 St John's Church, Kates Hill, Surveys and Listing | sitemap | log in
|
 |
||||||||||||
| This is a free Spanglefish 1 website. | ||||||||||||
LISTING APP PAGE 6
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION
The panoramic views of the landscape from
The churchyard covers approximately 2.541 acres and is a haven for plants, birds and wildlife in an urban area. The churchyard contains a number of graves of: i) local historical interest ii) architectural interest iii) national commemorative interest
shot and killed in 1855 in the nearby Sailor’s Return Inn. The story of her murder is recorded in “Murder and Mystery in the Black Country” by Harold Parsons. The stone is believed to be the only one in the name of the murderer (Joseph Meadows). He was the last but one person to be hung at Worcester Jail.
ii) (To the right) An example of a rounded body stone, with head and foot stone. The grave is said to be that of a local soldier killed during the Crimean War. The headstone is inscribed simply J. P. 1858.
(Above) Examples of chest or box tombs. The top left photo is the resting place of the first vicar of the parish, Rev. Edward Henry Lane Noott. iii) The churchyard is also the last resting place of several soldiers killed in action. Their graves are recorded by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Their graves are distinguishable by the Commission’s standard war pattern headstone.
iv) The churchyard also contains a number of examples of white (and black) glazed brick graves. We have established that these are not unique to St John’s but they are certainly not common in other graveyards. They were, apparently, an attempt by poorer people to create a better memorial for their loved ones.
v) St John’s is also blessed that a number of graves have retained their cast iron surrounds.
LECTURE CIRCUIT
At a recent presentation (Subject – Black Country Graveyards, Ian Bott) St John’s Church was mentioned twice – Mary Ann Mason and William Perry. The speaker also referred to a grave, at another location, concerning a grave stating ‘Officer of Excise’. Our researcher James Ruston was able to say that St John’s also has a similar grave (shown).
COMMENT As can be seen from several of the photographs much of St John’s grounds are under bramble, and even worse, a serious untreated infestation of Japanese Knotweed. We are sure that many more stories are waiting to be discovered. Indeed there are already stories we have not been able to fully explore. Here is an example:
He and his family owned the famous Hillman leather fancy good factory in Trindle Road, Dudley, suppliers to Harrods of London. An anecdote is that the Hillmans were so rich that people would cross the road to leave the pavement clear for them, out of respect. The factory was destroyed by fire. There are people still alive who worked in the Hillman factory. There is also a publication called ‘Street Names of Dudley’. A contributor to this publication was F. Baugh, who is also the author of the Story of St John The Evangelist, referred to in great detail in our research. Dudley had a policy of naming streets after local business people and dignitaries. Many of the streets and roads so named are in St John’s parish area. Examples include Adshead Road (Alderman, Industrialist, Mayor), Cook Avenue (Alderman, Mayor), Ernest Road (son of Mayor Lloyd, died 1914-18 war). A large piece of research to be carried out is to discover how many of these local personalities are buried at St John’s, or had connections to St John’s and to explore their individual stories in more detail. Bean Road, a short distance away from St John’s, is named after Sir George Bean ‘Bean Cars’ a famous automotive manufacturer. Bean Cars enjoyed Royal Patronage – both the Duke of York and Prince Henry owned one in the 1920’s.The cars were produced in Dudley, a short distance from St John’s church. A Bean Car completed the first England to Australia journey – 6,200 miles, in 1924. There is a collection of Bean cars at Bredgar and Warmshill Light Railway, in Kent. We have today been informed of another war hero buried at St John’s – Sgt George Thomason MM, late of the Grenadier Guards, an ‘Old Contemptible’ and WW1 veteran. His great nephew has been in touch, from Leicestershire. In order to submit this listing application we have had to ‘draw a line’ as clearly there is so much more to be discovered that our research will continue for many years. No doubt we will continue to unearth facts that we will wish we had been able to include in this application. Deb Brownlee Michelle Smart 13th August 2008 List of References and Resources Blocksidge’s Almanac for Dudley 1898 – 1901 Blocksidge’s Almanac for Curiosities of Dudley and The Black Country, C.F.G. Clark (Birmingham 1881) Dudley: Illustrated by Photographs 1868 Dudley Herald Dudley Parish Order Book 1821-1856 A.J. Ware Kelly’s Directory 1895 Kelly’s Directory of Worcestershire 1932 Kingswinford Public Library London Museum Percy Shakespeare, Robin Shaw St John’s Church Parish Magazines, 175 and 175, 1920 The Blackcountryman – Magazine of the Black Country Society The Charles Hayward Trust The Story of St John The Evangelist, F. Baugh The Stourbridge Scene 1851- 1951, H.J. Haden The Story of the Parish Church of St. John the Evangelist, Kate’s Hill, Dudley – by F. Victoria and Albert Museum www.blackcountryhistory.org www.imdb.com www.uk.geocities.com Other Books containing references to St. John’s Church and William Bourne Dudley Parish Order Book, 1821-1856, by A. J. Ware. William Bourne mentioned on pages 9, 104, 140, 141, 144 and 145. St John’s Church is referred to on page 63 as a ‘comparitively new suburban church” “The Caring Community, Kates Hill 50 Years Ago”,page 25 John Stenson 1994 “Black Country Memories” Pages 3 and 14 Carl Chinn 2004 “A Memorable Medley of Great Black Country Characters” Page 157 Aristotle Trump 1986 “Dudley: Illustrated by Photographs” W.H.Laxton 1868 “Curiosities of Dudley and the Black Country” C.F.G. Clark 1881 Pages 92, 121, 154, 160,193 Pages 114, 129, 155 and 304 relate to William Bourne The History of the Black Country Cornish Brothers Ltd, Birmingham, circa 1950 Pages 24 and 27 William Bourne (Rowley Regis second church) “Portrait of the Black Country” H. Parsons 1986 Page 49 “The’ was onny one an’ the’ wo’ be another: Memories of Kates Hill and Cawney Bank” D. Reeves 1990 Unpaged, references to St John’s “The Buildings of England – Staffordshire” Nikolaus Pevsner “The Black Country Bugle” Weekly newspaper – various issues “The Blackcountryman” A quarterly magazine published by The Black Country Society – various editions
|    |
|||||||||||
 | ||||||||||||
