Haunton Church has links with Pugin, Oxford Movement and Staffordshire missions

The Church of Saint Michael and Saint James in Haunton … part of Staffordshire’s Catholic history (Photograph: Parish Facebook page)

Patrick Comerford

When I was researching the story of Haselour Hall at Harlaston, I came across the story of the small and unique Catholic community in nearby Haunton, where the church has close links with the de Trafford family of Haselour Hall and the Mostyn family who were descended from the Comberfords of Comberford Hall, and with AWN Pugin, the architect of the Gothic revival in 19th century England.

The Church of Saint Michael and Saint James in Haunton reflects not just Haunton’s but also Staffordshire’s Catholic history. The church has its roots in the three great strands of the Catholic revival in the 19th century: the Oxford Movement, the Gothic revival associated with Pugin, and the new freedoms that enabled old Recusant or Catholic families to fund building churches and schools.

Haunton, a village in southeast Staffordshire, lies on the River Mease, about 11 km north of Tamworth, 15 km east of Lichfield, 10 km north-east of Comberford, and half-way between the neighbouring villages of Harlaston and Clifton Campville. The local authority is Lichfield District Council

The name of Haunton is believed to be Old English, meaning Hagena’s or Hagona’s farm. The chapel of Saint James the Greater at Haunton is mentioned in Domesday, and the chapel at Haunton was part of the parish of Saint Andrew, Clifton Campville, until the Reformation, when the chapel fell into disrepair.

Haunton has a number of listed buildings, including the Grange, the Church of Saint Michael and Saint James and the nursing home, formerly Haunton Hall. The more recent history of Haunton Hall is closely linked with the Church of Saint Michael and Saint James and a community of French nuns.

A Catholic mission was started in Haunton in 1845 by Colonel Charles Edward Mousley (1819-1887), who had inherited Haunton Hall, built in the 1820s. Colonel Mousley also inherited his Catholicism from his Spanish mother and through his father’s links to Staffordshire’s Catholic past.

The Mousley family commissioned AWN Pugin in 1845 to design a chapel at the Hall dedicated to Saint Mary. Soon it too small for a growing Catholic population and there was talk of building a new church on land opposite the hall. The chapel was blessed by Bishop Nicholas Wiseman (1802-1865), later Cardinal Wiseman and Archbishop of Westminster; like Colonel Mousley, Cardinal Wiseman was also born in Spain.

At first, the chapel at Haunton Hall was used mainly by the Mousley family, and Mass was celebrated there seven times a year by the parish priest of Tamworth, who reported in 1852 that there was a congregation of about 10.

In the decade that followed, the influence of the Oxford Movement came to Haunton through the Revd Henry John Pye, Rector of St Andrew’s, Clifton Campville, and the son of the Lord of the Manor of Clifton Campville. Pye was educated at Cambridge and in 1851 he married Emily, daughter of Samuel Wilberforce (1805-1873), Bishop of Winchester and previously Bishop of Oxford and Dean of Westminster. Emily was a granddaughter of William Wilberforce, the anti-slavery campaigner.

After a long and complex spiritual journey, Henry and Emily Pye decided to become Roman Catholics in 1868. It was a difficult decision, Pye had to resign as rector, and for a time he was cut off from his family at Clifton Hall and from his inheritance.

Henry became a barrister and a magistrate and in time was reconciled with his family. By 1880, Henry and Emily had returned to Haunton and they decided to build a new Catholic church to replace Pugin’s chapel. They donated a site but needed more money to realise their dream.

Meanwhile, Augustus de Trafford had moved into to Haselour Hall, about 5 km from Haunton, in 1885. He was a son of a baronet and a member of an old Lancashire Catholic family. Around the same time, the recently widowed Lady (Frances) Mostyn (1826-1899) moved into Haunton Hall as a tenant. The Mostyns are descendants of the Comberford family of Comberford Hall; her husband was Sir Pyers Mostyn (1811-1882), and her son, Francis Mostyn (1860-1939), later became Archbishop of Cardiff (1921-1939).

Together, the Mousley, Pye, de Trafford and Mostyn families found the finances to build a new church on Pye’s land opposite Haunton Hall in 1885. The new church, dedicated to Saint Michael, was extended, using masonry from the ruins of the Chapel of Saint James, and was rededicated to Saint Michael and Saint James. Pye also built a presbytery and gave the whole site to the diocese.

The first burial at the new church was of Colonel Mousley, the effective founder of the mission, who died in 1887.

The church was replaced in 1902 by a new church designed by Edmund Kirby of Liverpool, a pupil of Pugin’s oldest son, Edward Pugin, and was built by Isaac Ward & Son, contractors of Uttoxeter.

Archbishop Edward Ilsley of Birmingham laid the foundation stone of the new nave on 23 May 1901. The church was built of red and white Hollington sandstone with Broseley tile roofs. At the opening on 22 May 1902, Lady Mostyn’s son, Archbishop Mostyn, presided at a Pontifical High Mass and Archbishop Isley preached.

The church was financed with little debt and was consecrated on 20 June 1907, when a new high altar and organ were introduced. The altar was presumably designed by Kirby. The Tablet said ‘the columns are of pavanazzo marble and the super-altars are also of rich marble. The tabernacle is of pure white alabaster, beautifully carved with angels and the emblems of wheat and the vine.’

The original altar in Pugin’s chapel was taken to the Church of Saint John the Baptist in Tamworth ca 1907, but has since been lost but for one panel.

Kirby’s church is a handsome and substantial stone building in the Early English style, with a small timber bell tower. The architectural historian, Sir Niklaus Pevsner, in his guide to Staffordsbire, notes that it looks ‘entirely like’ a Church of England church.

The church is built in red and white Hollington sandstone with a timber bellcote at the west end. It has a distinctive heavy scissor-trussed roof, and the interior fittings are of high quality. It retains the late 19th century chancel and incorporates mediaeval masonry and contains.

The font is in a late 12th century Romanesque style, but its provenance is uncertain. It may have been found next to the River Mease, but another source says it was imported from Treviso. Whatever its origin, it was probably not designed as a font as it displays no obvious Christian symbols.

The 20th century oak pulpit and communion rails are said to have been carved by a nun, although The Tablet reported in 1906 that a pulpit then newly installed was made by Burns & Oates. The proposed west end gallery was never built.

The collection of early 20th century glass in the nave and chancel is mainly by Hardman and Co of Handsworth. They are influenced by Pugin and have strong gothic characteristics. Hardman’s east window is a memorial to Lady Mostyn. Hardman’s nave windows are mostly memorials to members of the Trafford, Pye and Mousley families. The most recent Hardman window in the chancel commemorates Oswald de Trafford who died in 1942.

The Lady Chapel is a later addition. The chapel’s side windows by Alexander Gascoygne were commissioned in 1925 by the Donisthorpe family of Enderby Hall, Leicestershire. Their appearance is almost pre-Raphaelite in style when compared with the Hardman windows.

‘Considerable repairs’ were carried out in 1958 and the church was redecorated in 2002, when a new floor was laid, and new heating and lighting were installed.

The church stands in a large burial ground with mature planting, a presbytery (1905) and the former school. Together with the other buildings and burial ground, the church makes a notable contribution to the local conservation area.

After the church was completed, a community of French nuns, the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Bordeaux, set up a convent in Haunton Hall in 1904. This later became Saint Joseph Convent School for Girls. The school closed in 1987 and is now a community hall. The nuns moved to a new convent, and Haunton Hall became a nursing home. The nuns moved to a house near Clifton Campville in 2010.

Today, Saint Michael and Saint James is a small parish and the Parish Priest, Father Eamonn Corduff, is based at Barton under Needwood. The parish is active and has strong ecumenical links with its Anglican neighbours at Saint Andrew’s Church in Clifton Campville.

Inside Haunton Church (Photograph: Haunton Parish website

Haselour Hall, the ‘most charming half-timbered house,’ for sale at £3m

Haselour Hall has was once described as ‘the most charming half-timbered house’ in Britain

Patrick Comerford

Sometimes, when I allow myself flights of fantasy, I dream of being able to buy back Comberford Hall or the Moat House on Lichfield Street in Tamworth. But these two former family homes in south-east Staffordshire have always been outside my reach, even in my wildest dreams, and I plant my feet firmly on the ground again within minutes.

Of course, the costs of maintenance and heating alone should be prohibitive for anyone who even begins to think of houses such as these. But I like to dream, and continue to be interested in the architecture, history and families of houses such as these.

In recent day, I have been writing about some houses like these, including Wall House, in Wall, south of Lichfield, and Pipe Hill House, just west of Lichfield.

Haselour Hall, a Tudor manor house just outside Harlaston in south-east Staffordshire, is on the market with an asking price of £2,995,000. It has been described on one site as the most expensive property in ‘B79,’ and is within the boundaries of Lichfield District Council, 4.6 km from Comberford, 5.5 km from Comberford Hall, 8.3 km north of Tamworth, and 12 km east of Lichfield.

Haselour Hall has was once described as ‘the most charming half-timbered house’ in Britain. The architectural historian, Sir Nikolaus Pevsner in his guide to Staffordshire was delighted with its ‘gorgeous black and white front of five gables.’

This is the house where the future Henry VII is said to have spent the night before his decisive victory at the Battle of Bosworth Field, and there are links too with the Comberford family of Comberford Hall, distant though they may be.

However, the history of this house goes back centuries before the War of the Roses. The name Haselour is of Saxon origin, derived from ‘hazelnut’ because of the large number of hazelnut trees on and around the land.

The house was once surrounded by a double moat, dating back to Norman times, and traces of it can still be identified. A house probably stood on the site of Haselour Hall when the Selvein family held the manor in the 12th century.

Gradually, the Ardernes of Elford became the dominant family at Haselour, ousting the Timmon family who had held the manor. Under them, the two manors of Haselour and Elford were united and remained so for many generations. Sir Thomas Arderne, who died in 1391, won glory in the French wars. It was he or his father who led men from Haselour and Elford men at the Battles of Crecy and Poitiers.

The Arderne heiress married Sir Thomas Stanley in the early 15th century, bringing Haselour into the Stanley family.

Haselour Hall played a role in the War of the Roses on the night before the Battle of Bosworth Field

While the Stanley family were living at Haselour, the house played a role in the War of the Roses. Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond and later Henry VII, is said to have spent a night at Haselour Hall, after slipping away from his march from Lichfield to the Battle of Bosworth Field with a small band of his guards in 1485 before his decisive victory in 1485.

The hall was then home to Henry VII’s mother, Lady Margaret Beaufort, who had married the powerful Thomas Stanley, 1st Earl of Derby, in 1472 after the death of her third husband, Sir Henry Stafford. She founded both Christ’s College and Saint John’s College in Cambridge, and has given her name to Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford.

While he was visiting his mother, Henry entreated Stanley, his step-father, to join him in battle against Richard III. Stanley, however, refused to choose sides, opting instead to remain neutral for a while longer before making clear their allegiance. This neutrality was so important to the Stanleys, that when Richard kidnapped one of Stanley’s sons to force him to join his ranks, Stanley replied laconically: ‘I have other sons.’

The Battle of Bosworth Field was the last significant battle in the War of the Roses. On the day of the battle, it is said that Stanley watched it unfold from afar, and when Henry defeated Richard III, Stanley rode down the hill from which he was watching, took the defeated king’s crown from his head and used it to crown Henry VII, only then pledgng his allegiance to the new king.

Much of the building is unmistakably Tudor, and the present house may have been built by the Stanleys. The black and white half-timber work of the South front gives Haselour Hall its characteristic Tudor appearance. Many original tiles are still on the roof and are said to date from 1550.

A tunnel reputedly lead across the fields from Haselour Hall to the Manor House in the centre of the village of Harlaston.

John Stanley died in 1508, leaving no male heir, and for many generations the manor of Haselour passed through female lines of inheritance. Eventually, it descended from the Huddlestones to the Brookes, when Lucy Huddlestone, the co-heiress, married John Brooke in 1557. Her sister, the other heiress, married Sir John Bowes, taking as her share of the inheritance the manor of Elford. So, the two manors were separated once again.

Haselour Hall was heavily restored by Augustus Henry de Trafford who came to live there in 1885

The Brookes, who held Haselour for over 200 years, were there at the time of the Civil War. It may have been due to impoverishment that they sold Haselour to Samuel Dilke in 1672, so bringing to an end the lineal descent from the Arderne family that had lasted for more than three centuries.

William Brooke of Haselour died in 1672, and Mary, his only daughter and heiress, married Christopher Heveningham of Pipe Hall and Lichfield in 1692. Christopher Heveningham was, in turn, a descendant of the Comberford family of Comberford Hall.

Christopher Heveningham was a direct descendant of Sir Walter Heveningham, who married his cousin, Ann, daughter of William Fitzherbert of Norbury. His father, Christopher Heveningham, married Dorothy, daughter and only child of William Stanley of Aston near Stone, and his wife Margaret, daughter of Thomas Comberford of Comberford and his wife Dorothy, daughter of Ralph Fitzherbert of Norbury.

Haselour Hall was heavily restored by Augustus Henry de Trafford (1823-1895) when he came to live there in 1885. He was a member of an old Lancastrian Catholic family and the son of a Baronet. His family gives its name to an area in Manchester and well-known cricket and football grounds.

His sister, Jane Seymour de Trafford, married George Archer Shee. Their great-grandson, George Archer-Shee, was the subject of a notorious 1910 prosecution for allegedly stealing a 5 shilling postal order. The case formed the basis for Terence Rattigan’s play The Winslow Boy (1946).

Augustus de Trafford’s five sons took part in World War I, including Captain Thomas Cecil de Trafford, Royal Fusiliers who died on 10 November 1914, and Captain Henry Joseph de Trafford, South Staffordshire Regiment, who died on 25 September 1915. Their sister Mary married George Mostyn (1857-1913) of Haunton Hall, a descendant of the Comberfords of Comberford Hall.

For local government purposes, Haselour was extra-parochial until 1858, when it became a civil parish within Lichfield Poor Law Union. In 1894, it became part of Lichfield Rural District; in 1934 the civil parish was incorporated into Harlaston.

Haselour Hall is Grade II* listed building, built in the 16th century and heavily restored by Augustus de Trafford in 1885. It is a half-timbered, five-gabled, Tudor residence that retains many of its original features, including an oak panelled reception hall and dining room, a Norman oak front door, and stained-glass leaded windows.

The front provides a sumptuous display of decorative timber framing including close-studding, quadrant braces, quatrefoils and diagonal braces in herringbone patterns. Pevsner suggests the middle or third gable, which is smaller, may have been a porch originally.

The reception hall has a large open hearth with a pillared oak staircase and leads to a drawing room and a grand panelled dining room. The dining room has an oak fire surround with intricate, hand-carved depictions of the Battle of Hastings.

The main house has 12 bedrooms, including a grand master bedroom with east-facing bay windows and a carved four-poster bed. The annexe has a further three bedrooms. There is a detached annexe, a chapel dating from the 12th century, a barn, four stables, 11 garages, a summer house and an outdoor pool, all on 10 acres of land.

The grounds are approached through a gated entrance and a tree lined driveway, which opens out into an open lawn area. They contain secluded patio areas, mature woodland and a paddock.

The 19th century additions link the house to the chapel. The chapel is even older than Haselour Hall, and Pevsner describes it as ‘a real medieval building.’ He says the turret with spire looks 13th century, but assumes the chapel was bult ca 1370.

The chapel, with its early Gothic interior, includes memorial windows commissioned by the de Trafford family. It is still in use and open to the public annually for Remembrance Day services. Near the chapel are the remains of the ancient family burying place, and the skeletons of five 14th century Black Death victims have been unearthed by the chapel.

The chapel is older than Haselour Hall and Pevsner describes it as ‘a real medieval building’

Haselour Hall was once described on one site as the most expensive property in B79, the post code in south-east Staffordshire, east of Lichfield, covers most of Tamworth, including the Moat House on Lichfield Street, and also includes Comberford, Wigginton, Elford, Harlaston, Edingale, Thorpe Constantine, Seckington and Shuttington.

The house is being sold by the Taroni family, described in one tabloid newspaper as ‘Birmingham’s undisputed scrap-metal kings.’ He fought a long battle with HS2 bosses over the purchase of his scrapyard.

The house has been home to Russell Taroni and his family for over 20 year. Russell Taroni has told the Tamworth Herald: ‘The men love it, the women don’t. They take a look around and think it’ll be hard work. It’s a fabulous building. I’m quite happy where I am, but my wife would move tomorrow.’

The couple’s two sons no longer live at Haselour Hall, but it is also home to his sister-in-law and mother-in-law.

He originally put it on the market in January 2017 for £4 million to raise funds for new business premises following the enforced HS2 move. ‘There was a house at the back of mine that I was looking to move to,’ he added, ‘but it’s gone now.’

Haselour Hall is on the market again since June 2019, through Aston Knowles, estate agents in Sutton Coldfield, who are inviting offers above £2,995,000.

Sophie Bullock, director of Aston Knowles, says: ‘The original features are so unique, and the history is incredibly rich and interesting. Those who have an entrepreneurial mind, and subject to the relevant permissions, could see the stunning hall as an opportunity to create a fabulous ‘live-in’ wedding venue. There’s certainly enough space for it.’ Ms Bullock adds that ‘the hall is exquisitely grand and has been extremely well-maintained by the current owners.’

The chapel has an early Gothic interior and includes memorial windows commissioned by the de Trafford family