Highley Forum articles on religious history

This page contains a series of articles about religious history in Highley and the surrounding district. Subjects range from a chantry chapel in Chelmarsh to a 20th Century vicar of Highley.

The Chapel of Our Lady, Chelmarsh

In the Middle Ages, it was common for many churches to have a chantry chapel. This was an altar, usually placed in a side-aisle, where a priest would regularly say mass and pray for the soul of the person who had established the altar. Sometimes the chapels were very large and ornate structures and occasionally they were larger than the chancel and the altar used by the normal congregation. At other times they were put into small alcoves in a part of the existing church. In addition to building the chapel, the founder would also need to leave an endowment that would pay for the priest who served the chapel. This was often done by arranging for the rent from a piece of land to be used to pay the stipend of the priest. A cheaper version of the procedure was to pay for candles that were to burn in front of an existing altar or religious image. As each candle was lit, the person who paid for it would be briefly remembered in prayer. Both procedures were rooted in the idea that after a person’s death, it was possible to pray for their soul so that they would receive more favourable treatment. This theology was an anathema to the Protestant reformers who swept away allegiance to the Roman Catholic Church in the reign of Henry VIII and chantry chapels and the lighting of candles were both suppressed. However, many people were comfortable with the old rites, which made a come-back in the reign of Henry’s daughter Mary. With the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the pendulum swung in favour of Protestantism with another round of suppression of “superstitious practices”.

In the Public Record Office in London, there is a record showing the “superstitious practices” were causing the authorities concern in Chelmarsh in 1577, in the 20th year of Queen Elizabeth’s reign. A commission was appointed to enquire into whether land at Farnold’s Moor, on the boundaries of Chelmarsh and Glazeley, were used to pay for a candle to be set before an image in Chelmarsh Church and for a priest to serve in “Our Lady’s Chapel”, to say mass on St Valentines Day. The enquiry appeared to find only one person prepared to testify. This was Thomas Westwood of Eardington, gent. He knew nothing about the candle, but claimed that three priests, William Overton, Edward Collyns and Thomas Lowe, were employed to sing masses for all “dystressed” souls. The land had been given by Joyce Blount, who was now dead.

It is not obvious from Westwood’s evidence whether the Chantry was still in operation or whether it had ceased to operate some years ago. I suspect that the results of the enquiry were something of a disappointment to those who had been hoping to uncover a hot-bed of Roman Catholicism. Doubtless if the Chantry was still in operation it would have been quickly suppressed and the lands confiscated. Many enquiries of this nature were motivated by the desire of the Crown to acquire estates that should have past to them 50 years before with the Dissolution of the Monasteries and the break with Rome.

The case does raise some interesting questions. Who was Joyce Blount who allegedly gave the endowment? The Blount family were important gentry, with branches of the family based in Kinlet and near Cleobury Mortimer; they remained Roman Catholics after the reformation. It seems likely that Joyce was a member of this family. However, I have not yet identified her. It is interesting that the priests appear to have not restricted their supplications just to Joyce. It may be possible to learn more about the priests named by Westwood. The location of the Lady Chapel is also a mystery. It was probably part of Chelmarsh church. This does have an aisle on its east side which may have accommodated the chapel; however there is now no obvious trace.

John Oseland and Giles Rawlins, vicars of Highley

A list of past incumbents is found at the back of Highley church. Whilst there are some obvious gaps (and probably a few errors) in the Middle Ages, from the 16th Century the record is probably accurate. Many of these individuals are just names, but for some it is possible to see a little more of their character.

The Sixteenth Century was an “interesting” time to be in Holy Orders. The allegiances of the church swung from Roman Catholic to Protestant under Henry VIII and his son Edward, then back to Rome under Queen Mary before finally swing back to the Protestant cause under Queen Elizabeth. There is little sign that the priests in Highley were unduly troubled by these dramas. For much of the time Thomas Oseland was vicar. He was a local man, probably born in the village and his ancestors had lived here and in Kinlet for several generations. His very longevity as vicar marks him down as a survivor. However, he also seems to have been held in respect and affection by at least some of his parishoners. One of these refers to him in his will as “Sir Oseland, my ghostly [ie spiritual] father”. It is possible to envisage him as a man primarily concerned with the care of his own people, content to let the church hierarchy argue over doctrine whilst he occupied himself with the practicalities of Christian living. We have one tangible link with Oseland. As part of the reforms introduced in the Elizabethan Church it was ordered that a book setting out the doctrinal foundations of the Anglican Church and written by Bishop Jewell, should be placed in all churches. Highley still retains its copy of Jewell’s “Apologia”.

Oselands successor was obviously a more high-profile priest, for he became dean of Stottesdon, having responsibility over all the neighbouring parishes. In religious terms, the start of the 17th Century was fairly peaceful but serious tensions were building. These erupted in the Civil War in the middle of the century, a conflict that was as much about religious beliefs as political ones. The vicar of Highley at this time was Giles Rawlins. Like his predecessor Oseland a century before, Rawlins survived great turmoils but there the similarities end. Rawlins appears not to have been a man to adopt a low-profile. Following the triumph of the Parliamentarians, they set about replacing the Church of England with a Presbyterian system without bishops. Rawlins refused to accept the new ways and was thrown out of his living. We do not know where he went during this period, but with the restoration of the monarchy in 1660 his fortunes changed for the better. The clergy who had been ejected during the previous regime were restored to their livings. Thus Giles returned. It is possible he met with a less than enthusiastic response from his parishoners. For the next 10 or so years he was engaged in a running battle with most of them in the courts over payments of tithes. The details of these cases provide a fascinating insight into the village at the time; Rawlins does not emerge particularly well. During his absence, the pastor had been a Robert Durant. Durant was a popular man, probably because he lacked Rawlins’s apparent stubbornness. The tithe dispute finally petered out in the 1670s. Rawlins himself may have mellowed; at any rate in his will in 1678 he left a legacy for the poor of the parish. At least in death he seemed finally to be reconciled with his flock.

Jacobites in Cleobury, Highley and Kinlet

By 1700, England had past the stage of revolutions and was beginning the slow transformation to parliamentary democracy. It was however far from a smooth process and there were to be times when the due processes of law and the constitution seemed to be about to break down. The country was divided on lines that were partly political and partly religious and which could be traced back to the time of Charles I and Oliver Cromwell. On the one hand were the Tories. These typically represented the country gentry and landowners. These were “high” church; they placed great value on the sacraments such as Holy Communion as well as on the role of priests. They strongly supported the structure of the Church of England with a role for bishops. On the other hand were the “Whigs”, who usually represented non-landed interests. These were either “low” church or non-conformists; they placed particularly emphasis on reading the Bible and preaching and they had little time for the distinction between priests and ordinary people. The non-conformists rejected a role for bishops. There was little love lost between either side; the Tories suspected the Whigs of trying to destroy the Church of England and replace it with non-conformity; the Whigs suspected the Tories of being closet Roman Catholics. In 1688, King James II, a Roman Catholic was driven from the throne but there were those who preferred him and his heirs to what replaced him. These were the Jacobites and in the early 18th Century they placed their hopes on James Stuart, known to history as the “Old Pretender”. Whilst Jacobites are often thought of as being Scottish, there were many south of the border who also sympathised with the cause.

There is a tradition that the Donkey Bridge, between Highley and Kinlet was built in honour of a Dr Henry Sacheverell, who passed through Kinlet in 1710. Sacheverell was a Tory and probably sympathetic to the Jacobite cause. He had preached against non-conformists, particularly Presbyterians. It seems likely that many around Highley and Kinlet shared his views. In Cleobury, Sir Walter Blount of Mawley Hall was openly Roman Catholic. In Kinlet, William Lacon Childe was nominally Anglican; however his ancestors had also been openly Catholic and he was widely regarded as having Jacobite sympathies. It would have been no surprise when he entertained Sacheverell and built the Donkey Bridge. Richard Creswell, MP for Bridgnorth and a prominent landowner in Highley also made no secret of his support for James Stuart.

Following Sacheverell’s procession through Kinlet, matters appeared to calm down for a few years. However, following the death of Queen Ann, the last of the Stuarts, the throne passed to George I, a prince of Hanover in what is now Germany. This was not universally popular and the most extreme Jacobites began to plot to put James Stuart on the throne. As part of this, they seized on the support for Henry Sacheverell and in June and July 1715 encouraged the “Meeting House” riots. Throughout these months, mobs were inflamed by repeating Sacheverell’s claims against the Presbyterians and encouraged to attack their chapels. There were riots in both Cleobury Mortimer and Bridgnorth; reflecting the local esteem with which Sacheverell was held. Almost as quickly as they started, the riots ceased, fuelling suspicion that they were being orchestrated by local squires. The idea was probably to distract the government; sure enough, later in the year James Edward arrived in Scotland and raised his standard. Unfortunately for Jacobites north and south of the border, it was a very brief unfurling; a single charge by government troops sent James fleeing back abroad and destroyed the rebellion. In England, most would-be Jacobites quickly changed allegience. Whilst there is some evidence that in Cleobury 30 years later a few privately hoped that James’s son, “Bonnie Prince Charlie”, Charles Stuart, would prevail, most of the locality probably had not time for him. The Jacobite cause had been lost with his father.

Highley Methodist Chapel

Sunday 27th February 2005 marked the final service in the Methodist Chapel in the village centre. It is perhaps a good time to review the history of the chapel.

The history of Methodism is confusing as, in the 19th Century, it split into various factions; schisms that were not finally healed until well in the 20th Century. The first Methodists in Highley were based in Fir Tree Cottages, originally built as a chapel in 1816. However, these were Wesleyan Methodists, a cause which was not to flourish in Highley. The first Primitive Methodist meetings were held in the 1850s in one of the cottages at New England. The Primitives fared better than their Wesleyan counterparts as many of the miners who arrived in Highley from the late 1870s were sympathetic to the Primitive tradition and regular meetings were started in No 8, Silverdale Terrace. As the society grew, it was obvious a permanent home would be needed for it and land was purchased from the “Squire” of Highley, John Bradley Beddard for £10. On this a corrugated iron chapel was built and opened on Sunday March 29th, 1893 by a J.S. Brinson of Reading. Corrugated iron mission rooms, churches and chapels were very much in vogue at the time, as cheap and quick ways of providing places of worship for all the main denominations.

As Highley grew, so did the aspirations of the Primitives. Under the circuit system, a full-time minister was not present in the village until 1913, when the Rev Albert Cole arrived. This provided the impetus for the construction of the present chapel. It was built on the same patch of land as the “tin chapel”; the latter was simply slid to the back of the site to make room for the new building. The first stone was laid on July 30th 1913 by Mrs Beddard; a bottle containing a programme of the proceedings was buried at the same time. The chapel was built by Sam Mason, a local builder who had just finished Clee View. Work was just about to start on Garden Village, designed by William Rees-Hughes of Cardiff, author of a book on chapel design. However, the Highley Methodists went elsewhere and commissioned their design from Henry Harper of Nottingham. The building was formally opened on 28th January 1914 by a Miss Gladys Gilley of Oldbrough. It seems that the ceremony was attended by visitors from a wide area of the West Midlands; proceedings were no doubt enlivened by the news that the bus transporting some of them got itself stuck on Borle Mill bank. The chapel cost around £1500; this was not fully paid off for many years.

In 1924 a roll of honour commemorating all those in the village who served in the Great War was unveiled in the porch. A new organ was added to the chapel in 1934 following efforts by the Rev Chapman. This cost £325 and was started by a donation of 100 guineas by the Highley Mining Company in 1931.

The chapel as built has seating for 260. Certainly between the wars, Methodism was a force to be reckoned with in Highley. After the War, the annual Miners’ Sunday services always brought packed congregations. However, I suspect that outside of special events, it must often have been difficult to fill the building. In recent times the upkeep of the chapel has been a cause for concern and it was perhaps inevitable that eventually the society would want to move into premises better suited to their needs. Services are now being held in the parish hall. The building itself will remain; current plans are to refurbish it and turn it into housing.

Rev Shields

Highley has had a number of long-serving vicars, but in the 20th Century the record is held by the Rev Shields, who served for over 30 years in the first part of the century. His incumbancy covered a period of considerable change.

Albert Edward Almond Shields was born in South Wales in 1877. His father was a schoolmaster at Bedwellty in the South Wales Coalfield and Albert worked with him until he was in his late 20s. However, it appears he felt called in another direction; he went to Durham University and became ordained in 1908. He spent his first few years as a priest in the London area before moving to Leamington Spa in 1912. In that year he also married Agatha Grey. In 1913 he was appointed rector of Ironbridge. At this time the vicar of Highley was the Rev Bentley. He died in September 1915 and the living of Highley was accepted by the Rev Robert Gillenders, formerly of Jackfield but then an army chaplain in France. However, Gillenders must have had second thoughts because within a few weeks he had declined the position; possibly he felt his place was amongst the troops at the front. Consequently the living was offered to Shields and he was inducted in January 1916.

As a very public second choice for the job, Shields was not given the easiest introduction to the post. None-the-less, he was a man of energy and ability who soon made his mark. Less than four months after his induction he was appointed chairman of the Parish Council and he also became a School Manager. Throughout his long spell at Highley he retained a special interest in the school. He also set about breathing new life into the church, in May restarting the Men’s Bible Class. In July he joined the Working Men’s Club and the village “squire”, Oakley Beddard declared that he had “become the most popular man in Highley”. At the church Sunday School annual treat, around 250 children were entertained. Whilst Shields may have inherited a flourishing Sunday School, events were to show that he was able to maintain its numbers. In September the First World War equivalent of the Home Guard was established; Shields joined this. He was quoted in a local newspaper;
“I’ve often preached about the devil and people have asked me who he is. Well we have one devil at least in the Kaiser”.

After the war, Shields remained active in public life, on the parish council and other village committees. His monthly column in the Bridgnorth Deanery Magazine gives an insight into how he managed the church. In the early 1920s he spent a lot of effort on children’s work, not only with the Sunday School (which remained well attended) but also a Boy’s Club. The church supported a number of missionary or outreach societies; the Church Missionary Society, the Church Pastoral Aid Society and the Zenana Missionary Society. There were two regular services each Sunday, with special services at times such as Easter, Whit, Christmas and Harvest. The latter were marked by the choir singing one or more anthems. Shields had High Church leanings, although he was far from being an Anglo-Catholic. His magazine column regularly exhorted his parishoners to attend services regularly. There is less evidence for any outreach to the majority of the village who never went near the church. None-the-less, Shields managed to build up adult church membership from under 150 in about 1920 to over 200 in 1923 and he maintained this throughout the interwar years. At least amongst his regular parishoners, he appears to have been approachable; one (non-church goer) recalled how he was the subject of good-natured banter when he was late for a Buff’s parade; “Come on Ted, get a move on”. His wife Agatha is also remembered with considerable affection.

By the end of the War, Shields was an old man. Agatha died suddenly during an evensong in 1949 and Shields retired to Cheltenham shortly after. He dies in 1953 and was buried with Agatha at Highley. His successors were of a different churchmanship and had to contend with very different problems. None-the-less, his efforts saw Highley church enter the second half of the 20th Century in better shape than many.

Highley Church Ceiling

It is surprising how few people look up when they go into a building. This is something of a shame, as the ceiling can be the most interesting part of a room. Highley Church has a particularly fine wooden ceiling in the nave (the main part of the church). Of course, many peoples’ eyes probably have wandered up there during the course of a service, perhaps when the preacher has been a little too assiduous in developing a point in the sermon.. However, there is a problem, besides that of a reproachful glare from the occupant of the pulpit. The lighting in the church makes it very difficult to make out any detail on the ceiling; there clearly are carved panels, but it is hard to work out what they represent.

I did not realise just how interesting the ceiling was until the Rev Clive Williams showed me some photos he had taken of it, a few years back ). It was then that I discovered for the bearded gentleman who had gazed down on congregations for around 500 years (see figure). In fact he is one of a pair; they are either side of a panel in the middle of the roof. Grotesque figures are common in churches. By the time he was carved for Highley Church, he may have been no more than a piece of decoration. The symbolism of some of the other carvings is easier to work out. Perched at the far end of the roof, appropriately now by the organ, is an angel, singing from a book. This is the only carving to be damaged; during the reformation somebody has cut away the face. The other carvings were too hard to reach. A very common design is that of a rose. This is probably a political statement; the roof was put up when the Tudors were on the throne and the rose was a royal symbol. Some of the other carvings are harder to interpret. There is a bird, apparently eating a fish. Another shows an heraldic lion. Many of the carvings seem to have no symbolism at all, consisting of intertwined leaves and branches.

The carvings also give clues as to who built the roof. One pair of plaques have a set of initials; IH, IO on the one side, TL, WL, IP on the other. Almost the only person connected with Highley with the initials IO was John Oseland, who rented the manor house and farm in the time of Henry VIII. This allows us to identify the other individuals; his contemporaries included John Holloway, Thomas and William Lowe and John Pountney (or perhaps John Palmer). These were all alive around 1530. Other plaques are marked with initials that are harder to account for; there are no villagers known with the initials that occur. It may be that the ceiling was originally intended for another building and later moved to Highley by Oseland and associates..