St. James Church - the first hundred years

Set above the village centre of Gornal Wood, St James' Church in Lower Gornal has a long and distinguished history. Building of the church itself - which was designated a Chapel of Ease to the parish church of Sedgley - was started in 1815 and the structure completed two years later at an overall cost of just under £1000. The land for the church, together with a two acre burial ground, was given by the Earl of Dudley and in 1822, following the consecration of the building, Viscount Dudley gave a further deed of endowment with additional land and buildings producing an annual income of £15. Under the deed the patronage of the church was reserved to Viscount Dudley and his heirs and as compensation an annual payment of £5 was made to the Vicar of Sedgley, an arrangement that continued until 1871 when the patronage was transferred to the Bishop of Lichfield. The driving force behind the establishment of St James' was a gentleman called Theodosius Theodosius who, in 1823, became the first vicar of St James'. Until 1814 Theodosius had been minister of the Independent Chapel at Ruiton, just up the hill from where St James' was eventually built. He had been appointed to the chapel in January 1805 and was an immediate success with congregations increasing substantially. However, he then met and married Catherine Fletcher whose family were well connected to the Church of England. Whether or not it was his wife and in-laws who influenced him is not known but shortly after his marriage Theodosius made several attempts to move the fiercely non-conformist Ruiton Chapel towards the established Church of England. He even advocated that the chapel should become affiliated directly with Sedgley Parish Church. Such moves were strongly rejected by many of the chapel's congregation and, following a long running (and increasingly acrimonious) war of words the deacons of the chapel gave Theodosius six months notice to leave. This, though, was far from the end of the matter as Theodosius refused to leave at the end of this period and he continued to take services in the chapel until early 1814. Eventually the deacons were left with no alternative but to take out a court action against their minister. This was due to be heard in March 1814 but just days before his court appearance Theodosius resigned his ministry and shortly afterwards was ordained into the Church of England. The original church building established by Theodosius contained 297 pews and 303 free seats, providing a total capacity of 600. This quickly proved inadequate and in 1837 the church was enlarged to enable up to 650 parishioners to attend. To celebrate the re-opening on 18th June 1837 the Rev. Girdlestone, Vicar of Sedgley, preached two sermons and the collections amounted to the enormous amount of £268. The total cost of the extension was about £400 and the balance was quickly raised from local subscribers (£64) and the Diocesan Society. In 1848, at the age of 75 Theodosius retired and moved to Stafford to live with his son until his death on 1st January 1853. At St James' he was succeeded by a much younger cleric, the Rev. James Yates Rooker, who was to serve the Gornal community for the next 40 years. Rev. Rooker oversaw two further enlargements of the church (in 1849 and 1863) and the installation of a new organ in November 1856. During his tenure the rev. Rooker became extremely well-known for his ministry throughout the Black Country and this enhanced the reputation of St James' considerably. The Rev. Rooker died on 15th March 1887 at the age of 65 and in his place the Rev. Charles McCreery was appointed. Although he stayed at St James' for just four years (before moving on to St Peter's in Walsall) during his time at Gornal he did oversee the building of the chancel, said by some to be the finest part of the church. In 1891 he was succeeded by the Rev. Arthur Tudball, a staunch traditionalist who not only set high standards in his services but also ensured that all youngsters in the village had the opportunity of religious education. The Rev. Tudball left St James' in 1897 to go first to St James', Wednesbury and then to Vauxhall in South London. In Gornal his replacement was the Rev. Frederick Job, who co-incidentally was a friend of Arthur Tudball. One of the first tasks facing the new incumbent was replacing the church organ which had finally failed in a somewhat spectacular manner mid-way through a service. Much of the workings of the new organ came from Wombourne Church with some parts being salvaged from the old instrument. In 1909, the Rev. Job was faced with an even greater task when the old cracked bell in the tower needed replacing. Substantial efforts were made to raise the necessary funds and later that year a new tenor bell "of great resonance" was installed in the church tower, a feat that was then overshadowed by the tower being held to be unsafe and unable to withstand the vibration of the bell being tolled. The outbreak of the Great War saw many changes in Gornal, as in other small communities throughout the Black Country, with many of the young men volunteering for active service. One such young man was Bernard Keeble Craig Job, the son of Father and Mrs Job from St James'. With strange irony Bernard Job was killed in action at Hill 60 on 19th April 1915, 100 years almost to the day from when construction on St James' started. Later a Lady Altar and Chapel were dedicated in the chancel in his memory. Many thanks to Chris Smith for this contribution. 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