A brief history of St Francis’s
DURING a short conversation with Father Glaze after the funeral of my brother-in-law Bernard Dixon, I offered to find out more about the history of Saint Francis’s Church, Shelfield.
Hence this short account of the parish from 1890 to 1932.
Rector
In 1890 Father E.B. Hymers, the rector of Saint Patrick’s, Walsall, established a centre in the mining village of Shelfield. Mr Peter Aspinall, a devout Catholic, placed a club room over the Four Crosses Inn, where Holy Mass was celebrated for the first time in the autumn on 1890.
On Sunday February 15, 1891, mass was celebrated by Father James Dey, then Assistant Priest of Saint Patrick’s. During World War One, he won the Distinguished Service Order for his work in France during the conflict.
He was later appointed Bishop of Sebastopolis and Ordinatory to His Majesty’s Forces as Episcopus Castrensis. From 1929 to 1935 he was Rector of Oscott College.
Around 1891, there is no exact date, Mr Aspinall gave a plot of land on the corner of Mill Road and Broad Lane for the erection of a school chapel. The chapel was designed by S Loxam of Walsall and Cannock, and was opened in April 1893. A small presbytery was built in 1894 and served as the school house.
In 1896, a chancel and infants’ classroom was added to the school chapel.
Difficulties
His Lordship, Bishop Ilsley, appointed Father W Doran as the first Rector of Shelfield.
However he did not remain long and was succeeded by Father M Power. In 1913 Father J.R. Hand took charge and stayed for two years until 1915, when Father M Cahill was appointed, and he remained until 1923, when Father F Hughes took charge, working under great financial difficulties until the advent of the Franciscan Fathers.
In 1924, at the invitation of Archbishop Mcintyre, the Very Rev Father Anselm, OFM Provincial, undertook on behalf of the Franciscan Fathers the spiritual care of the Parish of Shelfield.
The parish at that time was eight miles by four and embraced the villages of Aldridge, Pelsall, Rushall and Walsall Wood, the catholic population of the area being 425.
Improvements
In 1924, April 22, Father George Payne was appointed as the area Praeses (Superior). However, failing health forced Father George to give up his post.
On August 30 in the Franciscan Chapter, Father Cyril Connor was appointed Rector. Father Cyril made several improvements to the existing buildings and also started the nucleus of a church building fund.
In September 1927 Father Albert Mcghee succeeded Father Cyril and esablished a branch of the Third Order of Saint Francis.
In 1930 Father Basil Hodges became Rector of Shelfield. A scheme was inaugurated to raise funds for the erection of a church, £402 was raised and Father Basil obtained permission to build a temporary church and later a permanent one.
Father Basil, helped by Father Stephen Grant, his confrere, was able to build the temporary church. It would also serve as a Parochial Hall.
The church, 80 feet in length and 26 feet wide, has a sanctuary, a side chapel, two sacristies, two confessionals and an organ gallery. At the time of building, the church was described as modern with ‘Romanesque feeling’.
As the site of the church was not far from Aldridge brick works, local bricks were used. Built with a steel frame on a concrete foundation, the walls were made on the cavity system to ensure dryness and an equal temperature.
The plinth is built of dark rustic bricks, and above this, thin sand-textured multi-colours have been used, with a frieze of hand-made Cotswold grey bricks in variegated shades. The whole is relieved with arches and bands of red cherry.
Leaded windows
The roof is pantiled and lined with felt. Internally, the wall surfaces are finished in a white gypsum plaster, the windows filled with leaded glass. All the woodwork inside is of British Columbian pine, except the floor which is of Canadian rock maple.
The facade is embellished by a stone statue of Saint Francis, and by two circular plaques, also carved in stone and decorated in gold and colours, bearing the Papal Arms of the Franciscan Order.
The total cost at the time, including a high altar and all the fittings, was £2,600, of which £2,240 had already been collected.
Change
On August 9, 1932, agreement from the Archbishop for the name of the Church to be changed from Saints Peter and Paul to Saint Francis.
The Church of Saint Francis was opened on October 4, 1932, in the presence of the Most Rev Thomas Leighton Williams, MA, Archbishop of Birmingham, and the Very Rev Provost E.B. Hymers. Also present were the Rev Dr Upton and the Rev Dean Yeo.
Father Yeo, parish priest from St Mary’s the Mount, Walsall, later became Canon and later Monsignor. The church was opened, aptly, on the feast of St Francis.
The gift of £3,000 by the late Mr Richard Holden, KSG, enabled the Franciscan Fathers to purchase the land were the church was built, and some money was put into the church building fund.
Michael Doyle, 26 Bernard Street, Walsall