St Mary's Church in

Handsworth, South Yorkshire Handsworth is a suburb of south eastern Sheffield, in South Yorkshire, England. It covers an area of approximately , and has a population of approximately 15,000. It has five schools, four churches, a variety of small shops, a large supermarke ...

, is a

Church of England parish church A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ca ...

about east of the centre of

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

, England.

History

St Mary's was originally a

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

church built in about 1170. It was founded by the Norman lord,

William de Lovetot William de Lovetot, Lord of Hallamshire, possibly descended from the Norman Baron Ricardus Surdus,* (wikisource:Hallamshire. The History and Topography of the Parish of Sheffield in the County of York, wikisource) was an Anglo-Normans, Anglo-Norma ...

, or his father Richard, and the foundations were planned by William Paynel. In the 1220s St Katherine's Chapel was added, probably for Maud de Lovetot, for prayer and Mass to be offered for the soul of her husband

Gerard de Furnival Gerard de Furnival (c.1175–1219) was a Norman knight and Lord of Hallamshire (now part of Sheffield, England) and Worksop. De Furnival's father was also called Gerard de Furnival, and had fought with Richard I at the Siege of Acre. De Furniv ...

, and perhaps their son, Thomas de Furnival who died on a

crusade The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were i ...

to Jerusalem and the Holy Land. By 1472 the Fabric Rolls of York reported that the church was ruinous, but in the process of being rebuilt. It was successive Earls of Shrewsbury who had much of the damage repaired in the Tudor era. Handsworth StMaryV weathercock

Lightning Lightning is a naturally occurring electrostatic discharge during which two electric charge, electrically charged regions, both in the atmosphere or with one on the land, ground, temporarily neutralize themselves, causing the instantaneous ...

struck the church spire in 1698. The new steeple subsequently built to replace it was much smaller and became known as "the Handsworth stump". In the 1820s the "stump" was demolished and a new tower erected. Lightning struck the tower again in January 1978, this time causing less damage. The spire, and the clock and bell tower were extensively repaired in 2002. Simon Foliot, the first Rector, had two assistants and by 1535 there were five. The assistants lost their livings in the

English Reformation The English Reformation took place in 16th-century England when the Church of England broke away from the authority of the pope and the Catholic Church. These events were part of the wider European Protestant Reformation, a religious and poli ...

. The west tower has a ring of eight bells.

John Taylor & Co John Taylor Bell Foundry (Loughborough) Limited, trading as John Taylor & Co and commonly known as Taylor's Bell Foundry, Taylor's of Loughborough, or simply Taylor's, is the world's largest working bell foundry. It is located in Loughborough, ...

Loughborough Loughborough ( ) is a market town in the Charnwood borough of Leicestershire, England, the seat of Charnwood Borough Council and Loughborough University. At the 2011 census the town's built-up area had a population of 59,932 , the second larg ...

, Leicestershire re-cast and re-hung all eight bells in 1920. There is also a service bell, which was cast in 1590 by Henry II Oldfield of

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

. The church is a

Grade II listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

Rectory

The Tudor rectory was where the Parish Centre is now. It was originally a timber-framed building. In the late 17th or early 18th century, a larger and more modern rectory was built near the chancel of the church. Shortly afterward a wing complementary to the east wing was built. Little of the Tudor rectory survives, but parts were incorporated into the new building. A section of the straw and daub wall survives in the current museum, as does an oak tree post in the current reception hall. All the pre-

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outhouses, except the coach house and stable block, were demolished. The coach house and stable block were modernised in the Victorian era.

Chantry Inn

Immediately north of St Mary's church is the Chantry Inn. This was built in the mid-13th century as a church house for the chaplains and lay clerks attached to St Mary's. After the Reformation, the house was turned into a school. In about 1804 it became licensed as a

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

Registers

Parish registers A parish register in an ecclesiastical parish is a handwritten volume, normally kept in the parish church in which certain details of religious ceremonies marking major events such as baptisms (together with the dates and names of the parents), ma ...

of baptisms, marriages and funerals at St Mary's survive from 1558 onwards. The registers are continuous until 1836, when a new system of registration was introduced.

References

External links