mr. Dain, Mr. Churchwarden Davies, Mr. Hawley, Miss Mason, and Mr. Wellington, £20 each
H. W. Baker, Esq. (Cottesmore), and Ayscough Smith, Esq. (Leesthorpe Hall), £10 10s each
Miss Belgrave (Preston), the Rev. F. G. Burnabv (Barkestone), General Johnson (Wytham on the Hill), John Keal, Esq. (London), Thos. Lawrence, Esq. (Preston), the Rev D. Royce (Netherswell), Colonel and Mrs. R. W. Wood, Mr. Brown (Melton-road), the Rev. T. Byers, Miss Jane Layng, Mr. Morton (Egleton), Miss Mould, Mrs Rawlings, Mr. R. Simpson, the Rev. C. A. Stevens, Mr. Tirrell (Egleton), and Mr. S. C. Turner, £10 each
The Rev. Thos. Field (Cambridge), the Rev. G. H. Parker (London), Mr. Brown (Ashwell-road), Mr. Burn, Mr. Churchwarden Ratcliff and Mr. Thos. Shuttlewood, £5 5s each
The Rev. H. Applebee (Whissendine), the Rev. Canon Argles (Barnack), the Rev. C. Atlay (Barrowden), the Rev. Jas. Atlay (Cambridge). the Rev. the Master Catherine Hall, Edw. Conder Esq (London), the Hon. and Rev. K Cust (Belton), the Yen. Archdeacon Davys (Peterborough), Mrs. Decker (Lyndon), the Rev T. Dove Dove (Frome Solwood), the Rev. C. J. Ellicott (Cambridge), Mrs. Hayton (Kimbolton), the Rev. Canon James (Peterborough), the Rev. H. Jones (Greetham), the Rev. J. Pullein (Kirkthorpe), Wm. Sheild, Esq. (Uppingham), Mr. E. Wright (Melton), N. W. Wyer, Esq. (Bedford), anonymous, Mr. W. Burnett, Mr. Bell, .Mr. Bruce, Miss Butt Mr. D. Cooke, Mr. E. Cunnington (Barleythorpe), Mr. Furley, Mr. W. KeaL jun., Miss Emma Keal, Mr. S. and Mr. J. Tirrell (Egleton), and Mrs. Whyers, £5 each.
Of the £800 which formed the ground-work of the undertaking, £440 now appears in the subscription list as an anonymous donation, and £100 to each the names of the four daughters of the late J. E. Jones, Esq., of Oakham. The Earl of Gainsborough gave £125 to the fund: the north chantry belongs to his Lordship, and in consideration of the above donation the expense of its adornment will be paid out of the general fund.

For the execution the works several firms were solicited send in tenders, and that of Messrs. Ruddle and Thompson, of Peterborough was accepted, the amount of contract being £4400. In a few days afterwords the unsightly furniture was removed from the church, and the restoration proceeded with. In carrying out the undertaking Mr. Scott has strictly preserved every mediaeval detail; even the triangular lines over the tower arch which show gable form of the roof of the earlier church have not been allowed to be erased. He considers that such details show to some extent the history of the church. A portion of the capital the north pillar of the chancel arch was cut away to admit of the erection of the roodscreen, perhaps in the 15th century: the capital illustrated a subject from scripture, but there is not sufficient of the sculpture left enable Mr. Scott effect a faithful restoration he has left the capital in its mutilated form, believing that course be preferable to inserting that which would not be a simile of that chiselled the 14th century. Amongst the improvements effected are— the chancel is floored with Mutton’s encaustic tiles of a rich design, given by the Rev. Lord A. Compton; the aisles are paved with red and black tiles, in pattern ; the interesting Norman font has been removed and re-fixed; the parapet of the nave clerestory has been taken down and re-fixed; the chancel gable and that of the north aisle the chancel have been taken down and re-built; the debased east window has been replaced by a new one of five lights, having deeply sunk and moulded tracery and arches, with columns of polished Derbyshire marble and moulded caps and bases; the pillars, bases, caps, arches, and seats the south porch arcade have been restored; all the windows, cuspings, defective mullions, tracery, jambs, arches, etc. have been carefully restored; the windows have been reglazed with diamond quarries of cathedral glass; all the carvings have been scraped; the whole of the internal stone-dressings of the doorways and windows, pillars, and arches, including tower arches, corbels, stringcourses, quoins, and other dressings have had all the mortar, whitewash etc. taken off; the two galleries over the tower arch have been taken away, and the arch re-opened; and all the piscinas, lockers, tabernacles, etc. restored. The new seats are plain, low, and open: they are three feet high, the poppy-heads being richly carved, the design being similar to several seat ends found in the church before the restoration, and probably the first introduced here after the Reformation. On the seat ends are carvings from natural foliage, including the vine, oak, holly, ivy, maple, hop, thorn, convolvulus, filbert, fig, etc. The fronts of the seats are filled with tracery, having carved spandrils, Ac. The stalls in the chancel have moulded standards, with richly carved finials and arm rests of varied design, and moulded fronts and book rests. The octagonal pulpit is made of the finest wainscot, having traceried panels, the design being in perfect unison with the fittings. The screen (height 3 feet 4 inches) dividing the nave and chancel is formed of a series of trefoiled headed arches deeply moulded and sunk, the cornice being moulded and tilled with bosses. The two screens at the easternmost end, under archways dividing aisles from chancel, have rich tracery heads, supported by circular shafts and moulded caps and bases. The cornice is moulded and embattled, and enriched with carved bosses, the lower part being solid moulded framing. The altar rail and table are of wainscot, and in keeping with the other fittings. The roofs have been thoroughly restored in English oak. The chancel roof is entirely new, the ceiling of which is panelled, and takes the form of the pointed arch, having moulded ribs and carved bosses at the intersections, the part of the roof over the altar being filled with extremely rich wrought tracery. The whole of the roofs are oak boarded and leaded. The gas fittings have been supplied by Mr. Skidmore, of Coventry: the standards are of blue and gold, four of them being erected in the chancel. The warming apparatus has been erected by firm at Birmingham.

Mr. Dent. of the Strand, the maker of the great Parliamentary and other clocks, has been employed to make a clock for the tower of this church, the cost of which, with its erection, will be about £190. It will chime three of the quarters, but not the hour. The time will be ascertained from dials erected under the belfry windows, on the west and south sides of the tower. The design of the- hon dials is quite new: they are perforated throughout and might, with a little extra outlay, be adapted for illumination. The belfry contains six bells: two them have been recast by Mr. Mears of London. About the middle the 17th century peals of were re-introduced into churches to a very great extent. The most celebrated founder this part of the kingdom was Tobie Norris, of Stamford, and plate of bell metal in St George’s church, in that town, thus records the interment of his remains there “Here lieth the body of Tobie Norris, bell-founder.” On one of the bells in the tower of Oakham church is this inscription “Tobie Norris cast me, 1677. God Save the King, T. Meekings.” And on a larger bell, “Tobie Norris, 1677. G. Burton, A. Burton.” Another bell has this inscription ” Henry Perm made me, 1723. Francis Cleeve, W. M. Maidwell, churchwardens.” Many towers this district contain bells cast by Tobie and Thomas Norns, at Stamford, but the site of their foundry is not now known.

The subscribers to the restoration fund have the satisfaction of knowing that the committee secured the services of gentlemen eminent their calling to carry out the important work now on the eve of being completed. Mr. G. G. Scott, the architect, is one of the leading men the profession, his services being sought in most parts of the kingdom on the most important and extensive ecclesiastical edifices. The contractors, Messrs. Ruddle and Thompson, of Peterborough’, have carried out with satisfaction great undertakings at various cathedral and parish churches: they are now executing the extensive restoration at Higham Ferrers church, and only few days ago the contract entered into by them for the roofing and internal fittings at St. George’s church, Doncaster, for the sum of £10,259*., was completed. Messrs. Minton and Co., who supplied the flooring tiles, Mr. Mears, bell founder, who re cast two of the bells, Mr. Skidmore, of Coventry, who supplied the gas standards, and Mr. Dent, the manufacturer of the new clock, are firms known throughout the kingdom.

Wednesday last will be a “red letter day” in the history of the county town of Rutland. As early as six o clock the church bells reminded the inhabitants of Oakham that the anxiously looked for day had arrived when they were again to possess the privilege of worshipping their Maker in their own parish church. The Agricultural Hall was thrown open for the reception of distant visitors on their arrival, where a supply refreshments and good fires had been provided by direction of the committee. By 10 o’clock the workmen had ceased their labours; the committee of management were seen to be busily engaged; and the police were attendance to prevent the pressure of the crowd at the entrances. At half past ten the visitors began to assemble and were conducted to the seats by the committee. The clergy, in their gowns entered in procession. At ten minutes before eleven the doors were thrown open, when those who had not procured tickets were admitted, and the church was quickly filled.

At eleven the service commenced by the Rev. H. Wingfield reading the service for the day: the Psalms having been chanted, the Rev. R. King read the first and the Rev W P Wood the second lesson; the Litany was read the Rev. R. Sorsbia, the communion service by the Rev H Finch the Epistle for the day by the Rev. J.R Woodford, the Gospel by the Rev. C. Stuart, and the Creed by the Rev T Yard The sermon was preached by the Rev. E. M. Goulburn D.C.L., of London. The text was taken from Exodus iii 5. The sermon was eloquent and appropriate; and the choir (from Leicester) efficient and powerful. The church was well warmed and the arrangements excellent. The inconvenience experienced by the strong sun light through the cathedral glass during the morning service will, it is hoped, at no distant day lead to the introduction of stained glass, which is much wanted to subdue the light.

Amongst the congregation were Lord Wensleydale, the Hon. Calthrop, the Hon. Colonel and Miss Lowther, H. Lowther, Esq., MP. Geo. Finch, Esq., Lady Louisa Finch, the Misses Finch, John and Lady Trollope, Colonel R. and Mrs. Wood, the Hon Hy. and Mrs Noel. Miss Noel and friends, J. M. Wingfield Esq. the Misses Wingfield, H. Wingfield, Esq., the Hon. Evans Freke, Captain Doria, General Fludyer. Miss Fludyer, Mrs. Jackson, W. A. Pochin Esq and friends, Mrs. and Miss Baker, J. F. Mould, Esq. the Misses Arnold (Tinwell), W. Sheild, Esq., E. Cayley, Esq, R. de Capel Brooke Esq., Mr and Mrs. Barnard, Mr. and Mrs. Latham, Mrs. Whitchurch and friends, Mr. and Mrs. Harrison; the Rev. Hon. Leland Noel and family, Hon. A. Stewart and family, H. Fludyer, F. E. Gretton, W .J. Williams, C. Nevinson, Lovick Cooper, N. Twopeny, E. Cayley, H. Jones, S. Rolleston, W. Belgrave, H. Yard, C E. Prichard S. Walters P.J. E. Miles, T. Hoskins, M. Garrett, W. Metcalfe, J Noyes, W Ostler, F P Johnson, E. Brown, T. James J. R Woodford, W. S. Wood, T. Byers, R. King, R. Sorsbie J. W. Sherrington, G. E Gillett, G. A. Poole, W. Jay, H. J. Bigg c. A. Stevens, Prescott, T. Peake, T. Cooke, J. Beresford.

ln the afternoon the sermon was preached by the Rev. Canon James, Vicar of Theddingworth and Sibbertoft, from 11th chapter of Luke and 25th verse. The collections in the morning amounted to £174i 0s 6d and in the afternoon to to £31 7s. 1½d, total £205 7s 7½d.

The early hour at which the first train leaves Peterborough’ in the morning prevented many from attending the re-opening of the above church.

Dudley and its railways 1868

From the County Express October 24th 1868

Preamble

Over the decades I have sporadically and wholly unsystematically been a collector and hoarder of bus and train timetable booklets and leaflets, and despite a recent clear out, the collection still takes up significant shelf space. I have no real idea what to do with it, but it is interesting to look at and ponder. Recently I have become a user of the British Newspaper Archive, and I have just discovered that if you use the correct search terms then a whole load of bus and train timetables published in newspapers can be accessed and downloaded. The positive thing about this is that don’t further reduce my shelf space, although at the moment they are littering my hard drive rather badly. And whilst again, I have no real idea what to do with them, the early ones, from the nineteenth century, are, at least to me, really interesting. In this blog I will discuss just one set of such timetables, from the County Express newspaper that served the areas of Brierley Hill, Dudley and Stourbridge, from Saturday October 24th 1868. In particular I will focus on train services through Dudley station at that time, when there was a very extensive set of services and travel opportunities. Trains no longer serve Dudley of course, so this exercise is somewhat poignant. But first, I will consider Dudley station itself as it would have been in 1868.

Dudley Station

Dudley station is very well described on the Disused Stations web site. In 1868 the track layout had taken on a form that was to continue to exist, with period revisions, for much of the next century. It was in essence two stations. On the west side, there was the GWR station on the former Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton line that ran from Oxford, through Worcester, Kidderminster and Stourbridge and on to Wolverhampton. On the east there was the LNWR station that was the terminus of the former South Staffordshire Railway from Burton, Lichfield, Walsall and Dudley Port and also the terminus of the LNWR Stour Valley Line that ran to Dudley Port and joined the main LNWR Wolverhampton to Birmingham New Street Line. Each half of the station consisted of an island platform, with an overbridge connecting them with each other and with the main station entrance on the Tipton Road. There were extensive goods facilities for both the GWR and the LNWR to the north of the passenger station. The map in the figure below shows the station and the lines that pass through it in relation to the local network.

Services using the station

The County Express gives timetables for four distinct services that used the station in 1868.

Services on the GWR London Paddington to Wolverhampton route via Worcester.
Services on the GWR Great Malvern to London Paddington route via Birmingham Snow Hill.
LNWR services on the South Staffordshire line to Birmingham New Street and London Euston via Walsall.
LNWR services on the Stour Valley route to Birmingham New Street and London Euston via Dudley Port and Smethwick.

I will consider each of these in turn, and try to describe the nature of the services, their frequency and journey times. But first there are two caveats that need to be made. Firstly, as can be judged by the example at the top of this post, the timetables on the scanned pdf of the County Express are not always easy to read, and this might lead to some minor errors in any numbers I quote, although the big picture will not be affected. Secondly, and more importantly, the timetables read as if some of the local services become through trains to long-distance destinations. I suspect that this might, in places, be hiding journeys where a change of train is required. I will try to highlight my uncertainties in this regard as they arise.

GWR London Paddington to Wolverhampton via Worcester

There were eleven southbound services that called at Dudley on this route on weekdays, and five on Sundays. The corresponding numbers for northbound services were thirteen and seven. Those going south called at some combination of Netherton, Round Oak, Brierley Hill, Brettell Lane, Stourbridge, Hagley, Churchill, Kidderminster, Fearnall Heath, Worcester and stations to Oxford and London; and those going north called at Tipton, Princes End, Daisy Bank, Bilston, Priestfield and Wolverhampton. These stations were not always at their final or current locations – for example Netherton was moved northwards when the Dudley to Old Hill line was opened in 1878 to be north of junction, and Stourbridge was moved south and renamed Stourbridge Junction when the Town branch was opened in 1879.

There were five weekday trains in each direction that ran through to Paddington, with most of the rest running to Worcester. Journey times were approximately as follows.

Dudley to Wolverhampton – 20 to 25 minutes
Dudley to Stourbridge – 30 to 40 minutes
Dudley to Worcester – 1 to 1.5 hours
Dudley to London Paddington – 4.5 to 6.5 hours

GWR Great Malvern to London Paddington via Birmingham Snow Hill

There were eleven trains from Dudley to Birmingham Snow Hill and beyond on this route on weekdays, and six on Sundays, with ten and six in the Great Malvern Direction. Those going to Malvern called at some combination of Stourbridge, Kidderminster and Worcester (and not the intermediate stations) and those going to Snow Hill and Paddington ran along the LNWR line through Dudley Port (not stopping) to Horseley Fields junction and then called at Great Bridge, Swan Village, West Bromwich, Handsworth, Soho, Hockley, Birmingham Snow Hill , Warwick, Leamington, Oxford and Paddington.

Five weekday services ran through to Paddington with 6 in the reverse direction, with the others terminating either at Snow Hill or Leamington. Some of the Malvern services terminated at one of the intermediate stations. Journey times were approximately as follows.

Dudley to Birmingham Snow Hill – 30 to 35 minutes
Dudley to London Paddington – 4 to 6 hours
Dudley to Stourbridge – 15 to 20 minutes
Dudley to Worcester – 1 to 1.5 hours
Dudley to Great Malvern – 1.5 to 2 hours

Thus, the times from London to Paddington were similar on both GWR routes. This route gave a much faster trip to Stourbridge, Kidderminster and Worcester as trains did not call at the intermediate stations. The Disused Stations site suggest that the particular utility of this route was that fast trains could be turned around at Dudley and thus ease potential congestion at Snow Hill.

LNWR Dudley to Birmingham New Street via Walsall

In the County Express this is referred to as the South Staffordshire Railway, (SSR) although by 1868 it was fully incorporated into the LNWR The SSR main route was from Derby to Birmingham New Street via Burton upon Trent, Lichfield and Walsall. The services outlined in the County Express were thus on the southern leg of the SSR and operated as stopping services from Dudley to Walsall and Walsall to Birmingham. The timetable implies that these were through services, although this would have required a quite rapid reversal at Walsall (perhaps a change of engines, or perhaps passengers were required to change). There were thirteen services form Dudley to Birmingham New Street on weekdays and four on Sundays, with thirteen and fivein the opposite direction. The trains called at Dudley Port, Great Bridge, Wednesbury, Walsall, Bescot Junction, Newton Road, Hampstead and Great Barr, , Perry Barr, Aston, Bloomsbury, Lawley Street and Birmingham New Street. Only about half the trains called at Lawley Street, Bloomsbury and the stations from Pery Barr to Walsall. The approximate journey times were as follows.

Dudley to Walsall – 25 to 30 minutes
Dudley to Birmingham New Street – 1 to 1.5 hours

The journey from Dudley to Birmingham was thus a lengthy one and probably not attractive, and the service was clearly aimed at serving local traffic between Dudley, Walsall and Birmingham.

LNWR Dudley to Birmingham New Street and London Euston Square via Dudley Port and Smethwick

This LNWR route is described as the Stour Valley Railway by the County Express. It gained its name from the original intention to extend it over the Dudley ridge into the Stour catchment to the south. This aim was abandoned quite early, and though it retained its name, it remained stubbornly in the Tame catchment. There were fifteen services from Dudley to Birmingham and London on weekdays and seven on Sundays, with fifteen and six in the opposite direction. Trains called at Dudley Port (via the loop at Sedgeley Junction), Albion, Oldbury and Bromford, Spon Lane, Smethwick, Soho, Edgbaston and New Street, and then onto Coventry, Leamington (via the LNWR Kenilworth loop), Rugby and Birmingham. Six weekday up trains continued to London, with the others terminating at either Birmingham or Leamington. Approximate journey times were as follows.

Dudley to Birmingham New Street – 30 to 40 minutes
Dudley to Leamington – 1.5 to 2 hours
Dudley to London Euston – 3.5 to 4.5 hours

The times from Dudley to both Birmingham and London were thus both very competitive with others.

Other services

The County Express gives details of some other services that it no doubt felt were of interest to its readers.

LNWR London to Birmingham, via Coventry and Rugby i.e. not diverting to Leamington so offering a more rapid journey to London than the Stour Valley Railway, although a change at New Street would be required.
LNWR Birmingham to Wolverhampton and Liverpool, offering connections in both directions at Dudley Port.
The GWR Stourbridge Extension Railway – from Stourbridge to Birmingham Snow Hill. At this stage this was still an independent company that wasn’t completely taken into the GWR until 1870.
The GWR Severn Valley Railway from Hartlebury to Bewdley, Bridgenorth to Shrewsbury, although travel from Dudley would have required rather lengthy trips to Hartelbury and some rather slack connections and would not have been particularly attractive. In 1868 the Kidderminster to Bewdley line, which would offer a shorter route, had not yet been constructed.
The GWR line from Bewdley west to Tenbury and Wooferton, with connections to Hereford, which would have required a change from the Severn Valley railway at Bewdley. It is unlikely that many from the Dudley area made this rather rambling cross-country trip.

A typical day at Dudley station

The table below shows the arrivals and departures at Dudley station on a weekday in 1868. It can be seen to be very busy, even without including the very numerous freight workings, with ninety three services in total from 6.30 in the morning till 22.55 in the evening. Note I use the modern form for specifying time, which has the advantage of being able to be used to calculate journey times using EXCEL.

Company	From	Arrive	Depart	To
SVR	Birmingham NS	06:30
GWR			06:40	London Paddington
SVR			06:55	London Euston
SSR			07:35	Birmingham NS
GWR			08:10	Leamington
SVR	Birmingham NS	08:13
GWR	Wolverhampton	08:05	08:15	London Paddington
GWR	Birmingham SH	07:55	08:15	Great Malvern
SSR	Birmingham SH	08:24
GWR	Worcester	08:21	08:29	Wolverhampton
SVR			08:45	London Euston
GWR	Kidderminster	09:10
SSR			09:15	Birmingham NS
GWR	Kidderminster	09:10	09:20	London Paddington
SVR			09:25	Leamington
GWR			09:30	London Paddington
SSR	Birmingham NS	09:34
SSR			09:50	Birmingham NS
SVR	Birmingham NS	09:53
SVR	London Euston	10:03
SVR			10:10	Birmingham NS
GWR	Worcester	10:32	10:33	Wolverhampton
SSR	Birmingham NS	10:35
SSR			10:45	Birmingham NS
GWR	Honeybourne	10:55	10:57	Wolverhampton
GWR	Wolverhampton	10:55	11:00
GWR	Great Malvern	10:55	11:00	London Paddington
GWR	Leamington	10:46	11:00	Kidderminster
SVR			11:25	London Euston
SVR	London Euston	12:00
SVR			12:18	Birmingham NS
SSR			12:20	Birmingham NS
GWR	Wolverhampton	12:35	12:38	London Paddington
GWR	London Paddington	12:33	12:38	Great Malvern
SVR	London Euston	12:43
GWR	London Paddington	12:45	12:50	Wolverhampton
GWR	Great Malvern	12:45	12:55	Birmingham SH
GWR	London Paddington	13:33
SSR	Birmingham NS	13:35
SVR	London Euston	13:45
GWR	Wolverhampton	13:48	13:50	Worcester
SSR			13:50	Birmingham NS
SVR			13:53	Birmingham NS
GWR	London Paddington	14:14	14:17	Wolverhampton
SVR	London Euston	14:20
GWR	Great Malvern	14:14	14:23	London Paddington
SVR			14:30	Birmingham NS
SVR			15:00	Birmingham NS
GWR	Wolverhampton	15:02	15:04	Worcester
GWR	London Paddington	14:33	15:04	Great Malvern
GWR	London Paddington	15:20	15:24	Wolverhampton
GWR	Wolverhampton	15:20	15:24	Worcester
GWR	Great Malvern	15:20	15:28	Leamington
SSR	Birmingham NS	15:35
SVR	London Euston	15:50
GWR	Stourbridge	16:25	16:28	Wolverhampton
SSR	Birmingham NS	16:40
SVR			16:40	Leamington
GWR	London Paddington	16:35	16:44	Great Malvern
GWR	Wolverhampton	16:43	16:45	London Paddington
GWR	Stourbridge	16:23	16:45	Oxford
SSR			17:15	Birmingham NS
SVR			17:35	London Euston
GWR	Leamington	17:35	17:39	Stourbridge
GWR	Wolverhampton	17:35	17:40	London Paddington
SVR	Leamington	17:55
GWR			18:00	London Paddington
SVR			18:20	Leamington
SSR			18:30	Birmingham NS
SVR	London Euston	18:35
GWR	Worcester	18:40	18:43	Wolverhampton
GWR	Birmingham SH	18:40	18:45	Stourbridge
SSR	Birmingham NS	19:05
GWR	London Paddington	19:28	19:30	Wolverhampton
GWR	Wolverhampton	19:25	19:30	Evesham
GWR	London Paddington	19:24	19:30	Great Malvern
SSR			19:30	Birmingham NS
GWR	Great Malvern	18:38	19:40	Birmingham SH
SVR	Birmingham NS	19:40
SVR	London Euston	20:33
SSR	Birmingham NS	20:43
SSR			20:50	Birmingham NS
GWR	Wolverhampton	20:55	21:00	Kidderminster
GWR	Leamington	20:55	21:00	Kidderminster
SVR			21:10	Birmingham NS
SVR	London Euston	21:38
GWR	Stourbridge	21:55	21:57	Wolverhampton
GWR	Kidderminster	21:55	21:58	Birmingham SH
SSR	Birmingham NS	22:06
SVR	Leamington	22:30
GWR	London Paddington	22:33	22:36	Wolverhampton
SVR			22:45	London Euston
SSR	Birmingham NS	22:55

Weekday departures from Dudley in 1868

A reflection

The information set out above causes me to reflect on why such a vibrant railway scene was swept away in the 1950s and 1960s, and has left Dudley as one of the largest towns in England without a mainline railway service. The immediate reasons are to be found of course in the post war situation of the 1950s and 1960s – the decline of old industries, and the increasing dominance of road transport – but it seems to me that the seeds of this decline were planted in the early days of the railways in the region. Firstly, in the early days, the movement of freight, and in particular coal and iron products, was as important to the railway companies as passengers. This led to the locations of railway lines primarily in areas where there was significant industrial activity, rather than in areas of habitation. And when these industries eventually declined, there wasn’t the reasonably affluent population base to continue to support the railway network as a passenger only system. Secondly, inter-company competition resulted in competing lines – and in particular duplication of major stations in Wolverhampton and Birmingham. Again, in a period of post industrial decline, there was bound to be rationalisation, and this rationalisation needed to provide for the remaining freight, express trains and passenger trains. The result of this, the development of spatially constrained two track Stour Valley line as part of the West Coast route, inevitably meant that local services, would be squeezed out for capacity reasons. And thirdly with regard to Dudley itself, its geography made it vulnerable – sitting on top of a north-south ridge that was best approached by railways along the ridge rather than from either side, which resulted in it being bypassed by the major east / west through lines, and left isolated when the downturn came. The only main line to pass through the town was that of the OWWR / GWR, which in reality was a series of linked local services, with the long distance journey times to London being too great to be competitive, at least north of Worcester.

Could things have been different? Perhsps with a more centrally and strategically planned railway system that might have been the case, and a sustainable pos-industrial railway might have emerged in the Dudley area. But that is an unknown – and governments have not always shown themselves as being able to think strategically, at least where railways are concerned. But perhaps there is hope for something better – for example see Andy Street’s ambitious (and probably unrealistic) plan for metro expansion in the graphic below – although the ludicrous costs and construction times of tramways in the UK need to be massively reduced if they are to reach their full potential. But that, as they say, is another story.

The simulation of local tornado wind conditions

Preamble

At the recent Bluff Body Aerodynamics Conference in Brimingham at the end of July / start of August 2024, there was considerable discussion concerning the simulation of tornado and downburst flow for the purposes of measuring structural loads. The current experimental methodology uses large scale tornado / downburst generators that have to be physically very large to have reasonable model scales, with either the whole downflow mechanism being moved across a model, or a model being moved beneath the generator. Such tests are complex and time consuming, the more so because to obtain reliable load statistics multiple tuns are required for each case considered with various tornado or downburst characteristics, building position and orientation relative to the core flow etc.

In the discussions of the various presentations, there was some talk of modelling local flow characteristics around building models, rather than modelling the complete flow field. After mulling over some possibilities for this, in this blog post I set out my preliminary thoughts on how such local simulations might be achieved. I have no access to labs or funding, so these ideas will be for someone else to take forward if they are thought to have merit.

The proposal

The basic idea is as follows.

The local wind field around a building should be simulated in a duct, where rapid changes in wind speed such as those found beneath tornadoes and downbursts can be simulated using active control of fans / screens etc. This has been attempted in the past and the technique is clearly possible. The near ground local shear and turbulence could be generated using spires and roughness in the usual way.
The rapid horizontal direction changes seen by a building as the flow structures pass over it should be simulated by rotating the model at the required speed.
Vertical direction changes (which it will be seen below are usually small) could be simulated in one of two ways – either by tilting the building model vertically (which would result in some ground plane distortion) or perhaps by rapid changes in duct roof profile to produce the appropriate upward or downward vertical velocity component.

In principle there seems to be no reason why it should not be possible to simulate the necessary velocity and direction changes, but there are two issues that need to be investigated. Firstly, what exactly are the local wind velocity and direction changes at a particular point when a tornado or downburst passes over them, and secondly how rapid are these changes – are they possible to achieve at reasonable model scales. We address these issues in what follows.

Specification of wind conditions

There are a number of ways in which wind conditions experienced by buildings as tornados or downbursts pass over them can be specified.

Through the use of full-scale data, although this is somewhat sparse, particularly close to the ground.
Through large scale LES simulations, a number of which are available, but are usually for certain specific situations and not easily generalized.
Through the use of simple analytical models which capture the main features of the flow, and by their nature can be generalized quite easily.

Here we use the latter method (which will come as no surprise to those who know me!). Specifically we use the methods of Baker and Sterling (2017) and Sterling et al (2023). These give the equations for the three components of velocity, relative to the tornado / downburst centre, shown in Box 1. It is then assumed that the building is stationary as the storm passes over it and the overall horizontal velocity and horizontal and vertical flow directions calculated from assuming a vector sum of a steady wind velocity in the storm direction of travel and the velocity induced by the tornado / downburst (figure 1).

Box 1 Tornado and downburst equations

Figure 1. Co-ordinate system

Clearly the model requires a number of parameters to be specified. These have been taken from the data collation of Baker and Sterling (2019) (which was compiled to assess the adequacy of tornado vortex generators) and four conditions specified – for small, medium and large tornados and for a downburst of similar size to a medium tornado. The parameters for these cases are shown in Table 1. I make no claim as to the overall adequacy or otherwise of this method – as it stands it is simply a convenient tool with which to investigate the broad parameters of the problem, and other methodologies could be used to determine the wind conditions relative to a building.

Table 1. Tornado and downburst parameters used in calculation

Wind speed and direction relative to a stationary building

Clearly the wind speed and wind direction changes experienced by a stationary building as a storm passes over them will depend upon the position of the building relative to the storm track. If the building is directly on the track, then some very rapid changes in speed and direction can be expected. This is shown in figures 2a to 2c for the large tornado case. The x axis is the time at full scale equivalent values as the storm passes over the building. The origin is at the point when the centre of the storm is directly over the building. As might be expected there is a very rapid change in the speed and horizontal direction as the vortex core passes over, and a very large change in vertical direction. Two points can be made, Firstly, in this region the model is at its least realistic as the sharp changes will be smoothed in reality by vortex wandering and viscous effects. However secondly, there will undoubtedly be large vertical flow direction changes as the core passes over, although perhaps not as high or as rapid as shown in figure 2, and the type of model simulation proposed here would be unable to simulate such changes and such simulations are probably not adequate close to the core. In what follows we thus confine our attention to two model positions, at one core radius either side of the vortex direction of travel where one would expect the simulation to be adequate..

Figure 2. Wind conditions experienced by building directly on the storm track as large tornado passes over

The results of this analysis are shown in figures 3a to 3d for the small, medium and large tornados and figures 4a to 4c for the downburst. The following points can be made.

The velocity magnitude variations are the same for both building positions, and all show a rapid rise then a fall as would be expected.
The vertical direction change is characterized by a sharp peak. For the tornado cases, this variation is always less than 1 degree, but for the downburst case it is considerably greater.
For the downburst, the horizontal direction variation differs in sign between the two positions but are otherwise identical. However, for the tornado cases the horizontal direction variation is different for the two building positions due to the asymmetry introduced by the rotation of the storm. For the case with the building to the top of the storm track in figure 1, there is a steady, if rapid, change of direction around the building and back to the starting point. For the bottom case, the flow directions move through 130 degrees and then back to the original position.

Figure 3. Wind conditions experienced by building one core radius away from the storm track as large, medium and small tornados passes over

Figure 4. Wind conditions experienced by building one core radius away from the storm track as downburst passes over

Can the velocity and direction variations be modelled?

The question then arises as to whether these predicted velocity and direction variations can be achieved in practice. As noted above the x axis on figures 3 and 4 is the full-scale time in seconds. If, say, a building model scale of 1:25 is adopted, which is broadly in line with current practice, and a velocity scale of 2:1 is used (ie the simulation velocities are half full-scale velocities, which seems practical), then the model time scale is 1:12.5 i.e. the model changes have to take place 12.5 times faster than the full-scale cases. If we take the modelling above as broadly correct in regard to the time scales of velocity and direction variations, then the horizontal direction and velocity variations for the large, medium and small tornados and the downburst takes place over periods of around 50, 30 and 10 seconds respectively, resulting in model times of 4, 2.5 and 0.8 seconds. For the direction changes, these time scales seem reasonable and should be achievable by a suitable mechanical system. However, for the velocity changes, that rely on moving air masses with significant inertia, the time scale required for the small tornado would represent a challenge. The vertical direction variations are over much smaller time scales in each case but could probably be achieved with a mechanical system to tilt the model, but probably not with a system that tries to deflect the moving air downwards or upwards.

Concluding remarks

Based on what has been set out above, it would appear that the type of local simulation described in this post has some potential. The use of such a simulation would be restricted however to medium and large storms, as the velocity changes for small storms would be difficult to achieve at model scale. Similarly, the conditions very close to the storm track, in particular the vertical velocity changes, are unlikely to be able to be adequately modelled.

However, I am now retired, with no access to either lab facilities or funding, so if such a simulation is to be further investigated, someone else will need to do it!

References

C J Baker, M Sterling (2017) Modelling wind fields and debris flight in tornadoes, Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics 168, 312-321 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jweia.2017.06.017

C Baker, M Sterling (2019) Are Tornado Vortex Generators fit for purpose? Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics 190, 287-292, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jweia.2019.05.011

M Sterling, S Huo, C Baker (2023) “Using crop fall patterns to provide an insight into thunderstorm downbursts”, Journal of Wind engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics. 238, July 2023, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jweia.2023 .105431

A Black Country poet – Jim William Jones

On November 9th 2024 as part of the Black Country History Day to be held the Black Country Living Museum in Dudley, I will be presenting (with help from Emma Purshouse) some of the poetry of the Black Country poet Jim William Jones, to illustrate the industrial, social and built environment of the region in the second half of the 20th century. Jones was a sharp eyed observer of his beloved Black Country and his poems give a deep insight into the area and its people over that period. This is a rather different way of “doing” history, but hopefully one that will both entertain and inform. I write below to give some brief details of his life and work, since this information is not generally available elsewhere.

J W Jones by CLEBAK, From Black Country Society Calendar collection 1976

Jim William Jones was born in Coseley on February 15^th, 1923, and spent his childhood and school years there. After leaving school he began work with the engineering firm Joseph Sankey and Sons as a junior clerk. He was conscripted into the army at the age of 18 in 1941, taking part in the Normandy landing in 1944 and also serving in India and Ceylon, reaching the rank of Warrant Officer. After the war he returned to Sankey’s and was trained in works management, before leaving industry to join local government in 1955 where he worked in education administration, marrying Jesse Ralphs at Wednesbury in that year. He was a qualified teacher of speech and drama and a member of amateur dramatic societies, hosting a radio programme on Beacon Radio and working with the Black Country folk music group Giggetty. He had a strong Christian faith and was a gifted speaker and Methodist local preacher. He became a very well-known Black Country poet, both for his dialect poetry (Black Country ballads) and for his poetry in more conventional English. Some of these can be found in three small publications by the Black Country Society – “From under the smoke” from 1972, “Factory and Fireside” from 1974, and “Jim and Kate” from 1986, all sadly long out of print. He contributed numerous poems to the first 25 years of the Society magazine, the Blackcountryman from 1967 to 1992. He died in 1993.

Some of Jim Jones poems were included in a 1976 anthology “Widening circles” edited by Edward Lowbury. Following Jones’ death, Lowbury wrote an appreciation for the Blackcountryman (26.4, 1993). He acknowledged the humour and the pathos in the dialect ballads, which at the time of publication of “Widening Circles” he felt to be more successful than the poems in standard English. By 1992 however he had somewhat modified his views and concluded that his standard English poems were perhaps “nearer to the heart of poetry than the more immediately entertaining dialect ballads”.

In a much later Blackcountryman article (45.3, 2012) Trevor Brookes again writes in appreciation of Jim Jones, and in particular his dialect poetry, emphasising that as well as humour, they contained much that showed a profound understanding of people and their lives. He regretted that these were not easily available, being scattered across many newspapers and other publications, and not accessible to modern readers.

Personally, I first became aware of Jim Jones work in the early 1970s, when my mother gave me a copy of “From under the smoke” as a Birthday present. This little volume became a prized possession and has travelled around the country with me over the last 50 years, regularly read and re-read.

To enable others to either reacquaint themselves with his work, or to enjoy it for the first time, some of Jones’ poems have ben published in a short series of Black Country Society blog posts from 2022 that can be found at the links below.

The Blackcountryman poems of Jim William Jones Part 1

The Blackcountryman poems of Jim William Jones Part 2

The Blackcountryman poems of Jim William Jones Part 3

In addition, the Black Country Society has scanned “From under the smoke” and “Factory and Fireside” and these are available for members on the Society web site (password required). I have also produced a compilation of 33 of his poems that span the period from 1968 to 1992 – from “From under the Smoke”, “Factory and Fireside” and the Blackcountryman. This is again available to Society members on the web site. These three volumes will be available for purchase as pdfs from the Society online shop at some point in the near future.

Most, but not quite all, of the poems in the compilation are in standard English. Another volume could easily be produced containing a selection of his dialect poetry, but as Trevor Brookes noted, these are more scattered, and the collection of them would be a major task. Nonetheless it is perhaps something I will attempt in the future.

Tansey Green Anglican Mission Room.

As I sit down to write this post, I find it hard to believe that there is anyone out there who will be interested in the ramblings that follow. But perhaps there are some from Pensnett who are as historically nerdy as I am……

In researching the history of Pensnett over the last few years, and in particular the history of the clergy of St Mark’s Church, I have come across mentions of a mission chapel in the Tansey Green area, but haven’t been able to find any further details or to locate where it was situated. There was another mission chapel in the parish of course, in Bromley, that is much better documented and had a long history. However, I have recently come across a 1949 history of the church by A Sergeant and L U Smith, written to mark its centenary (Dudley Archives LS9582/4B/21) . In that booklet there is the following little bit of information about the Tansey Green Mission Church.

In 1849 the village of Pensnett was much smaller than now, consisting of a straggling line of houses and small shops along the south side of the main road, with a few short streets leading off it to the south, The parish, however, comprised a much larger area, and in it there were two other villages or hamlets. One of these was Tansey Green, where some time about the 1860’s a small mission room was founded. No records exist of this mission apart from some notes in the Services register of the number of communicants. In the year 1888 they numbered 17 in all. Some old residents of the parish still remember the tiny mission room standing on a site on Dreadnought Road which has. now been excavated as a marl-hole, The Mission room itself was demolished some years before the turn of the century.

This short extract gives enough information to determine the location of the church. The three maps below show the Ordnance Survey maps from 1880, 1900 and 1910. Dreadnaught Road (or Nailor’s Row as it was known in the mid 19th century) can be seen extending from the bottom left of the figures to the junction with Tansey Green at the top right. The building which I think must contain the chapel is circled in red – there seems to be no other option. It can be seen to be in existence in 1880 and 1900, but by 1910, its location was the centre of what was presumably a marl hole for the adjacent brick works. This isn’t quite consistent with the extract from the history above, as the building is still shown on the 1900 map and had not been demolished by then. This could be due to the unreliable oral memories on which the 1949 booklet extract was based. or simply that the map details were slightly out of date.

Two further points can be made. Firstly the mission chapel was very close to the Shut End Primitive Methodist church (shown by a green circle), which had a a large local congregation – so perhaps there was some level of competition there between the established church and the non-conformists. But note that the congregation abandoned that chapel in 1896 due to mining subsidence and moved to a new location on Commonside and the building became a picture house – one of the earliest in the Black Country. Secondly the building that I have identified can also be seen, with a very similar shape and ground plan in the Fowler maps of 1822 and 1840, and is listed in the Directories to those maps as “house and garden“, owned by John Hodgetts Hodgetts-Foley and occupied by John Colbourne in 1822, and owned by James Foster and occupied by Thomas Bradley in 1840. It would thus appear that the Mission Chapel was simply a converted house or part of a house.

But beyond that there is very little to say, although I find it satisfying that I have at last been able to locate where the chapel was actually situated. I am still left wandering if this is of interest to anyone else at all!

Lichfield – a pre-conversion pagan cultic centre?

First published on this site as a web page in April 2020, but format changed to post in August 2024 for consistency with other material

Introduction

It has been noted by a number of authors in the past that in the vicinity of Lichfield, the ecclesiastical centre of the Mercian kingdom, there are a number of place names with pagan religious associations, and puzzlement has been expressed that such names were allowed to survive by the ecclesiastical authorities (Horowitz, 2005, p32). In this article, we consider these names further and identify a small number of other sites in the locality that may also have pagan religious connections. In so doing we are led to the tentative conclusion that Lichfield may have been a centre for pagan religious activity in the pre-Christian era, and the echoes of this activity, remain in place names and church dedications in the area. This suggestion goes some way to explain the rather odd comment recorded in an early life of St Wilfred, that he gave Lichfield to Chad for the site of his cathedral in 669, as it was suitable place for an episcopal see – in that it was already an ancient cultic site (Colrave, 1927). We begin in the next section by briefly considering the work of North (North, 1997), who investigated in particular the deity known as “Ing-Freyr”, for reasons that will become obvious in what follows. We then move on to a consideration of place names and church dedications in the Lichfield area. An attempt is then made to synthesise the findings, and to draw out their implications. Finally, further possible indications of cultic activity in the Lichfield area in the Roman / British era and before are briefly mentioned.

Ing-Freyr

Through a detailed examination of the work of the Roman Historian Tacitus who described the worship of the Angles in southern Denmark in the first century AD; the much more recent Scandinavian myths recorded in Iceland around 12^thand 13^thcenturies; king lists from the early English kingdoms and a range of Old English literature from the Anglo-Saxon period, North arrives at the conclusion that the worship of the deity “Ing-Freyr” can be detected in England before the conversion. He argues that the cult of Ing-Freyr directly descends from that of Nerthus, who seems to have had the attributes of a sky god, in the early Roman era by the Angles in southern Denmark. Tacitus describes this as centring on a oxen hauled wagon procession of the god, either represented by an idol of by a nominee, around the tribal region, with the celebration of a marriage to the earth goddess Terra Mater, symbolised by copulation with local women or with a nominated female. This rite had obvious fertility aspects, and also seems to have involved the “death” of the God (either through the symbolic interring of the idol, or perhaps through human sacrifice) after the wagon tour, and his resurrection in the following spring. The suffix “Ing” can be found in a number of early Anglian king lists, indicating the persistence of the cult into the Anglo-Saxon era and can be traced through various Old English texts. Freyr simply means “Lord” and in the Nordic myths was the son of Njoror (the equivalent of Nerthus) and the brother of Freyja, who were all members of the Vanir, the old gods who were the losers of a cult war with the Aesir headed by Odin. The name Freyja simply means “Lady” and is widely regarded as a fertility deity, and also as a “psychopomp” who attended to the souls of the dead. In some myths she is identified with Frigg, the wife of Odin The concept of a dying and rising God has of course resonances with Christianity, and North, somewhat mischievously, writes

…the Angles, in particular, offered no resistance to Christianity and indeed failed to perceive the difference between the new religion and their own…. (North, 1997, 305)

However, whilst the cult of Ing-Freyr could clearly have played a part in the conversion of the Angles, ultimately for the Church there was the possibility of much confusion with the orthodox faith that was potentially very damaging. There is some evidence that the Church thus came to equate Ing-Freyr with the devil (North, 1997, 56-57, 325), and the cult was firmly suppressed. This was partly achieved through his replacement in king lists and names by Odin, an ambiguous figure, both a deity and a real or semi-mythical Swedish ancestor, but who was clearly not regarded as a threat to the church in the same way as Ing-Freyr^[vi]. One of the attributes of Odin himself was that of the psychopomp.

Whilst the arguments of North are based on widely diverse sources, both in terms of content and date of composition, they are nonetheless cogently argued and present a convincing case that, in the pre-conversion era, the cult of Ing-Freyr could be found amongst the Anglian peoples of Britain. The implications of this for the Lichfield area will become clear in the following sections.

Place names and Church Dedications

The name of Lichfield itself remains something of a mystery (Horowitz, 2005, p16). The early (medieval) understanding, based on the writings of Matthew Parris, a monk of St Albans, was that it carried the meaning “Field of the dead” and was the site of the martyrdom of Christians during the persecution of Diocletian from 284 to 305, with “Lich” being derived from the Old English word for body or corpse. Early spellings of the name however suggest that such an interpretation is at best debatable, and the accepted wisdom is that the name derives, through a complex system of intermediate forms, from the Celtic word that evolved into Letocetum (Wall) in the Roman era, and means the open place by the grey wood (Horowitz, 2005, p17). What the grey wood might be has however not been explained, although of itself it to some degree numinous, with perhaps some symbolic meaning and content relating to the dead or the supernatural.

If the name of Lichfield cannot be fully explained, other names in the vicinity are less ambiguous. There are two “Woden / Odin” names to the west – at Wednesfield (Horowitz, 2005, p566) and at Wednesbury (Horowitz, 2005, p565), with names that mean the open land dedicated to Woden, and Woden’s fortification respectively. A little way to the east, on Watling Street, we find Weeford – the ford of the idol or shrine (Horowitz, 2005, p29). Less certainly, in between Weeford and Lichfield, we find Freeford (Horowitz, 2005, p32) (Horowitz, 2005, 30), . Whilst this might simply mean free, or unrestricted, ford, a possible variant is Freyja’s ford, which, in view of the theories of North set out above, may well be of some significance. Weeford and Freeford were two of the five original (and quite possible pre-Domesday) prebends of Lichfield Cathedral, the others being Longdon and Handsacre to the west, and Stotfold or Statfold to the east.

However there are a small number of other sites that may have connections with pagan worship in the area. The first is the last of the five prebends just mentioned. Stotfold (Horowitz, 2005, p510) carried the meaning of (horse or oxen) stud fold. The horse itself had ritual significance in the Anglo-Saxon period, but it is the possible association with oxen that is clearly of significance to the current discussion. Also, just to the south of Freeford we find Ingle Hill (Horowitz, 2005, p336). Horowicz is not certain on the derivation of this, offering a rather tenuous connection with the Inge family who were apparently in the Lichfield area in the 18^thcentury. The root however is exactly the same as Ingham in Lincolnshire, Norfolk and Suffolk (all regions of Anglian migration), which does seem to be connected to the deity Ing (Mill, 1991). We thus have the names Weeford, Freeford, Stotfold, and Ingle Hill all in close proximity, and whilst the derivations of all but the first are arguable, their geographical coincidence strongly suggests a connection with pagan ritual. All these places are also part of a large land unit that was eventually to become the Domesday manor of Lichfield, and then the large parish of St Michael’s Church on Greenville (James, 1998). Basset (1992) argues that this was actually a pre-Augustinian British Diocese, and whilst this may be possible, it may be simply a land unit that arose for different reasons. Finally, there is the possibility that one of the members of the Domesday Lichfield land unit, Tymmore (whose meaning has not been addressed by place name scholars) could refer to the god Tyr, the moor in question perhaps being Whittington Heath to the east of Lichfield (Morris, 1976). Place names thus suggest an unusual level of pagan activity or memory in the Lichfield area in the period from which the settlement names derive

Memorial plaque to Michael Lowe of Tymore in St Michael’s church, Lichfield

Within Lichfield, there are three parish churches and the cathedral. Bede tells us that the latter was originally dedicated to St Peter and St Mary (Kettle andJohnson, 1970), but at least by Domesday, the dedication was to St Chad and St Mary. Thus the dedication was to the “Lady” of the Christians and to the chief apostle, and latterly to the major local holy man. The three churches are dedicated to St Mary, St Chad and St Michael. The first was a medieval creation for the planned town of Bishop Roger de Clinton in the 12^thcentury. Of the latter two, the land unit evidence discussed by Basset suggests that St Michael’s is the older, and that St Chad’s parish was originally included within it (as were the parishes of St Mary’s and the Cathedral Close). In St Michael we have both the angel who threw the devil to earth from heaven, as well as the Christian psychopomp. The huge size of St Michael’s graveyard has frequently been pointed out, and whilst this size may be purely functional, it might nonetheless indicate early association of the area with the concerns of the dead (James, 1998).

Of the three prebends of Lichfield discussed above, Freeford and Stotfold have no chapels of their own and seem to have always looked to St Michael’s as the mother church. The church at Weeford is again dedicated to Mary. Away from Lichfield, there does not seem to have been an ancient church at Wednesfield, but at Wednesbury the hilltop church is dedicated to St Batholomew. Interestingly there are two other Bartholomew dedications in the vicinity – at Hints on Watling Street near Weeford to the east of Lichfield, and at Farewell to the west. Bartholomew is one of the lesser known of the disciples in biblical terms, but one of his traditions relates that he was martyred by being skinned alive. He is regarded as the patron saint of tanners, which is perhaps a tenuous connections with the ox wagon procession that is identified herein. He is also identified with Heracles, perhaps through a similarity of iconography, with Heracles holding the skin of the Nemean lion in a similar manner to Bartholomew holding his flayed skin (Crane and Lazzarotti, 2014), and through Heracles / Hercules to Balder, the dying / rising God of Norse myth, which is shown by North to be identified with Ing (North, 1997, 143).

Finally the church at Shenstone to the south of Lichfield, is dedicated to St John the Baptist, whose feast day is on midsummer eve. There is a long and proven European tradition of midsummer bonfires on hilltop sites (possibly where bones were burnt) that goes back to Roman times (Hutton, 1996), and the dedication to St John suggests that these occurred at Shenstone, and might go some way towards explaining the rather curious name (Horowitz, 2005, 488), which means “Shining Stone”. There are no obvious stones to which this could apply in the vicinity, but the name could conceivably apply to an idol illuminated by a bonfire.

Synthesis

At this point it would be easy to fall into wild speculation concerning the implications of all the above, and perhaps particularly on the route that might have been taken by an ox drawn idol bearing wagon. We resist that here and simply emphasise two major points. The first is that place name evidence strongly suggest that the region around Lichfield was the centre of a cult of Ing-Freyr, and perhaps Freyja, with some indications that the ancient wagon procession cult was at least remembered if not wholly practiced – the names of Freeford (Freyja’s ford), Ingle Hill (Ing- Hill), Weeford (Idol ford), Stotfold (Oxen or horse fold) and perhaps Shenstone (Shining Stone). This implies the early existence of both a fertility cult, with an annually dying and rising deity, and with a cult of the dead. The second point is that this cult seems to have been supressed in exactly the way that Pope Gregory recommended to St Augustine – to use and hallow the pagan shrines for Christian worship. The three pagan sites of Weeford, Freeford (which includes Ingle Hill) and Stotfold were eventually to become prebends of Lichfield Cathedral; the worship of the Lord Ing-Freyr and the Lady Freyja was replaced by the worship of Christ as mediated through the chief apostle Peter and the local holy man Chad, and “Our Lady”, the Virgin Mary. The pagan psychopomp Freyja was replaced by the Christian version, the Archangel Michael, who from the summit of Greenhill would proclaim the Christian victory over the Lord and Lady of the Vanir. Away from Lichfield itself, the fires at Shenstone, that perhaps used to illumine the travelling idol, became dedicated to St John, and whatever occurred at Wednesfield, Wednesbury, Hints and Farewell was neutered using the ambiguous name of Woden / Odin, and the rather dramatically martyred St Bartholomew. But the suppression was not wholly complete. Some of the names in the vicinity were too deeply ingrained in the local consciousness to be eliminated completely, and the association of Lichfield with both the cult of the dead and with fertility was to endure, through the long history of the graveyard at St Michaels, and through the Greenhill Bower respectively. Interestingly, and perhaps amusingly, as late as the 14^thcentury the incumbents of the (once pagan) prebends of Freeford, Weeford and Stotfold still appointed chaplains to the three (Christian) city churches of St Mary, St Chad and St Michael (Greenslade, 1990).

In the above no attempt has been made to give chronological depth to the above suggestions and give suggested dates other than the firm one of 669 for the beginning of Chad’s episcopate. Place names and church dedications simply do not allow a precise chronology of the interaction between pagan and Christian worship to be developed. So we have simply set out the evidence that suggests that, in the pre-conversion period, there was a significant and identifiable pagan activity in the Lichfield area, that had both fertility and mortuary aspects, and was ultimately supressed, albeit far from effectively, by the Christian church.

Earlier possibilities

We have concentrated above on the interface between Anglian pagan worship and Christian worship, potentially in the sixth and seventh centuries. However there’re a number of indications that the Lichfield area might have cultic past that goes back further than that. James (1999), based on the work of Morris (1989), argues that the church dedication to St Michael on Greenhill could have displaced an earlier cult of Mercury, who has many of the same attributes, including that of psychopomp. In turn this could be related to the cult of the Celtic / British deity Lugos, who again had the same attributes. Also, as noted above, Bassett (1992) argued that St Michael’s could have been the centre of a late Roman ecclesiastical diocese. How the various competing cultic sites of the Roman / British and Anglo-Saxon periods might have related to each other is not at all clear.

Going back still further, it is quite possible that Lichfield itself is part of a major solar alignment, with the Cathedral, St Chad’s Well, and the Bronze age site at Catholme all being on a midwinter sunset / midsummer sunrise alignment. The cultic implications of this are the subject of speculation is a related blog post.

References

Basset S (1992) “Church and diocese in the West Midlands; the transition from British to Anglo-Saxon control”, in Pastoral Care before the Parish, ed. J. Blair and R. Sharpe (Leicester University Press), pp13–40.

Colrave B (ed) (1927) “The Life of Bishop Wilfred by Eddius Stephanus”

Greenslade M W (1990) “Lichfield: Churches”, in A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 14, Lichfield, pp. 134-155 http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/staffs/vol14/pp134-155

Crane T F, Lazzarotti M (2014), Ed. Tales From Italy: When Christianity Met Italy, M&J ISBN 9791195174942 p5

Horowitz D (2005) “The Place Names of Staffordshire”, published by D Horovitz, Berwood

Hutton R (1996) “The Stations of the Sun – a History of the Ritual Year in Britain”, Oxford University Press, 311-321

James T (1998) “The development of the parish of St Michael-on-Greenhll over 1500 years”, St Michael’s Papers; number 1, St. Michael’s PCC

James T (1999) “St Michael’s dedication, associations and imagery”, St Michael’s Papers; number 2, St. Michael’s PCC

Kettle A J, Johnson D A (1970) “A History of Lichfield Cathedral”, Victoria County History of Staffordshire, Volume III

Mill AD (1991) “Dictionary of English Place Names”, Oxford University Press, p187

Morris J (1976) Staffordshire Domesday, Phillimore, Chester

Morris R (1989) “Churches in the Landscape”, pp 54-55, Phoenix Giant

North R (1997) “Heathen Gods in Old English Literature”, Cambridge Studies in Anglo-Saxon England 22, Cambridge University Press

Oakham roofs

Introduction

This post concerns roofs¹ – specifically those on the High Street of Oakham in Rutland. I find the upper floors of urban streets quite fascinating in their form and variety. When walking through towns however, one rarely looks upwards – indeed most of the time you would risk colliding with other pedestrians or walking into the road if you did. It is the shop fronts and their contents on the lower floors that command attention of course. But above them, the buildings themselves are sometimes stylish, sometimes idiosyncratic, sometimes merely odd – and usually worth a look. In what follows I show two galleries of photographs, both looking at the upper floors of buildings on the north side of Oakham High Street, taken from the pavement on the south side. The first gallery is a series of photographs from east to west (the junction with Burley Street and the Market area to the Wetherspoons pub), and the second from west to east. I am not really in a position to comment on the buildings in architectural terms, so the photos are simply presented for the reader’s interest and enjoyment.

¹ I am fairly sure that when I was at school I was told that this was spelt “rooves”, but Google informs me that this is an archaic word, no longer used in practice. I fear I am thus labelled as archaic, which is probably true.

From east to west

From west to east

All the photos were taken by me, but I am happy for them to be used by others, with a proper acknowledgement.

St. Michael’s Churchyard, Lichfield through the year

A picture blog featuring the photographs of Maureen Brand – evocative pictures of the churchyard of St Michael in Lichfield through the changing seasons.

Nore information on the church and churchyard can be found using the buttons below.

St. Michael’s church history

St. Michael’s churchyard

Ghost signs

A new interest of mine – the old, faded painted signs on buildings whose function has changed. There are just a few photos for now, and I will add more as I come across them. For those interested there is a much greater selection at this Historic England site.

And from November 2024, the sign in Mill St, Oakham has been repainted or perhaps resurrected or re-embodied?

A walk around Oakham

The walk

This is a picture blog, that simply gives pictures of a walk around Oakham. This is not a walk that takes in the traditional historical highlights, although some of those are included, but is rather one in which I show the things that have caught my eye, mainly on my wonderings about the town with the dog. So it is a little idiosyncratic, but I hope will be of interest to some. Except where otherwise indicated, the pictures were all taken by me, and I am happy for them to be used by others, properly credited of course.

The map

The map below shows the approximate locations from which the photographs (A to R) were taken, superimposed on an up to date map from Open Street Map.

The pictures

The first picture is of the listed Midland Railway bridge and level crossing (Picture A) a source of endless frustration to drivers, and, as the location of the meeting of five roads, a horribly hazardous place for pedestrians. There must be a better way of doing traffic management here. Picture B is the Midland Railway Signal Box, which was the inspiration for the Hornby Railway model. Turning along Northgate, there are three pictures of rose bushes (Pictures C to E), some cultivated, some not. but in early summer their cumulative effect is striking. Picture F is of a house a little further along Northgate, with a wonderful display of creepers and climbing foliage.

The next six photos all figure All Saints Church in one way or another. Picture G is a photo taken from Northgate on a misty evening where all that can be seen of the tower is a small floodlight area. The thatched cottages on Northgate can be seen in the foreground. Picture H shows the spire of the church from the garden of the Wheatsheaf pub opposite on a pleasant summer afternoon. Picture I (from here) shows the Green Man stone capital within the church – one of a series of wonderful capital carvings I have blogged about elsewhere. Picture J shows a possible Anglo-Saxon Saxon cross built into the south porch of the church. The identification is very speculative, but the cross is very similar to other, demonstratively, Anglo-Saxon examples. Pictures K and L shows t wo views of the Castle Great Hall, Old School and Church, from Cutts Close and the Castle grounds. I have argued elsewhere that these might be an indication of an early church group in the area. Click on the pictures to see the full extent of the photographs.

Pictures M and N show two nice examples of ghost signs from Catmose Street and Mill Street – faded, painted signs indicating a former usages. Picture O shows the Old Drill Hall on Penn Street which is impressive despite looking as if it could do with a bit of TLC. Picture P, also on Penn Street shows row of houses with a pleasing skyline. South Street Railway Bridge (Picture Q) is hardly beautiful, but very functional ,offering a way over the railway for pedestrians old and young, cyclists, mobility scooters, prams, shopping trolleys etc. For obvious reasons it is know in my household as the “slow bridge”. Finally Picture R (from here) shows the chapel of St John and St Anne – a medieval foundation serving the sheltered housing around it. It is the only place I know where the minister presiding at communion can watch, through the west window, the tops of passenger and freight trains passing within a few yards of the outer wall.#

Further posts on aspects of Oakham can be found using the button below.

Midland History Blog Posts