Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2026: 78, Friday 24 July 2026

The sower and the seed … a window in Saint Leonard’s Church, Wigginton, between Lichfield and Tamworth in Staffordshire (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Patrick Comerford

We are continuing in Ordinary Time in the Church and this week began with the Seventh Sunday after Trinity (Trinity VII, 19 July 2026).

We are attending a funeral later today. But, before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:

1, today’s Gospel reading;

2, a reflection on the Gospel reading;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.

The Gospel reading today (Matthew 13: 18-23) continues this week’s themes of the sower and the seed … fields in Stoke Bruerne, Northamptonshire (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Matthew 13: 18-23 (NRSVA):

18 ‘Hear then the parable of the sower. 19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path. 20 As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; 21 yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away. 22 As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. 23 But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.’

Sowing and planting in the fields in Comberford, Staffordshire, east of Lichfield and north of Tamworth (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflections:

In the Gospel reading at the Eucharist today (Matthew 13: 18-23), we continue a series of readings about the Parable of the Sower and the Seed and its interpretation.

Sometimes these readings have seemed more relevant for Harvest thanksgiving services, which are still many weeks. But as I travelled by train to an from Cambridge earlier this week, I realised the time of sowing has past and work of harvesting is now in full swing.

This morning’s reading concludes with Jesus comparing the seed that was sown on good soil with ‘the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.’

Do you think that the apostles, as they preached or sowed the word and the Good News had debriefing and review meetings, as good management practice might expect today, and compared notes about their ‘yields’, one 100-fold, another 60-fold, and yet another 30-fold?

I sometimes find I am ill-at-ease with the discussion how hear about church-growth, with people boasting their church attendance over recent years has increased 30-fold, 60-fold or even 100-fold. In some parishes I ministered in, church attendance on Sunday mornings was often below 100, below 60, most often even below 30.

To judge my ‘performance in ministry’ based on those figures, others might have judged me a failure. But they were faithful, they were caring, they believed, they were generous, and they came Sunday-after-Sunday, with failure, even when the crops and the fields and the cattle had to be attended to, the shops opened, customers’ needs attended, and the margins were so slow that everything was run on a shoestring.
When the harvest was gathered in, they would share generously in the bounties of creation.

The late Father Herbert Edwin William Slade (1912-1999), a priest of the Society of Saint John the Evangelist or the Cowley Fathers in Oxford, once wrote: ‘The Eucharist is the supreme model of an intimacy with nature which is universal. All creation is God’s body. God indwells all of his creatures. God’s Spirit is present in all that God has made. Therefore, our intimacy with creation must never stop short at contemplative admiration.’

God’s harvest, the Kingdom of God, is all-embracing, is greater than my imagination. It includes all aspects and dimensions of creation, the harvest of the fields, and a harvest of people, including even those I am in danger of thinking do no count, even in danger of ignoring and leaving behind.

Who are the small people, the small numbers, the 30-fold rather than 100-fold the church who think they are successful in terms of numbers and church growth are in danger of counting out, leaving to one side?

The harvest is greater than we can imagine, greater than we want to admit.

In a recent posting, my friend and colleague, the Revd David Messer, has helped me to draw a comparison between my daily blogging and some of my experiences in ministry:

‘I wish I had something worthwhile of my own to say, but at the moment, I haven’t the wherewithal … because rural ministry means living in a permanent state of failure – which is exhausting. So instead, here’s a wonderful quote from Giles Fraser, which gives me heart:

‘In a world where we semaphore our successes to each other at every possible opportunity, churches cannot be blamed for failing to live up to this austere and wonderful message. The worst of them judge their success in entirely worldly terms, by counting their followers.

‘Their websites show images of happy, uncomplicated people doing good improving stuff in the big community. But if I am right about the meaning of Christ’s passion, then a church is at its best when it fails, when it gives up on all the ecclesiastical glitter, when the weeds start to break through the floor, and when it shows others that failure is absolutely nothing of the sort.

‘This is the site of real triumph, the moment of success.

‘Failure is redeemed.

‘Hallelujah.’

Moving from ideas such as these into prayer, I might pray in these words, although I do not know who wrote them:

‘May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half-truths, superficial relationships, so that you will live deep within your heart.

‘May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression and exploitation of people, so that you will work for justice, equality and peace.

‘May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation and war, so that you will reach out your hand to comfort them and change their pain into joy.’

In July fields off Cross in Hand Lane in Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Friday 24 July 2026):

In Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), the theme this week, from 19 to 25 July 2026 (pp 20-21), is ‘Flood Relief in Mozambique’. This theme was introduced on Sunday with a programme update from the Revd Mauricio S Mugunhe, Executive Director Anglican Social Action, Igreja Anglicana de Moçambique e Angola (the Anglican Church of Mozambique and Angola).

The USPG prayer diary today (Friday 24 July 2026) invites us to pray:

Lord God, we pray for the Igreja Anglicana de Moçambique e Angola, for its bishops, clergy, and lay leaders. Strengthen the ministry through Anglican Social Action, that the Church may shine like a light to all in need.

The Collect of the Day:

Lord of all power and might,
the author and giver of all good things:
graft in our hearts the love of your name,
increase in us true religion,
nourish us with all goodness,
and of your great mercy keep us in the same;
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.

The Post Communion Prayer:

Lord God, whose Son is the true vine and the source of life,
ever giving himself that the world may live:
may we so receive within ourselves
the power of his death and passion
that, in his saving cup,
we may share his glory and be made perfect in his love;
for he is alive and reigns, now and for ever.

Additional Collect

Generous God,
you give us gifts and make them grow:
though our faith is small as mustard seed,
make it grow to your glory
and the flourishing of your kingdom;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Collect on the Eve of Saint James:

Merciful God,
whose holy apostle Saint James,
leaving his father and all that he had,
was obedient to the calling of your Son Jesus Christ
and followed him even to death:
help us, forsaking the false attractions of the world,
to be ready at all times to answer your call without delay;
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.

Yesterday’s reflections

Continued tomorrow

Sowing, reaping and working in the fields in north Co Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

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

Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2026: 73, Sunday 19 July 2026, Seventh Sunday after Trinity (Trinity VII)

‘There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth’ (Matthew 13: 42) … Gnasher and Gnipper in the ‘Beano’ always seemed ready to gnash their teeth

Patrick Comerford

We are in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar and today is the Seventh Sunday after Trinity (Trinity VII, 19 July 2026). Later this morning I hope to take part in the Parish Eucharist in Saint Mary and Saint Giles, Stony Stratford, singing with the choir and reading the first lesson.

Having stayed up last night to see England beat France 6-4 for third place in the World Cup, there are two interesting sporting events attracting my attention later today: the All-Ireland hurling final between Limerick and Galway this afternoon, and the World Cup final between Argentina and Spain this evening. But, before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:

1, reading today’s Gospel reading;

2, a short reflection;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.

A field ready for the harvest off Cross in Hand near Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Matthew 13: 24-30, 36-43 (NRSVA):

24 He put before them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field; 25 but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away. 26 So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. 27 And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, “Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?” 28 He answered, “An enemy has done this.” The slaves said to him, “Then do you want us to go and gather them?” 29 But he replied, “No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. 30 Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn”.’

36 Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples approached him, saying, ‘Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.’ 37 He answered, ‘The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; 38 the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. 40 Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, 42 and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen!’

Fields of green close to Comberford village, between Tamworth and Lichfield in Staffordshire (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Today’s Reflections:

In my imagination, when I was a child, not only were the summers long and sunny, but weekend entertainment was simpler and less complicated. The highlights of the weekend seemed to be Dr Who and Dixon of Dock Green, and the weekly editions of the Eagle and the Beano.

I may have been just a little too old (16) for the first appearance of Gnasher (1968), the pet dog of Dennis the Menace in the Beano. The G- tagged onto the beginning of the name of both Gnasher and his son Gnipper is pronounced silently, just like the silent P at the beginning of Psmith, the Rupert Psmith in so many PG Wodehouse novels.

Most of the Beano speech bubbles for both Gnasher and Gnipper consist of normal English words beginning with the letter ‘N’ with a silent ‘G’ added to the beginning, as in ‘Gnight, Gnight.’

I was a little too old for the introduction of Gnasher, but nonetheless my friends in my late teens and early 20s loved Gnasher and Gniper, joked about those silent ‘Gs’ and even recalled how as children we had joked about ‘weeping and G-nashing of teeth.’

There is very little to joke about in today’s Gospel reading (Matthew 13: 36-43). The idea of people being thrown into the furnace of fire is not a very appealing image for children, and so to joke about it is a childhood method of coping.

But throughout history, humanity has stooped to burn what we dislike and what we want to expunge, and we have done it constantly.

We have been burning books as Christians since Saint Athanasius ordered the burning of texts in Alexandria in the year 367 CE. In the Middle Ages, and sometimes even later, we burned heretics at the stake. When that stopped, we burned anything deemed to be an occasions of sin.

They were burned publicly as an accompanying theme for the outdoor sermons of San Bernardino da Siena in the early 15th century. These included mirrors, cosmetics, fine dresses, playing cards … even musical instruments, and, of course, books, song sheets, artworks, paintings and sculpture. In his sermons, the book-burning friar regularly called for Jews and gays to be either isolated from society or eliminated from the human community.

Later in Florence, the supporters of Savonarola collected and publicly burned thousands of objects, including cosmetics, art, and books in 1497.

On the other hand, Franz Kafka’s last request to his friend Max Brod in 1921 was to ‘burn all my diaries, letters, manuscripts … completely and unread'.

But, more recently, the Nazis staged regular book burnings, especially burning books by Jewish writers, including Thomas Mann, Karl Marx and Albert Einstein.

Extremists of all religious and political persuasions want to burn the symbols and totems of their opponents, whether it is Pastor Terry Jones burning the Quran and effigies of Bill Clinton and Barack Obama in Florida or jihadists burning the Twin Towers in New York.

The limits of our extremists seem to be defined by their inflammatory words.

But who is being burned in this morning’s Gospel reading?

Who is doing the burning?

And who will be weeping and gnashing their teeth?

Contrary to many shoddy reading of this Gospel reading, Christians are not asked to burn anyone or anything at all. And, if we have enemies, we are called not to burn them but to love them.

Christ has been speaks by the lake first to the crowd, telling them the parable of the wheat and the weeds (verse 24-30). The word that we have traditionally translated as tares or weeds (verses 25, 26, 27, 29, 30, 36, 38, 40) is the Greek word ζιζάνια (zizania), a type of wild rice grass, although Saint Matthew is probably referring to a type of darnel or noxious weed. It looks like wheat until the plants mature and the ears open, and the seeds are a strong soporific poison.

Christ then withdraws into a house, and has a private conversation with the Disciples (verses 36-43), in which he explains he is the sower (verse 37), the good seed is not the Word, but the Children of the Kingdom (verse 38), the weeds are the ‘Children of the Evil One’ (verse 38), and the field is the world (verse 38).

The harvest is not gathered by the disciples or the children of the kingdom, but by angels sent by the Son of Man (verses 39, 41).

It is an apocalyptic image, describing poetically and dramatically a future cataclysm, and not an image to describe what should be happening today.

It is imagery that draws on the apocalyptic images in the Book of Daniel, where the three young men who are faithful to God are tried in the fires of the furnace, yet come out alive, stronger and firmer in their faith (see Daniel 3: 1-10).

The slaves or δοῦλοι (douloi), the people who want to separate the darnel from the wheat (verse 27-28), are the disciples: Saint Paul introduces himself in his letters with phrases like Παῦλος δοῦλος Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ (Paul, a doulos or slave, or servant of Jesus Christ), (see Romans 1: 1, Philippians 1: 1, Titus 1: 1), and the same word is used by James (see James 1: 1), Peter (see II Peter 1: 1) and Jude (see Jude 1) to introduce themselves in their letters.

In the Book of Revelation, this word is used to describe the Disciples and the Church (see Revelation 1: 1; 22: 3).

In other words, the Apostolic writers see themselves as slaves in the field, working at Christ’s command in the world.

This is one of eight parables about the last judgment that are found only in Saint Matthew’s Gospel, and six of the seven New Testament uses of the phrase ‘weeping and gnashing of teeth’ (ὁ κλαυθμὸς καὶ ὁ βρυγμὸς τῶν ὀδόντων) occur in this Gospel (Matthew 8: 12; 13: 42; 13: 50; 22: 13; 24: 51; and 25: 30; see also Luke 13: 28).

When it comes to explaining the parable to the disciples in today’s reading (verses 36-43), the earlier references to the slaves in the first part (verses 27-28) are no longer there. It is not that the slaves have disappeared – Christ is speaking directly to those who would want to uproot the tares but who would find themselves uprooting the wheat too.

The weeding of the field is God’s job, not ours. The reapers, not the slaves, will gather in both the weeds and the wheat, the weeds first and then the wheat (verse 30).

Farmers are baling the hay and taking in the harvest in many places already. In a few weeks’ time, many farmers will be seen burning off the stubble on their fields to prepare the soil for autumn sowing and the planting of new crops. In this sense, the farmer understands burning as purification and preparation – it is not as harsh as city dwellers think.

It is not for us to decide who is in and who is out in Christ’s field, in the kingdom of God. That is Christ’s task alone.

Christ gently cautions the Disciples against rash decisions about who is in and who is out. Gently, he lets them see that the tares are not damaging the growth of the wheat, they just grow alongside it and amidst it.

But so often we decide to assume God’s role. We do it constantly in society, and we do it constantly in the Church, deciding who should be in and who should be out.

The harvest comes at the end of time, not now, and I should not hasten it even if the reapers seem to tarry.

The weeds we identify and want to uproot may turn out to be wheat, what we presume to be wheat because it looks like us may turn out to be weeds.

We assume the role of the reapers every time we decide we would be better off without someone in our society or in the Church because we disagree with them about issues like sexuality, women bishops and priests, and other issues that we mistake for core values.

The core values, as Christ himself explains, again and again, are loving God and loving others.

It is not without good reason that the Patristic writers warn that schism is worse than heresy (see Saint John Chrysostom, Patrologia Græca, vol. lxii, col. 87, On Ephesians, Homily 11, §5). We do not need to demythologise this morning’s reading. Christ leaves that to the future. This morning we are called to grow and not to worry about the tares. That growth must always emphasise love first.

When some members of the Church have sought to ‘out’ or ‘throw out’ people because of their sexuality, they have caused immense personal tragedy for individuals and their families and friends – weeping and gnashing of teeth indeed.

When I want a Church or society that looks like me, I eventually end up living on a desert island or as a member of a sect of one – and there I might just find out too how unhappy I am with myself!

But if I allow myself to grow in faith and trust and love with others, I may, I just may, to my surprise, find that they too are wheat rather than weeds, and they may discover the same about me.

‘The field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom’ (Matthew 13: 38) … fields of green off Comberford Lane, between Wigginton and Comberford in south Staffordshire (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Today’s Prayers (Sunday 19 July 2026, Trinity VII):

In Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), the theme this week, from 19 to 25 July 2026 (pp 20-21), is ‘Flood Relief in Mozambique’. This theme is introduced today with a programme update from the Revd Mauricio S Mugunhe, Executive Director Anglican Social Action, Igreja Anglicana de Moçambique e Angola (the Anglican Church of Mozambique and Angola):

Since late 2025, Mozambique has endured a severe cyclonic season that culminated in catastrophic flooding across the southern regions in January 2026. Following heavy rainfall, many rivers including the Umbeluzi, Maputo, and Incomati overflowed, while cities such as Matola, Xai-Xai, and Maxixe experienced severe flooding due to blocked drainage systems. The government declared a national red alert.

The scale of the disaster has been immense. According to national authorities, more than 720,000 people have been affected, over 120 lives lost, and tens of thousands of homes damaged or destroyed. In the Gaza Province in the south of Mozambique, where the new Anglican Diocese of Maciene is located, over 40% of its territory was submerged and over 150 km of roads destroyed. Communities remain displaced, with some cut off by damaged roads, and there is an increased risk of water-borne disease.

In the face of this suffering, the Church is called to respond. The Anglican Church in Mozambique has mobilised to provide food, clothing, blankets, mosquito nets, and other essentials, while also supporting the rebuilding of safer homes. With the support of USPG, we have been able to extend this ministry of compassion by offering immediate relief and contributing to longer-term recovery for displaced families. Even in the midst of loss, we trust in God’s presence among those who suffer, and in the calling of the Church to be a sign of hope and healing in the world.

The USPG prayer diary today (Sunday 19 July 2026, Trinity VII) invites us to pray as we read and meditate on Matthew 13: 24-30, 36-43.

‘But gather the wheat into my barn’ (Matthew 13: 30) … a barn near Comberford Hall, between Tamworth and Lichfield in Staffordshire (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

The Collect of the Day:

Lord of all power and might,
the author and giver of all good things:
graft in our hearts the love of your name,
increase in us true religion,
nourish us with all goodness,
and of your great mercy keep us in the same;
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.

The Post Communion Prayer:

Lord God, whose Son is the true vine and the source of life,
ever giving himself that the world may live:
may we so receive within ourselves
the power of his death and passion
that, in his saving cup,
we may share his glory and be made perfect in his love;
for he is alive and reigns, now and for ever.

Additional Collect

Generous God,
you give us gifts and make them grow:
though our faith is small as mustard seed,
make it grow to your glory
and the flourishing of your kingdom;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s reflections

Continued tomorrow

Franz Kafka's last wishes … a video in the recent exhibition ‘Kafka: Making of an Icon’ in the Weston Library in Oxford (Patrick Comerford)

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

Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2026: 61, Tuesday 7 July 2026

‘Ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest’ (Matthew 9: 38) … walking through the fields in Comberford, between Lichfield and Tamworth (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Patrick Comerford

We are in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar and this week began with the Fifth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity V, 5 July 2026). Last night or in the early hours of this morning, I went back on my pledge to watch only World Cup fixtures that were broadcast from the co-hosts Mexico and Canada. It was my lone, single protest against the Trump regime and the way it has corrupted the world of football, along with so much else in our world today. But over the last 48 hours, Trump has intervened in yet another blatant breach of the rules of the game, and yet again Infantino allowed Trump to play all the cards (pardon the pun). I felt I had stayed awake with the rest of the world, hoping Belgium would win, knowing at the end that 4-1 is justice not just for Belgians but for football fans everywhere.

Now, tired as I am, I am taking some quiet time this morning before this new day begins to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:

1, reading today’s Gospel reading;

2, a short reflection;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.

‘By the ruler of the demons he casts out the demons’ (Matthew 9: 34) … a gargoyle at Lichfield Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Matthew 9: 32-38 (NRSVA):

32 After they had gone away, a demoniac who was mute was brought to him. 33 And when the demon had been cast out, the one who had been mute spoke; and the crowds were amazed and said, ‘Never has anything like this been seen in Israel.’ 34 But the Pharisees said, ‘By the ruler of the demons he casts out the demons.’

35 Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; 38 therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest.’

‘He had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd’ (Matthew 9: 36) … sheep on a small holding in Platanias, near Rethymnon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Today’s Reflections:

The Gospel reading at the Eucharist today (Matthew 9: 32-38) recalls the healing of the demoniac who is mute and then follows Jesus as goes through cities and villages, teaching in synagogues, proclaiming the good news, curing the sick, and showing compassion for the crowds, for they are ‘harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.’

Today’s reading brings us to the end of the section in Saint Matthew’s Gospel recounting 10 miracles of Jesus (chapters 8 to 9). The last of those miracles involves a man whose deafness results from being possessed by a demon. It follows immediately after the cure of two blind men, a story that is not read in this current cycle of readings but one that is told again in Matthew 20. It seems to correspond to the healing of the blind man Bartimaeus in Mark 10, although there are significant differences.

When the people bring this man to Jesus, he drives out the demon and immediately the man is able to speak. There is a double reaction. The people are astounded, but the Pharisees suggest Jesus casts out demons through the power of ‘the ruler of the demons’, an absurd and illogical suggestion.

This reading then summarises so much of what Jesus was doing. But behind all that he does is his deep compassion for the needs of the people, for they are ‘harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd’ (verse 36).

He sees their plight, and tells the disciples: ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; 38 therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest’ (verses 37-38).

Ministry and mission must embolden the Church to name the needs of people who are ‘harassed and helpless’. This is not bringing politics into religion, but refusing to allow politics to silence us in the demands put on us by being faithful to our religious calling.

The labourers in the field cannot be confined to bishops and priests, to the members of church commissions and committees and to those who work with mission societies and development agencies.

The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few and the people are ‘harassed and helpless’ more than ever. How do I respond with compassion, vocally, practically and effectively?

‘Ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest’ (Matthew 9: 38) … walking through fields along Comberford Lane in Wigginton in Staffordshire (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Today’s Prayers (Tuesday 7 July 2026):

In Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), the theme this week, from 5 to 11 July 2026 (pp 16-17), is ‘Faith in the Midst of Fractures’. This theme was introduced on Sunday with a reflection by the Revd Godfrey Owino Adera, Anglican priest, theologian, and lecturer at Saint Paul’s University, Limuru, Kenya.

The USPG prayer diary today (Tuesday 7 July 2026) invites us to pray:

God of mercy, bring healing to survivors of gender-based violence and comfort those who mourn. Stir the Church and wider community towards justice, protection, and lasting change.

The Collect of the Day:

Almighty and everlasting God,
by whose Spirit the whole body of the Church
is governed and sanctified:
hear our prayer which we offer for all your faithful people,
that in their vocation and ministry
they may serve you in holiness and truth
to the glory of your name;
through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Grant, O Lord, we beseech you,
that the course of this world may be so peaceably ordered
by your governance,
that your Church may joyfully serve you in all godly quietness;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

Almighty God,
send down upon your Church
the riches of your Spirit,
and kindle in all who minister the gospel
your countless gifts of grace;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued tomorrow

‘He had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd’ (Matthew 9: 36) … a window in Saint John-in-Hampstead Church, London (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised Edition copyright © 2021, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Daily prayer in Easter 2026: 49, Saturday 23 May 2026

‘If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? Follow me!’ (John 21: 21) … Saint John with the poisoned chalice, a statue on the Great Gate of Saint John’s College, Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Easter is a 50-day season, beginning on Easter Day (5 April 2026) and continuing through Ascension Day until the Day of Pentecost or Whit Sunday tomorrow (24 May 2026).

Before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:

1, reading today’s Gospel reading;

2, a short reflection;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.

Saint John in a window by CE Kempe in Saint Leonard’s Church, Wigginton, Staffordshire (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

John 21: 20-25 (NRSVA):

20 Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them; he was the one who had reclined next to Jesus at the supper and had said, ‘Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?’ 21 When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, ‘Lord, what about him?’ 22 Jesus said to him, ‘If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? Follow me!’ 23 So the rumour spread in the community that this disciple would not die. Yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but, ‘If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?’

24 This is the disciple who is testifying to these things and has written them, and we know that his testimony is true. 25 But there are also many other things that Jesus did; if every one of them were written down, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.

The symbol of the serpent and the chalice, a carving by Eric Gill in the capstone at Saint John’s College, Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflection:

The Gospel reading (John 21: 20-25) at the Eucharist today brings us to the last of the post-Resurrection appearances and the conclusion of Saint John’s Gospel. Today’s reading challenges us to consider whether we are going to follow Jesus to the end, no matter how, when or where death may come.

In this reading, we have an insight into the rumours that persisted in the community that the Beloved Disciple would not die (verse 23). But death comes to us all.

Over the past four years, I have spent a lot of time in hospitals in Oxford, Milton Keynes, London and Sheffield, following a stroke, and for tests, scans and consultations on my pulmonary sarcoidosis and the traces of sarcoidosis in my heart. Waiting between one set of consultations and tests and for further appointments, I have realised, time and again, how we all depend on the NHS here, and how vulnerable and fragile we are.

At 73, I may not quite be in rude health. But my distant ‘cousin’ Kevin Martin, who died three years ago (14 June 2023), would greet me on my birthdays with the traditional Jewish greeting of ‘ad meah v’esrim’, ‘may you live until 120!’ (עד מאה ועשרים שנה‎).

I may not live to be 120, despite everyone’s good wishes. I am certainly not going to live for ever. Are the other disciples in today’s reading engaging in humorous banter or hyperbole when they suggest the youngest among them is going to outlive the rest of them so that it appears as if he is going to live for ever?

Surely they realise everyone is going to die – including Lazarus who was raised from the dead after three days (John 11), including the son of the widow of Nairn (Luke 7: 11-17), the daughter of Jairus (Luke 8: 40-56), the centurion’s slave (Matthew 8: 5-13; Luke 7: 1-10), the official’s son in Capernaum (John 4: 46-54), Peter’s mother-in-law (Matthew 8: 14-15; Mark 1: 29-31; Luke 4: 38-39) …

Saint John too lived a life of service and suffering: he was exiled on Patmos, and although he died in old age in Ephesus, there were numerous attempts to make him a martyr.

Saint Paul names John as one of the pillars of the Church in Jerusalem (see Galatians 2: 9). Later, tradition says, he takes over the position of leadership Paul once had in the Church in Ephesus and is said to have lived there and to have been buried there.

According to a tradition mentioned by Saint Jerome, in the second general persecution, in the year 95, Saint John was arrested and sent to Rome, where he was thrown into a vat or cauldron of boiling oil but miraculously was preserved from death.

During the reign of the Emperor Domitian, it is said, Saint John was once given a cup of poisoned wine, but he blessed the cup and the poison rose out of the cup in the form of a serpent. Saint John then drank the wine with no ill effect. A chalice with a serpent signifying the powerless poison became one of his symbols.

Domitian then banished Saint John to the isle of Patmos. It was there in the year 96 he had the heavenly visions recorded in the Book of Revelation. After the death of Domitian, it is said, he returned to Ephesus in the year 97, and there tradition says he wrote his gospel about the year 98. He is also identified with the author of the three Johannine letters.

According to Eusebius, Saint John died in peace at Ephesus, in the third year of Trajan, that is, the year 100, when he was about 94 years old. According to Saint Epiphanius, he was buried on a mountain outside the town. The Basilica of Saint John the Theologian gave the later name of Aysoluk to the hill above the town of Selçuk, beside Ephesus.

The story of the poisoned chalice may be a pious myth, but it seeks to tell us that Saint John too took up the challenge to drink the cup that Christ drinks (Mark 10: 38-39).

For there is another poison that can damage the Church today – we can fail to love.

It is in sharing and serving with those who are most like Christ in his suffering that the world becomes united with the Christ we meet in Word and Sacrament, and there too we find eternal life.

Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!

‘If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? Follow me!’ (John 21: 21) … Saint John the Evangelist with the poisoned chalice depicted in a window in Saint John’s Church, Monkstown, Cork (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Saturday 23 May 2026):

The theme this week (17-23 May 2026) in ‘Pray With the World Church’, the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel) has been ‘Breaking Barriers: Gender Justice in Malawi’ (pp 56-57). This theme was introduced last Sunday with Reflections from Tamara Khismisi, Projects Coordinator, Anglican Church in Malawi.

The USPG prayer diary invites us to pray today (Saturday 23 May 2026):

Heavenly Father, we thank you for the partnership between USPG and the Anglican Church in Malawi. May this collaboration continue to provide education, health care, and advocacy that mirrors your transforming love and heart for justice.

The Collect:

O God the King of glory,
you have exalted your only Son Jesus Christ
with great triumph to your kingdom in heaven:
we beseech you, leave us not comfortless,
but send your Holy Spirit to strengthen us
and exalt us to the place where our Saviour Christ is gone before,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Eternal God, giver of love and power,
your Son Jesus Christ has sent us into all the world
to preach the gospel of his kingdom:
confirm us in this mission,
and help us to live the good news we proclaim;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

Risen, ascended Lord,
as we rejoice at your triumph,
fill your Church on earth with power and compassion,
that all who are estranged by sin
may find forgiveness and know your peace,
to the glory of God the Father.

Collect on the Eve of Pentecost (Whit Sunday):

God, who as at this time
taught the hearts of your faithful people
by sending to them the light of your Holy Spirit:
grant us by the same Spirit
to have a right judgement in all things
and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort;
through the merits of Christ Jesus our Saviour,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow

The site of Saint John’s tomb near Ephesus is marked by a marble plaque and four Byzantine pillars (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

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

A canal-side walk and a late lunch in Hopwas after searching for more Comberford family links

Hopwas is about five miles south-east of Lichfield and two miles west of Tamworth and had links with the Comberford family from the late 13th century (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Patrick Comerford

During my 10-mile hike a few days ago a few days ago in south Staffordshire, I was searching once more for places associated with the Comberford family, including Wigginton Manor, the site of the old manor house in Comberford before Comberford Hall was built in the 18th century, and the site of Comberford Windmill on Coton Lane.

I ended up in the village of Hopwas on the main A51 in Staffordshire, on the south-east edge of Lichfield District Council and about five miles south-east of Lichfield and two miles west of Tamworth. The place had links with the Comberford family from as early as the late 13th century until at least the first half of the 18th century.

Hopwas has a population of about 700, and is part of the civil parish of Wigginton and Hopwas, which includes Hopwas, Wigginton, Comberford and parts of Coton. I returned to Hopwas yesterday, to explore the history and the legacy of the village.

Hopwas is recored in the Domesday Survey (1086), when it was named as ‘Opewas’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

The centre of Hopwas is at the junctions with School Lane and Hints Lane, where the historic parts of the village have a mainly linear layout. Hopwas is set in open countryside with two waterways passing through it, the Coventry Canal and the River Tame. The main road slopes gently down from west to east, from about 65 metres above sea level along the canal to below 60 metres by the river. However, the surrounding land slopes steeply from the heights of Hopwas Wood to the north down to the banks of the River Tame to the east.

The first documented reference to Hopwas is in the Domesday Survey (1086), where it was recorded as ‘Opewas’, and it soon became a well-stocked royal forest. At the time, the settlement was owned by the king and had a mill. The area was predominantly agricultural and was prosperous, due to the natural fertility of the Tame Valley lowlands.

The name evolved by the 12th century to ‘Hopewasin’, probably from the Saxon ‘hop’, meaning a fen island or valley, and ‘waesse’, meaning a swamp leading to an enclosure near a marsh. Agriculture was then an important source of employment, and this continued in the centuries that followed.

Hopwas was a royal forest in the middle ages, providing stone and oaks for Lichfield Cathedral and the friary (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

When Alexander de Stavenby was the Bishop of Lichfield, Henry III gave permission for the Dean and Chapter at Lichfield in 1235 to dig stone in the King’s forest to repair Lichfield Cathedral.

The Franciscans or Greyfriars had arrived in Lichfield ca 1229 and founded a friary with land and houses given by Bishop Alexander de Stavenby. Henry III gave them ten oaks from Hopwas in 1237 to help them rebuild their chapel.

Edward I ordered all undergrowth in Hopwas Wood to be cut down and rooted up in 1277 to prevent evildoers from lurking in the wood, which had become notorious for the frequency of robberies, assaults and murders.

A lease dated 5 April 1599 and signed by Thomas, John and William Comberford, involving Dean’s Wood in Hopwas Hay and other lands on the Lichfield to Tamworth road (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The Comberford family had connections with Hopwas from at least the late 13th century that continued for almost 4½ centuries until about 1718.

Alan de Comberford claimed Wigginton Manor in 1278 and had lands in Comberford, Wigginton, Coton and Hopwas. His younger grandson, Richard de Comberford, had an eldest daughter and heiress, Margery, who was ancestor of the Hopwas and Endsore families of Comberford.

John de Comberford and his wife Alice, were granted Hopwas in 1366, along with extensive estates between Lichfield and Tamworth, by his kinsman, Canon Hugh de Hopwas, a canon of Lichfield Cathedral. This may have been a legal expedient to ensure the estates did not become church property, and in 1382 John de Comberford returned the property to the Hopwas family when he granted them to John de Hopwas.

John Comberford (1440-1508) is named in court case in 1461 involving properties in Hopwas, Coton and Tamworth. His son, Thomas Comberford (1472-1532), who was admitted to membership of the Guild of Saint Mary and Saint John the Baptist in Lichfield in 1495, secured full rights over the manor of Wigginton in 1514, along with a mill, meadows, pastures and rentals in Wigginton, Hopwas, Coton, Comberford and Tamworth.

John Comberford held the rights of fishery on the River Tame from Lady Bridge in Tamworth to Hopwas Bridge in 1532 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

John Comberford still owned these properties when he died in 1532. He also had the right to hold a fair in Tamworth twice a year, the rights of fishery for a 2½-mile stretch along the River Tame from Lady Bridge, marking the boundary between the Staffordshire and Warwickshire parts of Tamworth, to Hopwas Bridge, and the right to keep six swans on the river.

Humphrey Comberford inherited these extensive Hopwas estates in 1528, and by 1544 that he held Hopwas, a wooded manor on the banks of the Tame. His second son, Humphrey Comberford, was the intended heir to the Hopwas estates, but he died unmarried in 1545 before his father died.

Thomas Comberford, his wife Dorothy, and their son and heir, William Comberforf, were holding the Manors of Comberford, Wigginton and Wednesbury, in 1592, which included a free warren in Comberford, Wednesbury and Hopwas and the Hay of Hopwas. In 1599, Thomas, John and William Comberford leased lands, including Dean’s Wood in Hopwas Hay and other lands on the Lichfield to Tamworth road, assigned to them in 1588 by their brother-in-law Sir William Stanford of Packington. Stanford sold all his rights in Hopwas to William Comberford in 1590 for £200.

Hopwas Bridge was described in 1608 as a private bridge in the repair of William Comberford. This William Comberford was taken to court in 1629 by the Dean and Chapter of Christ Church, Oxford, seeking a disputed annuity of £29 from the Manors of Wigginton and Comberford along his lands and tenements in Hopwas, Coton and Tamworth.

Black and White Cottages on School Lane, Hopwas … Catherine Comberford owned at least two cottages or house in Hpwas when she died in 1718 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Colonel William Comberford, who had been the royalist high sheriff of Staffordshire and was involved in the Siege of Lichfield, incurred heavy debts through his activities in the English civil war. By 1649, he was in a position to claim back his lands and pay off many of his debts, using lands in Tamworth, Coton, Hopwas, Comberford and Wiggington and the Manor of Bolehall as security.

After Robert Comberford died in 1669, his widow Catherine continued to live at Comberford Hall until she died in 1718. By then most of the Comberford properties had been mortgaged or sold off and she was a tenant of the Skeffington family of Fisherwick. Catherine’s will shows she still held land in Wigginton, and some property in Hopwas, and in Tamworth, including a house in Hopwas occupied by Henry Ashmore and another property in Hopwas she had bought from Francis Astbury and that was then occupied by Thomas Astbury. She divided these properties between her granddaughters Catherine Brooke and Mary Grosvenor of Tamworth.

A year before Catherine died, the former schoolmaster’s house in Hopwas was built in 1717 at the request of Thomas Barnes, who was born in Hopwas and was then living in London. Thomas Barnes Primary School was founded in 1724 in the schoolmaster’s house, and more school buildings have been added since.

The former schoolmaster’s house in Hopwas was built in 1717 with a bequest from Thomas Barnes (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

The life of Hopwas was always associated with water, first because of its position on the River Tame and then because of its connection with the canal after James Brindley was commissioned to build the Coventry Canal.

Work on the canal began in December 1768. But because Brindley demanded high standards in construction, the Coventry Canal Company ran out of money by the time the canal reached Atherstone in 1769, and Brindley was replaced by Thomas Yeoman. The canal was finally completed in 1789 after the two adjoining canal companies, the Trent and Mersey Canal Company and the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal Company, received permission to complete and operate the approved but still-unbuilt section from Fazeley to Fradley.

Meanwhile, what was left of the former Comberford interests in Hopwas seems to have passed along with Comberford Hall in the mid-18th century through the Skeffington, Swinfen, Hill and Egerton families until 1761, when they were bought by Thomas Thynne, Viscount Weymouth and later Marquis of Bath. He sold the Manors of Comberford and Wigginton, including lands in Hopwas and Coton, in 1789 to Arthur Chichester (1739-1799), 5th Earl of Donegall, who built Hopwas Hayes Lodge.

Eventually, the Chichester family was crippled by the gambling debts of a profligate son, and found it impossible to pay off their loans, so that they were forced to sell Comberford Hall and the manorial rights and lands that went with it, including those in Hopwas.

The canal dissects Hopwas and provides a framework for the village (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Hopwas Bridge, an old stone bridge, formed part of the original turnpiked road from Lichfield Road through Hopwas to Tamworth over the River Tame, and tolls were paid at the bridge. The bridge was washed away in a flood in 1795 and was replaced by a new bridge ca 1800. This landmark is now a Grade II listed structure and it marks the crossing point between Tamworth and Lichfield District.

The canal dissects Hopwas and has helped to provide a framework for the village. The historic core of Hopwas developed in a linear pattern alongside the canal and the adjacent Hints Lane, and this linear core helped to provide the rural charm of the village that has been preserved ever since.

Hopwas was described in the 19th century as ‘a small settlement situated at the bottom of a gravely hill’. Hopwas Water Pumping Station was built ca 1890 to the west to take advantage of the natural connection to the waterways.

By the early 20th century, the village sprawled further along A51 between Lichfield and Tamworth and housing developments grew up on the east side of Hints Lane. Despite minor alterations to the façades of some buildings and their change of use, the village kept its appearance. The gradual infill of development followed in the late 20th and early 21st century.

The Tame Otter, on the corner of the junction of Lichfield Road, Hints Road and School Lane, has become the focal point of the village (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

The Hopwas Conservation Area is a designated place of ‘special architectural or historic interest’ and has has a number of listed buildings, including the Saint Chad’s Church, built in 1879 in an idyllic and charming setting on the initiative of the Revd William McGregor of Tamworth.

No 1 Hints Road is a late 18th century house that epitomises the Staffordshire vernacular style. It is a red-brick building with a plain clay tile roof and architecturally it is the most distinguished building in that part of the village.

Black and White Cottages in School Lane form a row of three cottages, including one house that probably dates from the late 17th century.

Hopwas has two old public houses, the Red Lion and the Tame Otter, formerly the Chequers. Their neighbouring, facing beer gardens front onto the Coventry Canal, creating an attractive open space, and the steady traffic on the canal and its ambiance provide a vibrant yet relaxing atmosphere.

The Tame Otter, on the corner of the junction of Lichfield Road, Hints Road and School Lane, provides the main landmark for Hopwas. With its historic architecture, its canal-side location and its popularity, it has become the focal point of the village.

The Ministry of Defence warns members of the public to follow the route of the bridle path in the woodland (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

North of Hopwas village, Hopwas Hays Wood is 385 acres of ancient woodland, also known as Hopwas Hay or Hopwas Hayes, and was Crown property until the mid-16th century.

Hopwas Hayes Lodge was built ca 1786. His interests were bought out by the Levett family of Wychnor Park, and by 1834 the wood was owned by the Revd Thomas Levett (1740-1843), who was the Rector of Whittington for 40 years (1796-1836). He was a large landowner and played a role in the development of the local educational system. The house was bought by the Price family in 1949, but when it fell into disrepair it was demolished by Lichfield District Council.

A large part of the woodland is privately owned, mainly by Lafarge (Tarmac) and the Ministry of Defence. Hopwas Wood and parts of the range may be used by soldiers for dry training and the use of blank ammunition. Members of the public are warned to follow the route of the bridle path, to observe warning signs, and not to enter the range complex.

The Tame Otter (left) the Red Lion (right), with their facing beer gardens by the Coventry Canal create an attractive open space with a vibrant yet relaxing atmosphere (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

I ventured to the edges of the woods, climbed up to Saint Chad’s Church, and strolled along the canal towpaths before ending my day-long hike by rewarding myselff with a late (very late) lunch and a glass of wine at the Tame Otter.

I lingered in the sunshine a little longer than I had planned last week and missed the bus that would get me to Lichfield in time for choral evensong in the cathedral. Instead, I returned to Tamworth, had another wistful look at the Moat House on Lichfield Street, and caught the train back to Milton Keynes. But I returned to Hopwas yesterday, and managed to catch the bus to Lichfield in time for the mid-day Eucharist.

But more about Saint Chad’s Church in Hopwas, and some of the other churches, chapels and religious communities, in the days to come, hopefully.


A few moments in the sunshine on the Coventry Canal in Hopwas in the mid-day sunshine yesterday (Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Searching with an old map in Comberford for the sites of the old manor house and Comberford Windmill

A return visit to Comberford, in a search for the sites of the old manor house and Comberford Windmill (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Patrick Comerford

During my 10-mile hike a few days ago in south Staffordshire, through parts of Tamworth and villages and hamlets between Tamworth and Lichfield, I stopped halfway along my route at Comberford, having walked there from Wigginton, where I had visited Saint Leonard’s Church and tried to make connections with the centuries-old links with the Comberford family.

I walked the mile or two from Wigginton along Comberford Lane, which becomes Wigginton Lane halfway along its length, through fields and open countryside, to Comberford Hall. Each time I am on the train between Lichfield and Tamworth, I find myself craning my neck to see Comberford Hall. But I also try to get there regularly, and I have known Comberford and Comberford Hall since I was in teens.

After some ‘selfies’ at Comberford Hall and walking through the fields and farms nearby, I went for a stroll through the village and by the banks of the River Tame in the warm mid-day sunshine at the end of last week that felt more like early summer than late spring.

Apart from the now-closed church and some of the houses in Comberford, I was also looking for the site or location of two other places that no longer exist, with the help of a copy of a map of Tamworth produced in 1845: the site of the ‘Old Manor House’ and the site of Comberford Windmill.

Comberford Hall was rebuilt by Lord Donegall in the late 18th century … but where was the original moated manor house? (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

I had been shown the site by local residents about 55 years ago, but debate continues about the site of the original hall. The very name of the place indicates that Comberford was a ford or river crossing by the River Tame, and so the original manor house was probably closer to the east bank of the river than the present Comberford Hall.

The 15th-century, half-timbered Comberford Hall, built in 1439 by William Comberford MP, was still standing in the late 18th century, but the Staffordshire historian Stebbing Shaw noted in 1798 that it had been ‘entirely demolished’ by then and that a new house had been built on the site by Lord Donegall. Shaw also said traces of a moated site occupied by an earlier Comberford Hall could be found in a garden to the east of Comberford Hall.

If Shaw is correct in saying the original Comberford Hall stood east of the present Comberford Hall, then both Comberford Hall Cottage and the Coach House may stand on the original site or incorporate parts of the original house.

In the early 1970s, a ridged indentation in one of the fields to the north of the Comberford Hall close to the right of way that leads to Comberford village, was pointed out to me as the site of the original Comberford Hall. However, this contradicts Shaw’s descriptions of an original house east of Comberford Hall, and Valerie Coltman’s insights. Instead, it probably matches the crater shape in the field to the left of the path from Comberford village to Comberford Hall that was known to local children in the 1950s and 1960s as ‘the bomb field’ and caused by a stray bomb during World War II.

A third possible location for the original Comberford Hall may be Comberford Manor Farmhouse, at the north edge of Comberford Village and at the north end of Manor Lane, close to the banks of the river and the flood plane. I have surmised in the past that its location suggests that this mid-18th century farmhouse could be the site of the original Comberford Hall and the centre of the manor once owned by the Comberford family.

My 1845 map of Tamworth suggests the site of the old manor house and of Comberford Windmill

However, my 1845 map suggests the site of the old manor house was to the west of Comberford Manor Farmhouse, in fields closer to the east bank of the River Tame, and some distance north-west of the present, 18th century Comberford Hall.

Without the evidence an archaeological survey would produce, I could not adjudicate between the merits for the four suggestions for site of the original manor house: to the east of Comberford Hall (Stebbing Shaw); the site of the present Comberford Hall (Valerie Coltman); Comberford Manor Farmhouse; or the fields by the east bank the Tame, slightly west of the village (1845 map).

The other place I was searching for, and whose location on the 1845 map is Comberford Windmill, on the north side of Coton Lane, close to Comberford Crossroads, where Coton Lane and Gillway Lane meet at the junction with Comberford Road, immediately north of Tamworth, on the road towards Hopwas.

Windmill Farm is now within the boundaries of Tamworth, but was once part of what is now Wigginton and Hopwas civil parish, within the bounds of Lichfield District Council.

Windmill Farm on Coton Lane on the northern edges of Tamworth, south of Comberford Hall (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Windmill Farm was farmed by Frank and Kathleen Aucote, with their daughters Christine and Margaret, from 1944 to 1963, who were tenants of a Mr Heath who lived in New Zealand. They were market gardeners and also kept a herd of Friesian dairy cattle, and their land stretched from the Comberford Road towards Comberford and along Coton Lane to the railway.

Windmill Farm was sold in 1963, and the Aucote family moved to Nottinghamshire. It has been the home of the Sketchley family for many decades, since the late 1970s or early 1980s. A a few years before they moved in, the farmer had removed the stone and clay foundations of the windmill from the field and dragged them down to the bottom field on the farm.

Oxford Archaeology (OA) undertook a programme of archaeological investigation in April and May 2017 in advance of a residential development at Windmill Farm. Eleven trenches were opened. Five contained one or two linear ditches that were either undated, or post-mediaeval or modern. The southern-most trench contained a ditch and pit containing middle Roman pottery, and a further undated ditch.

In its excavations, Oxford Archaeology has found a substantial part of a Romano-British farmstead composed of a complex of rectilinear enclosures that was lived in during the second and third centuries. Two phases were identified, the settlement having been extended and additional enclosures added to the north and east around the middle of the second century.

The latter phase included the construction of a post-built aisled building, and two discrete dumps of burnt crop-processing debris attested to the crops people cultivated there. A notable find was a Samian Dragendorff 37 bowl decorated with an erotic scene.

Windmill Farm on Coton Lane … Oxford Archaeology carried out archaeological investigations in 2017 in advance of a residential development (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

The archaeological investigation at Coton Lane was the first substantial excavation of a Romano-British settlement in the Tamworth area, the only previous excavation being limited trenching of a cropmark site at Lichfield Road Industrial Estate, 600 metres to the south. Indeed, understanding of the Roman period in Staffordshire as a whole has been hampered by a lack of large-scale excavations and a concentration on the few villas and on military sites or small settlements.

In addition to the site at Lichfield Road Industrial Estate, the cropmark evidence from the Tame Valley includes a complex of at least four rectilinear enclosures and possible roundhouses that may provide evidence for a densely settled landscape in the Coton Lane area.

The digs also uncovered part of a mediaeval settlement that, was abandoned in the late 14th century, possibly because of the Black Death. In the 1980s, a local resident using a metal detector around the original location of the mill, in the field on the left of the drive up to the house, reportedly found some coins, including two Elizabethan silver shillings.

All of this was discovered beneath land that is now part of Tamworth’s modern landscape, and helps to understand the historical context of Comberford, even long before the Comberford family lived in this part of Staffordshire.

As I walked from Windmill Farm along Coton Lane, I could see how in recent years much of the farmland on the north side of Coton Lane, between Tamworth and Comberford, has been developed as housing in recent decades.

I continue on west, across the River Tame and the Coventry Canal, to Hopwas, where I wanted to see Saint Chad’s Church and the village, to walk by the canal pathway and to have a very late lunch.

But more about Hopwas, hopefully, in days to come.


Walking by the banks of the River Tame in Comberford (Patrick Comerford, 2026)