Daily prayers in Ordinary Time with USPG: (33) 30 June 2023

The Church of the Most Holy Trinity on The Mall, Bunclody, Co Wexford, stands on the site of the Maxwell-Barry townhouse (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar, and Sunday last was the Third Sunday after Trinity. Before today (30 June 2023) becomes a busy day, I am taking some time for prayer, reading and reflection.

Over these weeks after Trinity Sunday, I have been reflecting each morning in these ways:

1, Looking at relevant images or stained glass window in a church, chapel or cathedral I know;

2, the Gospel reading of the day in the Church of England lectionary;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

Inside the Church of the Most Holy Trinity, Bunclody, Co Wexford (Photograph: Parish Facebook Page)

Church of the Most Holy Trinity, Bunclody, Co Wexford:

The Church of the Most Holy Trinity Church, the Roman Catholic parish church in Bunclody, Co Wexford, was built in 1970 on the site of a townhouse of the Maxwell-Barry family, who had given the town its previous name, Newtownbarry.

The site of the church was previously the parochial house and its gardens. This was an 18th century house built as a lodge on the south side of the Mall for members of the Maxwell-Barry family, and was later enlarged. The Comerford family home, the Mall House, stood diagonally opposite, on the north side of the Mall.

At the end of the 18th century and during the first quarter of the 19th century, a barn in Chapel Lane, which links Irish Street and Ryland Street, served as a chapel for the Roman Catholics of Newtownbarry.

The Church of Saint Mary Magdalene, was built in 1825-1826 and designed by Richard Pierce (1801-1854), a Wexford architect who later became closely associated with the work of AWN Pugin in Co Wexford.

The FCJ Convent was built beside the convent in 1861, but both are now demolished and the convent has been replaced by a new school.

The Calvary in the churchyard was blessed in 1874 by Bishop Michael Warren, and the sermon was preached by Father James Cullen, founder of the Pioneer Total Abstinence Association. A 1798 monument was erected in the churchyard in 1875.

The Maxwell-Barry townhouse had been bought by the Diocese of Ferns in 1873 as a residence for the Catholic priests of the parish. This became the site of a new church built in 1970. The granite cross near the entrance of the Church of the Most Holy Trinity once stood on the façade of the Church of Saint Mary Magdalene, where it was erected in 1854.

Bunclody also has a Church of Ireland parish church and once had a Methodist church. Saint Mary’s Church, the Church of Ireland parish church, was built in 1775 by the Maxwell Barry family and later enlarged. The Sunday School was built in 1800, and rebuilt and enlarged in 1990.

The restaurant known as ‘The Chantry’ was originally a Methodist chapel and manse in Bunclody, and was built ca 1812. A plaque at the door commemorates the visits of John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, to Bunclody in 1769 and 1787.

The Channel in the Mall is a familiar landmark in the centre of Bunclody and part of an early urban landscape initiative. It was cut ca 1825, incorporating an earlier channel from 1775. It was provided by the Maxwell-Barry family to supply properties in The Mall with clean water through a system of underground ducts.

Lime trees were planted along the side of this small stream in the early 1800s, but some have been replaced in recent years. The water comes from the millrace, which in turn is diverted from the River Clody. The waterway is lined on each side with granite stone, and there are three small granite footbridges.

A sculpture by the stream, ‘Leaves and Spheres,’ is by the artist Declan Breen, a nephew of a former parish priest, Monsignor Richard Breen. The leaves are ‘blown on the wind; and made from bronze representing the lime trees above.

Saint Mary’s Church, the Church of Ireland parish church in Bunclody, was built in 1775-1776 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Matthew 8: 1-4 (NRSVA):

1 When Jesus had come down from the mountain, great crowds followed him; 2 and there was a leper who came to him and knelt before him, saying, ‘Lord, if you choose, you can make me clean.’ 3 He stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, ‘I do choose. Be made clean!’ Immediately his leprosy was cleansed. 4 Then Jesus said to him, ‘See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.’

The Chantry on Market Square is a former Methodist manse and church (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayer:

The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church,’ the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Freeing people from the Traps of Human Trafficking.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday.

The Prayer in the USPG Prayer Diary today (30 June 2023) invites us to pray:

We pray for governments, agencies and individuals who seek to prevent Human Trafficking and who support survivors. We pray that we too may play our part in ending Human Trafficking.

Collect:

Almighty God,
you have broken the tyranny of sin
and have sent the Spirit of your Son into our hearts
whereby we call you Father:
give us grace to dedicate our freedom to your service,
that we and all creation may be brought
to the glorious liberty of the children of God;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Post Communion:

O God, whose beauty is beyond our imagining
and whose power we cannot comprehend:
show us your glory as far as we can grasp it,
and shield us from knowing more than we can bear
until we may look upon you without fear;
through Jesus Christ our Saviour.

The Channel in the Mall is a familiar landmark in the centre of Bunclody and part of an early urban landscape initiative (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Yesterday’s reflection

Continued tomorrow

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

Saint Peter and Saint Paul: visits to three churches dedicated to two apostles

Saint Peter and Saint Paul Church, the parish church in Watford, Northamptonshire, seen from the south (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Patrick Comerford

Today in in the Church Calendar is the Feast of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Apostles (29 June 2023). I thought it might be interesting to mark the day this evening by recapitulating on three churches dedicated to the two saints that I have visited in recent months, in Watford, Newport Pagnell and Buckingham.

During my recent visit to the village of Watford in Northamptonshire, in search of any traces of the Comberford Manor that existed from the mid-15th to mid-16th century, I also visited Saint Peter and Saint Paul Church, the parish church in this village which gives its name to the nearby Watford Gap on the M1.

For centuries, this was effectively an estate church for a succession of families, including the Burnabys, Clerkes, and then the Edens, later Lords Henley, who owned the manor in succession to the Parles, Comberford and Spencer families. However, all that survives of the 16th to 17th mansion at Watford Court, on the site of the Comberford Manor, is a pair of stranded gate piers on the road near the church.

Saint Peter and Saint Paul Church is a Grade I listed building on the west side of Church Street in Watford. The church has been re-opened recently following extensive roof repair and restoration works.

Inside Saint Peter and Saint Paul Church in Watford, facing east (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

The main structure of the church was built between the early 14th century and the 15th century, with further work and additions in the 18th century and restoration work in the 19th century. The church now consists of a nave, north and south aisles, a chancel, a north chapel, north and south porches and a west tower.

The church is built of coursed and uncoursed ironstone rubble, the west tower is partly sandstone ashlar, and there is a lead roof. Chancel with north chapel, aisled nave.

The perpendicular chancel incorporates early 14th century work, and has a Perpendicular sedilia and piscina with cinquefoil arches. The five-light east window has a five-centred arch and panel tracery. There are three similar three-light windows on the south wall.

A sedilia and piscina with cinquefoil arches in the chancel (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

There are two similar three-light windows in the south wall to the east of the porch and two pairs of lancets to the west of the porch. There is a flat-arched Perpendicular window without tracery in the west wall of the south aisle and a straight-headed doorway of same date below.

The priest’s doorway from ca 1300 has a chamfered arch, and there is a three-light east window in the south aisle from ca 1300 with intersecting tracery.

Other features in the church include the 14th century south porch, the Perpendicular west tower with a castellated parapet and gargoyle waterspouts, traceried two-light bell openings, a four-light west window with panel tracery, a 14th century west window without tracery in the north aisle, and an early 14th century three-light window with reticulated tracery to the west of the north porch and two similar windows to its east, and a five-light window with geometrical tracery in the east wall of the north chapel.

Inside Saint Peter and Saint Paul Church, Watford, facing west (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

An early 14th century tomb recess in the north wall has an arch with deep hollow mouldings and short jamb shafts with leaf capitals. The blocked 14th century double chamfered arch to the west is a former opening to north chapel.

The north chapel has been converted to the vestry. It has a panel opening to the east end of the north aisle that was blocked when a 19th century doorway inserted. Pevsner noted it had three further tomb recesses.

The three-bay nave arcades, also dating from ca 1300, have octagonal piers, double chamfered arches, and hoods with large head stops. There is a Perpendicular clerestory.

The altar rails date from ca 1800 and are in the Gothic revival style.

The East Window in Saint Peter and Saint Paul Church, Watford, shows Christ in the home of Mary and Martha (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

The restoration works in the church in the mid-19th century brought the introduction of low box pews and the stained glass in the chancel by Heaton, Butler and Bayne.

The east window is of five-lights with a five-centred arch and panel tracery and is part of the Perpendicular period build of the chancel. The stained-glass dates from 1863 and is the work of Heaton, Butler and Bayne.

The images include: Christ in the home of Mary and Martha; the corporal works of mercy: feeding the hungry, giving drink, sheltering the stranger, clothing the naked, visiting the sick, and visiting the prisoner; the impaled arms of Henley and Peel; two roundels with A and Ω; the four Evangelists; the 12 apostles; and floral patterns.

This east window is in memory of Julia Emily Augusta Peel, wife of Anthony Henley, Lord Henley, who died on 15 February 1862 at the age of 34.

Christ raising Jairus’ daughter … a window in the south wall of the chancel (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

A three-light window in the south wall of the chancel by Heaton, Butler and Bayne (1866) shows Christ raising Jairus’ daughter, accompanied by her parents, Saint Peter and Saint John. The text below reads: ‘The damsel is not dead but sleepeth.’

This window is in memory of Florence Mary Henley, eldest daughter of Arthur Henley, 3rd Baron Henley, and his wife Julia Augusta (Peel); she died on 28 May 1866 aged 18.

The Resurrection window in the south wall of the chancel (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Another three-light window in the south wall of the chancel by Heaton, Butler & Bayne (1869), shows the Resurrection with the soldiers are shielding their eyes in terror. The text reads: ‘Behold there was a great earthquake, for the angel of the Lord descended from Heaven and came and rolled back the stone from the door and sat upon it.’ The window also shows angel musicians.

The window is in memory of Harriet Peel (died 1869), widow of Robert Henley Eden, 2nd Lord Henley (1789-1841).

Another windows on the south side of the chancel is yellow with purple tracery, and gives a sunny glow to the chancel when the afternoon sun shines.

Bell ropes in the west tower of the church (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

The monuments in the chancel include one to Sir George Clarke, who died in 1649. This is a black and white marble architectural wall table with segmental pediment and black columns, and was described by the architectural historian Sir Niklaus Pevsner as ‘uncommonly noble.’

To the left of this, a monument to George Clarke, probably from the late 17th century, is an architectural wall tablet in grey and white marble.

The monument to Susanna Eyton, who died 1631, is a stone wall tablet with Tuscan columns, entablature with strapwork cresting and a long inscription on a wooden panel.

At the west end of the church, a small exhibition near the south porch remembers two residents of Watford, Thomas Rogers and his son Joseph, who were passengers along with other Puritans among the ‘Pilgrim Father’ on the voyage of the Mayflower in 1620.

The south porch at Saint Peter and Saint Paul Church, Watford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

The churchyard gates, designed by Christopher Fiddes, were commissioned to celebrate the millennium in 2000.

The parish registers survive from 1565, and the historic registers are held at Northamptonshire Record Office.

Watford is part of a united benefice with Long Buckby, West Haddon and Winwick, each parish retaining its own church. The benefice is currently vacant and seeking a new vicar.

The Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in Newport Pagnell stands above the valleys of two rivers (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

During a visit to Newport Pagnell, seeking the Comberford family links with Tickford, I also visited the Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, the parish church of Newport Pagnell, one of the towns that have been incorporated into Milton Keynes.

Whether Newport Pagnell is approached from either north or south, there are fine views of the church, which is cathedral-like in its location and dimensions. The church is a Grade 1 listed building and stands above the valleys of two rivers – the Great Ouse and the Ousel or Lovat.

At the time of the Norman Conquest, the town was known simply as Newport. In the reign of William Rufus, the owner of the Manor, Fulk Paganel, added his name to the name of the town. Newport was originally in the Diocese of Dorchester under Saint Birinus, and it was transferred to the Diocese of Lincoln in 1072. The town has been part of the deanery to which it gives its name since the 13th century.

Inside the Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Newport Pagnell, facing east (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Fulk Paganel founded Saint Mary’s Priory in Tickford, and in 1100 Fulk Pagnell and his wife Beatrix gave Newport Church to the Prior and monks of Tickford, together with a ‘hide of land in the Field of Newport.’

At the time, the church in Newport Pagnell was probably a simple structure, with a nave and chancel.

The church was rebuilt in its present form ca 1350, with north and south aisles and porches but without a tower. Later, the church had a cruciform shape, with a nave, central tower and transepts. The North Porch, one of the earliest parts of the Church, dates from ca 1350. The South Porch dates from the same period and was restored in 1951.

The tower was destroyed in the 14th century, and records show a new tower was built on to the west of the nave in 1542-1548. The chancel was also rebuilt in the early 16th century.

Inside the Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Newport Pagnell, facing west (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Meanwhile, Tickford Priory was dissolved by Cardinal Wolsey in 1524, and much of its endowment was given to Christ Church, Oxford.

During the great restoration of the Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in 1827, the whole of the South Aisle was rebuilt and the pinnacles and battlements were added to the tower and the roof. The tower is of three stages, strengthened by clasping buttresses, and is surmounted by an embattled parapet with pinnacles at the angles and at the centre of each face.

New vestries were built onto the north-east corner of the church in 1905, and there was extensive restoration of the tower in 1972-1973 and of the exterior stonework and roof in 1989-1993.

The font is a copy of the Norman one in Aylesbury Parish Church.

The chancel, high altar and East Window (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The west doorway has a pointed head and continuous mouldings. Above it is a four-light window with modern tracery under a four-centred head. Access to the upper stages is provided by a doorway on the east side of the tower leading from the nave roof. The tower being is reached by the turret stairway at the south-east of the nave.

The bell chamber is lit on each side by two tall windows, each of two trefoiled lights under a pointed head. All this work has been considerably restored, and the parapet and pinnacles are modern.

There are eight bells, a small bell by Anthony Chandler, inscribed ‘AC 1671,’ and a clock bell, added with the chiming apparatus in 1887. Five of the ring were recast in 1749 by Thomas Lester of London, one was added in 1769, one in 1816, and one in 1819, but the whole ring was again recast in 1911.

The roof was found to be badly damaged by the death-watch beetle in 1934 and had to be rebuilt. Some of the wooden figures supporting the main beam can be identified as apostles. The roof was decorated during 1967 when the interior of the building was cleaned and redecorated. The clerestory was built in the 15th century.

Looking out onto the world … the North Porch dates from ca 1350 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The threefold sedilia, now in the south aisle, dates from the early 14th century, and was probably originally in the chancel.

Above the sedilia is a marble wall memorial to John Revis, who built and endowed the row of almshouses north-east of the church in 1763. The brass figure of the civilian fixed to the turret door dates from 1440.

The chancel screen was erected in 1870. The pulpit was given in 1871, and the modern oak lectern dates from 1933.

The baptismal font is a copy of the Norman font in Aylesbury Parish Church (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)

There are references to various altars in the church before the Reformation. However, it was not until 1933 that the present Lady Chapel was restored in the south aisle, and the Chapel of the Transfiguration in the north aisle in the following year. These chapels were refurbished with oak flooring and new Communion Rails in 1957-1958.

Galleries, dating from 1710, were removed in 1926, when electric light was installed. Two standard candlesticks were made from the old timbers and are used for the Pascal Candles. Rewiring and new lights were installed in 1959-1960.

The chancel was newly roofed and paved in marble in 1894. There is a piscina on the South wall, by the High Altar, and the memorial slab on the opposite wall dates from the 17th century, commemorates Sir Richard Adkins, descended from Dr Henry Adkins, the Royal Physician who owned the Tickford Abbey Estate.

A four-light window in the south aisle, attributed to George Edmund Street and Alexander Gibbs (1860), shows (from left) Moses and the Brazen Serpent, Christ healing the lame man at Bethesda, Christ healing the man born blind, and the Good Samaritan (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)

The reredos, given in 1894, consists of three hand-painted panels. The original organ, built in 1665, was replaced in 1867 with a Henry Willis instrument, which was enlarged in 1905.

No ancient stained glass survives in the Church, but the West Window in the tower is a memorial to Samuel Wilberforce (1805-1873), first Bishop of Oxford (1845-1869).

The parish registers, dating back to 1558, are now held in the Buckinghamshire County Archives at Aylesbury. A list of Vicars dates from the 13th century, when the first vicar, Henry, took office in 1236.

A three-light window in the south aisle attributed to Alexander Gibbs (1862), depicts the Adoration of the Magi, Christ’s Charge to Saint Peter and Christ Blessing the Children (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Newport was moved in 1845 to the Diocese of Oxford, where it still remains.

Today, the Benefice of Newport Pagnell with Lathbury and Moulsoe is a group of four inclusive and individual Anglican churches in Newport Pagnell and the villages of Lathbury and Moulsoe. Each church and congregation in the benefice is different but friendly and welcoming.

The Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Buckingham Parish Church, stands on Castle Hill in the centre of Buckingham (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, known commonly as Buckingham Parish Church, is prominently located on Castle Hill in the centre of the old town of Buckingham.

There has been a church in Buckingham, since Saxon Times. The old church stood further down the hill, at the bottom of what is now called Church Street, in Prebend End.

Most of Buckingham’s town centre was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1725. Then, in 1776, the spire on the old church, fell down for the second time and caused so much damage that it was decided to build a new church on the vacant site of Castle Hill.

Castle Hill was the site of Edward the Elder’s stronghold against the Danes during the 10th century. Later, a Norman castle was built on the site, giving Castle Hill its name.

The earlier church located in Prebend End and dated from before 1445. However, no records have been found before this date, apart from a reference to it in the Domesday Book of 1086.

Inside the Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Buckingham, facing the liturgical east (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The old church had a history of the tower and spire collapsing several times and it collapsed for the final time in 1776.

Browne Willis (1682-1760), the MP for Buckingham (1705-1708) and antiquarian who tried to rescue Saint Mary Magdalene Church and its tower in Stony Stratford after it was destroyed by fire, also wanted to restore the church in Buckingham to its former glory following the last repairs in 1698, but the new spire was too ambitious.

A detailed letter to the Bishop of Lincoln explained that after the church tower had fallen and destroyed the church, the inhabitants of Buckingham were unable to rebuild the parish church.

The old churchyard and the site of earlier parish churches until 1776 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

A new site became available on Castle Hill and the decision was taken to move the church. It is said that much of the fabric of the earlier church was reused in building the new church. Indeed, the story goes, Church Street was given its name because the old church was carried up it to be rebuilt on Castle Hill.

Richard Grenville-Temple (1711-1779), 2nd Earl Temple and William Pitt’s brother-in-law, undertook to build a new church and the site was donated Ralph Verney (1714-1791), 2nd Earl Verney, an Irish peer who had previously been known as Lord Fermanagh.

The foundation stone for the new church was laid by Robert Bartlett, bailiff of Buckingham, on 25 November 1777 at a ceremony that included singing a hymn composed for the occasion, followed by the roasting of an ox with beer and bread supplied by Lord Temple.

The screen and chancel in the Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The church was completed by Lord Temple’s nephew, George Nugent-Temple-Grenville (1753-1813), 3rd Earl Temple and 1st Marquis of Buckingham, later Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (1787-1789).

The new church in the ‘Debased Gothic’ style, was consecrated by Thomas Thurlow, Bishop of Lincoln, on 6 December 1780, and was dedicated to the Apostles Peter and Paul.

The church originally was a simple Georgian building with a simple design. The main part of the church was formed by the nave and sanctuary, and there was a tower with an octagonal plan spire.

Remnants of the original church inside the new church include finely carved pew heads and a magnificent early 18th century brass chandelier that had been donated by Browne Willis. The greatest treasure is a rare Latin manuscript Bible originally presented in 1471.

However, the foundations of the church were insufficient and several cracks began appearing.

Inside the Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Buckingham, facing the liturgical west (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The present Victorian Gothic Revival church is the result of many 19th-century alterations by the local-born architect Sir George Gilbert Scott, who added buttresses to prop up the building and redesigned the church in late 13th century geometrical style.

Scott remodelled and extended the church in 1862-1867, with the addition of the south porch, the chancel and chancel aisle, and a decoration scheme in the Gothic style. Scott’s alterations left little of the original 18th-century church untouched, although the tower and spire remain unchanged since 1780, and the windows were slightly altered.

The new chancel was funded by a £358 donation from the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos. The refurbished and rebuilt church were consecrated by the Bishop of Oxford, Samuel Wilberforce, in 1867.

The East Window depicts the canticle ‘Te Deum’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The doorway of the south porch has cusped heads and there are statues of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in the paired niches above. A convex shield above the west door shows the Swan of Buckingham in relief.

Inside, the chancel has a two-bay arcade with shafted piers at the north aisle, which houses organ chamber and vestry.

The vault, probably of redwood, is ingeniously fitted below the original 18th century roof, which has massive timber trusses designed to give clearance to the former elliptical plaster vault.

The oak pulpit stands on a tapering stone base with saints’ heads in circular medallions and an eagle book rest (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The oak reredos dating from 1904 is by John Oldrid Scott, and has painted panels of the Nativity and angels.

The prayer desks in the Lady Chapel incorporate late 15th and early 16th century pew ends from the old church with poppy heads and complex blank tracery panels. Another pew end dated 1626 is now part of the reading desk with a coat of arms and scrollwork.

The oak pulpit stands on a tapering stone base with saints’ heads in circular medallions and an eagle book rest. The oak lectern has similar medallions at the sides of the book slope and is supported on lions feet with miniature buttresses.

A charity board with gilded frame is dated 1685. The Hanoverian royal arms can be seen on the front of the timber gallery front of carved and painted wood.

The oak reredos dating from 1904 is by John Oldrid Scott, and has painted panels of the Nativity and angels (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Much of the stained glass is by Clayton and Bell, including the East Window (1877) depicting the canticle Te Deum.

Saint Peter and Saint Paul in the paired niches above the south porch in Buckingham (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Daily prayers in Ordinary Time with USPG: (32) 29 June 2023

The Talbot Hotel stands on the corner of Trinity Street, King Street Lower and Paul Quay in Wexford, perhaps on the site of the mediaeval Holy Trinity Church (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar, and Sunday was the Third Sunday after Trinity. Today (29 June 2023), the Church Calendar celebrates the Festival of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Apostles.

Over these weeks after Trinity Sunday, I have been reflecting each morning in these ways:

1, Looking at relevant images or stained glass window in a church, chapel or cathedral I know;

2, the Gospel reading of the day in the Church of England lectionary;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

A street scene behind Trinity Street in Wexford, looking towards the Main Street, with Bride Street Church in the background (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The (lost) Church of the Holy Trinity, Wexford:

The lost Norse-Irish and mediaeval Church of the Holy Trinity in Wexford once stood on Trinity Street, which runs from Paul Quay and the corner of King Street Lower to William Street by Maudlintown. It is part of the R730 regional road from Wexford Quay to Drinagh and the Rosslare Road roundabout.

Trinity Street was built in the 1800s and was named after the Church of the Holy Trinity, a Norse-Irish church that has long disappeared.

Norse Wexford contained the parishes of Saint Doologue’s, Saint Mary’s, and Saint Patrick’s, whilst just outside the town were the churches of the Holy Trinity, Saint Michael’s, Saint Brigid’s and Saint Peter’s. Similar church dedications are found in the other Norse towns, such as Dublin and Waterford. Following the 12th century arrival of the Anglo-Normans, more churches were built in Wexford: Saint Selskar’s, Saint Iberius’s, Saint John’s and the Franciscan friary.

Of these 11 church sites, the ruins of mediaeval churches or graveyards can be seen at Saint Patrick’s, Saint Mary’s, Saint John’s, Saint Michael’s of Feigh, and Selskar Abbey, while Saint Iberius’s Church and the present Franciscan Friary church are believed to stand on the sites of earlier buildings.

However, the precise location of either Holy Trinity Church or Saint Doologue’s Church is not known and there are no visible remains of Saint Peter’s Church or Saint Bridgid’s Church.

Although there are no remnants of Holy Trinity Church, it is said to have stood close to Wexford Castle and had a holy well nearby.

An account from 1644 describes a ceremony at the Church of the Holy Trinity, by then in ruins. A Mr Le Goiz, who visited Wexford that year, describes a ceremony held in the church ruins by the women of Wexford town: ‘They come there in solemn procession. The oldest march first and the others follow, then take three turns around the ruins, make a reverence to the remains, kneel and recommence this ceremony many times’.

Five years later, the ruins disappeared altogether after they were purloined to repair the damage done to Wexford Castle after Oliver Cromwell sacked the town in 1649. As a result, the exact site of the Church of the Holy Trinity remains unknown.

Trinity Street was built on land that was recovered during the 19th century land reclamation projects in Wexford. Maps and illustrations from the time show that a large dockyard at Trinity Street that was built by the Redmond family.

Trinity Street was also the location of the ‘South Station’ or Wexford South. The South Station was built in 1891, 17 years after the train station in Redmond Square was built in 1874. They were known to generations of people in Wexford as the North Station and the South Station, until the South Station closed in 1977.

Over the years, the site of the dockyard has been used by well-known businesses such as the Star Iron Works, Wexford Electronix and Clover Meats. Trinity Street has been home to a number of businesses, including Talbot Hotel, TK Max, ALDI and, in the past, C&D and Wexford Gas Works.

There are plans to convert Trinity Wharf into a high-quality business park with corporate office space. Work began on Phase 1 of the €110 million development on the 10-acre Trinity Wharf site earlier this year (March 2023).

The plans for Trinity Wharf include: A mix of modern office space with 200,000 sq ft commercial office space; hotel accommodation; restaurants and retail units; landmark cultural and events building with conference facilities; a 64-berth marina; a new boardwalk linking Trinity Wharf with Paul Quay and the Crescent; an urban greenway; high quality public realm; and residential apartments.

Trinity Street also leads into residential areas in Wexford such as the Seascape apartment building, Parnell Street, Emmet Place, Fisher’s Row and Seaview Avenue.

Wexford Quays seen from the site of the former South Station on Trinity Street (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Matthew 16: 13-19 (NRSVA):

13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’ 14 And they said, ‘Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ 15 He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ 16 Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’ 17 And Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.’

The Kerlogue Memorial at the corner of Trinity Street and The Crescent (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayer:

The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church,’ the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Freeing people from the Traps of Human Trafficking.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday.

The Prayer in the USPG Prayer Diary today (29 June 2023, Saint Peter and Saint Paul) invites us to pray:

Almighty Father, let us remember the examples of St Peter and St Paul, two of your most loyal disciples. May we seek to emulate the conviction of their faith through our deeds and words.

Collect:

Almighty God,
whose blessed apostles Peter and Paul
glorified you in their death as in their life:
grant that your Church,
inspired by their teaching and example,
and made one by your Spirit,
may ever stand firm upon the one foundation,
Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Post Communion:

Almighty God,
who on the day of Pentecost
sent your Holy Spirit to the apostles
with the wind from heaven and in tongues of flame,
filling them with joy and boldness to preach the gospel:
by the power of the same Spirit
strengthen us to witness to your truth
and to draw everyone to the fire of your love;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Apostle Peter and the Apostle Paul depicted in an early 18th century icon in the Museum of Christian Art, Iraklion … today is the Feast of Saint Peter and Saint Paul (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Yesterday’s reflection

Continued tomorrow

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org


45 seconds by the Quays in Wexford at the site of the old South Station (Patrick Comerford)

The Old Crown in Digbeth claims it is the oldest pub in Birmingham

The Old Crown in Digbeth, which claims to be the oldest pub in Birmingham and Birmingham’s oldest secular building (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Patrick Comerford

After visiting Holy Trinity Church in Bordesley last week, as I walked back into the centre of Birmingham, I dropped into the Old Crown in Digbeth, which claims to be the oldest pub in Birmingham and Birmingham’s oldest secular building.

I visited the Old Crown on the recommendation of the Lichfield local historian and blogger Katie Cardigan of Lichfield Discovered, and was eager to explore the claims that this is the oldest pub in Birmingham.

These claims may not stand up to critical historical scrutiny, but the building at No 188 High Street, Deritend, at the corner with Heath Mill Lane, has existed since 1368, and the Old Crown is one of a few remaining examples of Birmingham’s mediaeval past.

The Old Crown is one of a few remaining examples of Birmingham’s mediaeval past (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

The Old Crown was probably built between 1450 and 1500, with some evidence dating to 1492, although most of the building dates from the early 16th century. It may have been built originally as the Guildhall and School of Saint John, Deritend, an area of the manor of Birmingham within the parish of Aston.

The mediaeval guild maintained the priest of Saint John’s Chapel, Deritend, as its chaplain, paying his stipend of £5 a year, and it supported a grammar school with its own schoolmaster. The guild owned other buildings in Warwickshire, including the guildhall in Henley in Arden.

The original building had a central hall, 12 metres (40 ft) long and 20 ft (6 metres (20 ft) wide, with a number of arched cellars below. The first floor is jettied and overhangs the front.

The well in the courtyard at the rear was 8 metres (26 ft) deep, surrounded by large stones. The well is thought to have been sunk over 1,000 years ago. It was excavated and deepened to produce a total depth of 12 metres (38 ft), and the new section of the well was lined with square bricks.

The well is thought to have been sunk over 1,000 years ago (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

The building was described in 1538 as a ‘mansion house of tymber’. The guild survived the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1545, but it was suppressed along with its chantry under Edward VI in 1547. All the guild’s properties were sold in 1549, apart for the chapel itself.

It is said Queen Elizabeth I stopped by at this building in 1575 on her way back from Kenilworth Castle.

The building was bought in 1589 by John Dyckson, alias Bayleys, who bought a number of properties and lands in Deritend and Bordesley in the 1580s. It was described as a tenement and garden, running alongside Heath Mill Lane, and remained in the Baylis and Dixon family for the next century.

However, the earliest documentary evidence of the building being used as an inn only dates from 1626.

The Old Crown was the last standing building in irmingham to hold out against Prince Rupert and his royalist army in 1643 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

During the English Civil War, the Old Crown was the last standing building in irmingham to hold out against Prince Rupert and his royalist army.

The Battle of Camp Hill, or the Battle of Birmingham, took place on Easter Monday, 3 April 1643, around Camp Hill. In the skirmish, a company of Parliamentarians from the Lichfield garrison with the support of local men, totalling about 300 men, attempted to stop 1,400 Royalists commanded by Prince Rupert passing through Birmingham.

The Parliamentarians put up a stout resistance and the Royalists were shot at from houses as the small Parliamentary force was driven out and back towards Lichfield. The Royalists torched the houses they said the shooting was coming from, and after the battle they spent the remainder of the day pillaging the town. They torched many more houses as they continued their retaliation the next day.

Prince Rupert left Birmingham on Tuesday 4 April and marched to Walsall; he reached Cannock on Wednesday. On Saturday 8 April, he marched on to Lichfield and laid siege to the city.

The Royalists’ conduct in Camp Hill later provided the Parliamentarians with a propaganda weapon. The Old Crown claims it was one of the few buildings in the area left standing after the battle.

Joshua Toulmin Smith saved the Old Crown from demolition (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

The building was ‘called by the sign of the Crowne’ from 1666. It was converted into two houses in 1684 and then converted into three houses in 1693. It remained three houses until the 19th century.

Joshua Toulmin Smith (1816-1869), a political theorist, lawyer and local historian of Birmingham, saved the Old Crown from demolition in 1851 when Birmingham City Corporation proposed demolishing the building to ‘improve the street.’

The corporation proposed demolishing the building again in 1856 and 1862, but Smith saved it each time.

Smith cleaned the well in 1863 and added an iron gate to the top of it to preserve it while keeping it accessible.

The Brennan family bought the Old Crown in 1991 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

A local pub company owned by the Brennan family bought the Old Crown in 1991. When Pat Brennan and his son Peter were repairing and clearing out the old sheds behind the property in 1994, they found the old well, which had been closed off for more than 100 years. It is now restored and can be seen at the rear entrance of the pub. The Brennan family invested £2 million in restoring the Old Crown, and it reopened in May 1998.

The Old Crown is a Grade II* listed building and it retains its ‘black and white’ timber frame appearance. The owners point out that it has seen off Civil War soldiers, Victorian town planners, German bombs and ‘a few centuries worth of drunk Brummies.’ Having stood those tests of time, it remains at the heart of Digbeth, Birmingham’s thriving creative quarter. The neighbouring landmarks include the former Bird's Custard Factory.

The Old Crown jokes that ‘every room has a tale to tell and it is said that the Old Crown is haunted by not one but two ghosts. Although, these sightings most often occur late at night after a few drinks!’ I had something to eat and soaked in the atmosphere on a late summer afternoon before heading back to New Street station.

I stayed for a glass of wine and a small meal (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Daily prayers in Ordinary Time with USPG: (31) 28 June 2023

Holy Trinity Church, Quemerford, on the eastern fringes of Calne in Wiltshire, long post-dates the presence of the Quemerford and Comerford family (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar, and Sunday was the Third Sunday after Trinity. Today (28 June 2023), the Church Calendar in Common Worship celebrates Irenæus, Bishop of Lyons, Teacher of the Faith, who died ca 200.

Over these weeks after Trinity Sunday, I have been reflecting each morning in these ways:

1, Looking at relevant images or stained glass window in a church, chapel or cathedral I know;

2, the Gospel reading of the day in the Church of England lectionary;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

Holy Trinity Church, Quemerford, was designed by the architect CH Gabriel (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Holy Trinity Church, Quemerford, Calne, Wiltshire:

My photographs this morning (28 June 2023) are from Holy Trinity Church, Quemerford, on the eastern fringes of Calne in Wiltshire.

For many generations, my family continued to regard Comberford in Staffordshire as our ancestral home, although my research shows convincingly that the name actually comes from the village of Quemerford.

Holy Trinity Church long post-dates the presence of the Quemerford family in this area. The church was built in 1852-1853 as a chapel of ease to Saint Mary’s Parish Church, Calne, to serve Quemerford and the areas east of Calne. The site was donated by Lord Lansdowne, and the building costs were met by Canon John Guthrie (1794-1865), Vicar of Calne (1835-1865), largely at his own expense. The churchyard became the parish graveyard because the one at Saint Mary’s was overfull. The Vicar of Calne appointed an assistant curate to serve Holy Trinity in Quemerford.

A chalice and a paten both hallmarked 1866 were given to the church by the curate assistant, the Revd JRA Chinnery-Haldane (1840-1906), later Bishop of Argyll and the Isles (1883-1906), and are still used today.

The church was designed by CH Gabriel and is tall, of coursed rubble and in the Decorated style. It has a west bell cote and spirelet and consists of a chancel with north vestry and a nave with south porch. The chancel is long, has tall south windows and diapering in relief on the sanctuary’s walls and is separated from the vestry by a traceried screen.

The chancel arch is high and wide, and the nave has an open timber roof with cusped trusses and wind-bracing.

Originally there was stained glass in the east window, but a fire in February 1970 caused major damage to the roof, destroying windows and the organ. The church was rededicated on 25 January 1972. The church was not licensed for marriages until 1990.

Today, Holy Trinity Church, Quemerford, is part of the Benefice of Marden Vale in the Diocese of Salisbury, with Saint Mary’s, Calne, and Saint Peter’s, Blackland. The post of Team Rector is currently vacant; the Team Vicar is the Revd Teresa Michaux, and the Acting Team Rector is the Revd Linda Carter.

The south porch of Holy Trinity Church, Quemerford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Matthew 7: 15-20 (NRSVA):

[Jesus said:] 15 ‘Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? 17 In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will know them by their fruits.’

A fire in 1970 caused major damage to the roof of Holy Trinity Church, Quemerford, destroying windows and the organ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayer:

The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church,’ the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Freeing people from the Traps of Human Trafficking.’ This theme was introduced on Sunday.

The Prayer in the USPG Prayer Diary today (28 June 2023) invites us to pray:

We pray for the Church in North India and all they are doing to prevent Human Trafficking and the support they are providing survivors.

Collect:

God of peace, who through the ministry of your servant Irenæus
strengthened the true faith
and brought harmony to your Church:
keep us steadfast in your true religion,
and renew us in faith and love,
that we may always walk in the way that leads to eternal life;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Post Communion:

God of truth,
whose Wisdom set her table
and invited us to eat the bread and drink the wine
of the kingdom:
help us to lay aside all foolishness
and to live and walk in the way of insight,
that we may come with Irenæus to the eternal feast of heaven;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Holy Trinity Church, Quemerford, is part of the Benefice of Marden Vale in the Diocese of Salisbury (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Yesterday’s reflection

Continued tomorrow

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

Saint Mary’s Church, Calne … Holy Trinity Church, Quemerford, was built in 1852-1853 as a chapel of ease to Saint Mary’s Church, Calne (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Holy Trinity Church, Bordesley, a centre of ‘ritualist’ controversy in Birmingham, is now forlorn

Holy Trinity Church, Bordesley, was once the most important and controversial Anglo-Catholic church in Birmingham (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Patrick Comerford

Holy Trinity Church, Bordesley, is a Grade II listed former Church of England parish church, about 2 km south-east of Birmingham city centre. As I looked at the church last week, it appeared lonely and forlorn on the top of Old Camp Hill, isolated in a virtual traffic island between the roundabouts known as Bordesley Circus and Camp Hill Circus on the Middleway ring road.

During the English Civil War this was the site of the Battle of Camp Hill, or the Battle of Birmingham, on Easter Monday, 3 April 1643, iwhen a company of Parliamentarians from the Lichfield garrison tried to stop a detachment of 1,400 Royalists commanded by Prince Rupert from passing through Birmingham.

Bordesley is the real life setting of the BBC series Peaky Blinders, and home to Birmingham City Football Club’s ground, Saint Andrew’s.

Holy Trinity Church was consecrated and opened 200 years ago in 1823, and it was once the most important Anglo-Catholic controversies in Birmingham that led to its Irish-born vicar, the Revd Richard Enraght, being jailed and dismissed.

Holy Trinity Church, Bordesley, is lonely and forlorn on the top of Old Camp Hill, between Bordesley Circus and Camp Hill Circus (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Historically, Bordesley was part of the parish and union of Aston, on the edges of Birmingham. The hamlet was originally small, with only a few scattered dwelling-houses, such as Stratford Place, still standing at Camp Hill, and the Old Crown in Deritend, which I visited after visiting Holy Trinity Church last week. Both houses are of timber framework and plaster, with projecting upper stories.

Holy Trinity Church is an example of a Commissioners’ church. It was built between 1820 and 1822 by the architect Francis Goodwin (1784-1835) in the decorated perpendicular gothic style. Goodwin’s later works include Lissadell House, Co Sligo, designed for Sir Robert Gore-Booth, and the gatehouse at Markree Castle, near Collooney, Co Sligo.

Goodwin is said to have modelled Holy Trinity Church in Bordesley on King’s College Chapel, Cambridge. The church was consecrated 200 years ago on 23 January 1823 by the Bishop of Lichfield, James Cornwallis. A parish was assigned out of the parish of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Aston. At first, the living was in the gift of the Vicar of Aston, and was called a vicarage from 1872. The patronage was transferred to the Aston Trustees in 1884.

The church had an exceptionally good interior with all its fittings and galleries. It was built on a conventional rectangular plan with shallow canted apse, faced in Bath stone that is enlivened by spirelet pinnacled buttresses diving the windows and with octagonal pinnacled turrets holding the corners. A larger pair flank the effectively recessed full height entrance bay under the parapeted gable.

The soffit has a pattern of ribs over the large decorated west window, and the tracery is of cast iron. The porch proper is shallow and contained within the recess, a tripartite composition with an ogee arch to the central doorway with an ornate finial.

The east end above the apse has a cast iron tracery rose. It is said the coved ceiling still partially remains, but the interior decoration, which was of a high standard for its time, has been stripped and a floor inserted.

Holy Trinity Church, Bordesley, was designed by Francis Goodwin and modelled on King’s College Chapel, Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Holy Trinity Church played an important in the history of the High Church or Anglo-Catholic movement in the Church of England in the 19th century.

The Revd Samuel Crane, who was the first vicar in 1823-1841, was succeeded by the Revd Dr Joseph Oldknow, who is often regarded as Birmingham’s first Anglo-Catholic or ‘ritualist’ priest.

Oldknow was buried in Bordesley and the Latin inscriptions on many gravestones offered a clue to the Anglo-Catholic traditions of the church.

Father Richard Enraght (By permission of the Principal & Chapter of Pusey House Oxford; Hall Collection 3/13, Pusey House Oxford)

Oldknow was succeeded in 1874 by the Revd Richard William Enraght, whose trials and tribulations came to a head in the ‘Bordesley Wafer Case’ were first brought to my attention in 2016 by a friend at Lichfield Cathedral, Stephen Wright.

The Revd Richard William Enraght (1837-1898) was an Irish-born Anglican priest and one of the Anglo-Catholic priests who were prosecuted and jailed in the 19th century for their ritualism. Enraght was prosecuted by the Church Association’s lawyers and jailed by Lord Penzance. He refused to attend his own trial on grounds of conscience, was found guilty under the Public Worship Regulation Act and received the maximum penalty: arrest, imprisonment and dismissal from his parish.

Enraght was born on 23 February 1837 at Moneymore, Co Derry, where his father, the Revd Matthew Enraght (1805-1882), was the Curate of Saint John’s, Desertlynn.

Matthew Enraght was born in Rathkeale, Co Limerick, where I was the priest-in-charge until last year (2017-2022); Richard’s mother Sarah was the daughter of Henry Thomas Houghton of Kilmanock House, Arthurstown, Co Wexford. Soon after Richard’s birth, Matthew Enraght moved from the Diocese of Armagh to Dublin, where he became the curate of Donnybrook and Booterstown. Richard’s mother died while he was still an infant, and his father married Maria Massey in 1843.

When Matthew Enraght later moved to England, to parishes in the dioceses of Canterbury and Chichester, Richard remained in Ireland and in 1860, at the age of 23, he graduated BA from Trinity College Dublin. He then moved to England, and in 1861 he was ordained deacon in Gloucester Cathedral by the Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol. He became a curate at Saint Bartholomew’s in Corsham, Wiltshire, and was ordained priest in 1862.

After three years, Enraght moved to Saint Luke the Evangelist in Sheffield in 1864. There he shared his Anglo-Catholic sympathies in a pamphlet, To The Poor The Gospel is Preached, in which he criticised the pew rent system for barring the poor from churches and criticised a ‘Bible-Ritualism’ that over-relied on scriptural authority for what is permissible in liturgical ceremonial.

He moved to a parish in Lincolnshire in 1866, and then in 1867 he moved to Brighton as curate to the Revd Arthur Wagner, the Tractarian vicar of Saint Paul’s and the ‘Father’ of the Catholic Revival in Brighton.

Wagner held Tractarian views since his student days at Cambridge. He built churches and schools in Brighton and also built 400 houses for the poor, all at his own expense. But he was criticised in the House of Commons for his liturgical practices and for appointing Anglo-Catholic priests as vicars in the five churches he had financed.

When the Brighton Gazette reported in 1873 that Father Wagner had refused to answer questions in court that would ‘involve him to breach the confessional,’ he was assaulted on the streets of Brighton. At another Brighton parish, Father John Purchas of Saint James’s was prosecuted for using vestments and the eastward position, but he refused to attend his trial or to pay the £2,096 costs awarded against him by the court.

At Brighton, Enraght shared his Anglo-Catholic views in two pamphlets, Who are True Churchmen and Who are Conspirators? and The Last Settlement of English Reformation in 1662.

In 1871, Enraght was appointed priest-in-charge of Saint Andrew’s Church, Portslade-by-Sea, with Saint Helen’s Church, Hangleton. Portslade was three miles from Brighton and Enraght continued his role in the Brighton branch of the Society of the Holy Cross, to publish pamphlets and to write letters to the Brighton Gazette. His pamphlets there included Catholic Worship and The Real Presence and Holy Scripture.

The Brighton Gazette accused Enraght of Puseyism and of trying to turn Saint Nicholas Church School in Portslade into a Puseyite school, and attacked his plans for a retreat at Lancing College. When the Disraeli Government passed the Public Worship Regulation Act in 1874, the Brighton Gazette called for his prosecution.

Holy Trinity Church, Bordesley, was at the centre of the ‘Bordesley Wafer Case’ in 1879 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Later that year, Enraght succeeded the Rev Dr Joseph Oldknow, Birmingham’s first Anglo-Catholic priest, as Vicar of Holy Trinity, Bordesley. There he found friends in two neighbouring Irish-born priests in the Anglo-Catholic tradition, the brothers James and Thomas Pollock, both graduates of TCD and both priests at Saint Alban the Martyr in Highgate.

While Enraght was the vicar, a group of cricketers from the church formed an association football team, Small Heath Alliance, in autumn 1875. This later became Birmingham City FC.

An indication of Enraght’s popularity was the attendance at the Sunday Eucharist, with a congregation of 400-500 people. Sunday Evensong with sermon regularly attracted 700-800 people. With his parish’s support, Enraght introduced weekday celebrations of the Eucharist. His practices at Holy Trinity included the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, candles on the altar, wearing a chasuble and alb, using wafers at the Eucharist, mixing water with the wine, making the sign of the Cross, bowing during the Gloria, and allowing the choir to sing the Agnus Dei.

One of Enraght’s churchwardens, John Perkins, came forward for Holy Communion on 9 February 1879, but took a Consecrated Wafer to use as an exhibit in court as evidence of the use of wafer-bread. The incident created intense horror and indignation as it became known.

Henry Philpott, Bishop of Worcester, had prohibited the actions, but Enraght refused to attend his own trial on 12 July 1879. He claimed Lord Penzance and the Court of Arches derived their authority not from ‘this Church and Realm’ but from an Act of Parliament, and so had no ‘spiritual jurisdiction over me …’

The Consecrated Wafer Perkins had taken deceptively was produced in court as evidence, marked with pen and ink and filed as an exhibit. The case became known nationally as the ‘Bordesley Wafer Case.’

In his absence, Enraght was convicted on 9 August 1879 on 16 counts. On 31 August 1879, he denounced Perkins from the altar. At the next vestry election, the indignant parishioners rejected Perkins when he was nominated as churchwarden.

A cartoon in the Birmingham ‘Daily Post’ on 26 November 1880 showing Richard Enraght entering Warwick Prison in chains

Eventually, Enraght was arrested at his vicarage on 27 November 1880 and he was taken to Warwick Prison to serve his sentence. Four other priests in England were jailed around the same time under this legislation: Arthur Tooth, Thomas Pelham Dale, Sidney Faithorn Green and James Bell Cox.

Meanwhile, thanks to the English Church Union, the Consecrated Wafer was recovered from the court and given into the care of the Archbishop of Canterbury, who reverently consumed the host in his private chapel at Addington on 12 December 1879.

During Enraght’s two months in prison, there were protests throughout England and in the US. The Revd Edward Bouverie Pusey wrote to The Times in defence of Enraght and others: ‘They have not been struggling for themselves but for their people. The Ritualists do not ask to interfere with devotion of others … only to be allowed, in their worship of God, to use a Ritual which a few years ago no one disputed.’

Enraght spent that Christmas in prison. He was released after 49 days when the Court of Appeal ruled on a technicality in the writ for committal. The prosecutor tried to have Enraght returned to jail, but the English Church Union forestalled this attempt with its own legal actions.

When an appeal to the House of Lords failed in May 1882, Enraght was liable to another term in prison, and the parish of Holy Trinity, Bordesley, was declared vacant three months later. Meanwhile, Enraght’s father, the Revd Matthew Enraght, died at Clifton in Bristol on 13 August 1882.

Bishop Philpott revoked Enraght’s licence in March 1883 and appointed another priest to the parish, against the wishes of the congregation. When Bishop Philpott preached in Holy Trinity Church two months later on 6 May 1883, the churchwardens handed him a formal protest, saying: ‘We, the truly aggrieved, have been left as sheep without a shepherd.’

However, a Royal Commission report that year marked a turning point, and the repression of ritualism in the Church of England was soon abandoned.

After Enraght was evicted from Holy Trinity Church, Bordesley, he worked for the nine years in East London at Saint Michael’s, Bromley-by-Bow (1884-1888) and Saint Gabriel’s, Poplar (1888-1895). In this period of hardship, the Church Union’s Sustentation Fund supported the Enraght family.

He moved to Saint Swithun’s Church, Bintree, in 1895, and ended his ministry and life in that quiet country parish in Norfolk. He died on Saint Matthew’s Day, 21 September 1898, and was buried in Saint Swithun’s churchyard.

Richard and Dorothea Enright were the parents of seven children. Their second son, Canon Hawtrey Enraght, was ordained priest in Norfolk in 1896, and their son-in-law, the Revd Edgar Reeves, became the Vicar of Walsingham.

Brighton and Hove City Council erected a blue plaque at his former home in Station Road, Portslade, 15 years ago (February 2006) to honour Richard Enraght as a ‘Priest, fighter for religious freedom.’ Later that year, Brighton and Hove Bus and Coach Company named one of its new fleet buses, No 905, after Father Richard Enraght.

Holy Trinity Church, Bordesley, was closed in 1968 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Meanwhile, Enraght was succeeded at Holy Trinity Church, Bordesley, in 1883 by the Revd Alan H Watts, against the wishes of the congregation. When Watt was introduced in Holy Trinity Church on 10 March 1883, the church was crowded, and a large police forced was present. Before the service, the two churchwardens went to the vestry to loud applause, and handed him a formal protest. Watts entered the church to loud groans, followed by turmoil, and police efforts to restore order were futile. At the conclusion of the service, an angry mob followed Watts until he drove away.

The parishes of Christ Church, Sparkbrook (1867), Saint Alban, Bordesley (1871), and All Saints’, Small Heath (1875), were formed out of this parish, and part of it was transferred to the parish of Saint Basil, Deritend, in 1896. There were mission rooms in Leopold Street, Cooksey Road (1875-1907), Miles Street (1908-1939), Moseley Road and Highgate Place (1913-1921) and Warwick Street (1928-1936).

The burial ground was closed in 1873, although family graves continued to be used until 1925. Some remains were removed with the widening of Sandy Lane and Bordesley Middleway. Many gravestones were removed after the church was deconsecrated in the late 1960s.

The church was closed in 1968. There were plans to demolish the church in the 1970s and proposals to convert the building into an arts centre, but these never came to fruition. Instead, the church was used for some years as a shelter for homeless people until about 1999.

There were plans to retore the building for church and community use as the Birmingham Trinity Centre, a conference and wedding venue and the meeting place of All Nations’ Church, Birmingham.

The church was marketed for a residential conversion in 2014, but it remains empty today.

Holy Trinity Church, Bordesley, remains empty, isolated on a virtual traffic island (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)