CHURCHES.
During the Middle Ages St.
Leonard's priory presumably served the area that
became Wombridge parish. No vicarage was
endowed before the Dissolution, and afterwards
the benefice (if there was one) seems to have been
simply a donative and outside the bishop's
ordinary jurisdiction. (fn. 50) It was evidently in the
Crown's patronage until the earlier 17th century.
Probably between 1621 and 1642 patronage was
acquired by the Charltons with the impropriate
tithes. In 1621 Francis Charlton still owed the
Crown the 'king's rent' of £2 6s. 8d. for the
maintenance of a minister, (fn. 51) but before his death
in 1642 he may have been allowing £20 a year to
the cure. In 1656 his son was called patron and
the old 'king's rent' was then retained by the
Charltons. The patronage remained with the
family, W. J. C. Charlton-Meyrick being patron in
1982. (fn. 52) From 1693 curates were licensed to the
cure but there was no formal institution until the
perpetual curacy became a vicarage in 1866 (fn. 53)
The first known minister was described as
lector in 1609 and 1616. (fn. 54) There was no minister
in 1656. (fn. 55) Before 1693 a minister built a house on
the waste at Oakengates and lived there, but
within a few years Francis Charlton (d. 1698) had
let it to a lay tenant. (fn. 56) Nevertheless there was
apparently glebe of 9 a. in the 1690s, (fn. 57) and in the
early 18th century the curates of Wombridge
received £5 from the Charltons and £3 from a
legacy of James Rushbury (d. 1718), an agent of
the family. (fn. 58) From that period there is evidence of
regular services at Wombridge, perhaps
interrupted in the 1770s; baptisms and burials are
recorded from 1721, marriages are recorded from
1802. (fn. 59)
Between 1746 and 1841 augmentations of the
living totalling £2,200 were made from Queen
Anne's Bounty, that of £200 in 1841 meeting a
benefaction of St. John C. Charlton. (fn. 60) The living,
worth £82 in 1856, (fn. 61) was improved by c. £50 a
year between 1864 and 1867 by the Ecclesiastical
Commissioners from £1,000 of subscriptions and
grants. In 1879 the living was worth £170. (fn. 62) It had
risen to £200 by 1913 and £378 by 1932. (fn. 63) During
the 19th and 20th centuries the area of the glebe
fluctuated between 3 a. and 10½ a. (fn. 64)
In 1841 St. John C. Charlton gave a site for a
benefice house, and there was one in 1851. (fn. 65) In
1884, however, the vicarage was said to be a
former farmhouse. (fn. 66) A new vicarage was built next
to the old one c 1982.
The earliest known ministers, Richard Wood
(fl. 1609-16) and one Holmes (before 1693), lived
in the parish (fn. 67) but Robert Bromhall, LL.D., lived
at Hadley. When licensed in 1693, immediately
after his ordination as deacon, Bromhall was aged
c. 60; he was licensed as schoolmaster in the
parish and from 1697 was also assistant curate in
Dawley. (fn. 68) William Sockett, rector of Preston upon
the Weald Moors from 1714, also served Wombridge from 1721. (fn. 69) William Laplain, Stephen
Panting, and Joshua Gilpin, successive vicars of
Wrockwardine, apparently served Wombridge for
periods between 1743 and 1783. (fn. 70)
C. R. Cameron, perpetual curate 1808-56, was
also perpetual curate of St. George's 1807-31. (fn. 71)
Both he and his wife Lucy (1781-1858) (fn. 72)
published numerous books and pamphlets of an
improving nature, many illustrated with examples
from the Oakengates area. In their works they
frequently condemned self-indulgent and spendthrift miners, and in 1831 during the wages riots
Cameron was active on behalf of the magistracy
and yeomanry. At times the Camerons criticized
standards of Methodist discipline and called in
question the religious convictions of enthusiastic
nonconformist preachers. (fn. 73) Cameron's successor,
James Russell (1856-71), also published sermons
and commentaries. (fn. 74)
The Lady chapel of the former priory church
remained standing until 1756. There was no glass
in its windows in the period 1693-8 and a repair
brief was reputedly issued in 1723. The building
was still in use c. 1741 but collapsed in 1756. (fn. 75) A
brief was issued in 1757 and a new church was
erected. Built of brick, with stone-dressed roundheaded windows, the church of ST. MARY AND
ST. LEONARD comprised a nave and small west
tower. It seated 200. In 1824 a further brief was
issued and north and south transepts, both with
galleries, were added to the eastern end of the
nave, increasing the seating to 500. (fn. 76) There was
also an eastern apse, which was removed with the
galleries in a major restoration of 1869. (fn. 77)
Additions of 1869, designed by George Bidlake
of Wolverhampton, included a chancel with south
transept, an organ chamber and vestry on the
north side, and north and south nave aisles. The
church was also reseated, the tower raised, and
the roof replaced. (fn. 78) A legacy of James Oliver (d.
1867) of Wellington, the son of a former incumbent, provided £900 of the cost. In 1859 and 1866
plate was given in memory of James's sister,
mother-in-law, and nephew. There is one bell, of
1899. (fn. 79) Sir Thomas Meyrick gave ½ a. to extend
the graveyard in 1898. (fn. 80)
The register of baptisms and burials begins in
1721, that of marriages in 1802. (fn. 81) Between the
collapse of the old church in 1756 and the completion of the replacement most baptisms were at
Priorslee. (fn. 82)
The new church of HOLY TRINITY, Oakengates, was built in 1854 and immediately assigned
its own parish from the parishes of Wombridge
and Shifnal. That part of Wombridge south of
Priory Farm was put in the new parish, largely
depriving Wombridge of both population and
parish. Accordingly in 1859 the area north of
Hartshill and Market Street, on the Watling
Street, and west of Harts Bridge Road, was
returned to Wombridge. (fn. 83) In 1854 patronage of
the living was vested in the bishop of Lichfield,
patron in 1982. (fn. 84)
In 1853 and 1855 the living, until 1868 a
perpetual curacy, was endowed by grants and
subscriptions and matching benefactions from
Queen Anne's Bounty. (fn. 85) In 1870 the living was
worth £70, and in 1881 £97 18s. 2d. made up of
£41 18s. from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners,
£30 11s. 7d. from Queen Anne's Bounty, and £25
8s. 7d. in fees and offerings. (fn. 86) Further grants were
made in 1885, 1886, and 1887, (fn. 87) and in 1892 the
living was worth £131. (fn. 88) Grants were again made
in 1908 and 1910, (fn. 89) and in 1922 the living was
valued at £300, in 1932 £308 net. (fn. 90)
The vicarage house was built next to the church
in 1856 on land given in 1854 by St. John C.
Charlton. The building was apparently financed
from a residue in the church building fund. (fn. 91) J. E.
G. Cartlidge (d. 1976), vicar 1928-47, published
several books and pamphlets on the area's history,
and was active in local government and the movement to improve the derelict industrial landscape
of Oakengates in the 1930s. (fn. 92)
Holy Trinity church was built and consecrated
in 1855, £3,103 having been raised by subscriptions and grants since 1850. Designed by Ewan
Christian and built by John Millington, in the
event it cost only £2,047 (fn. 93) and seated 500. (fn. 94) It
consisted of a nave with short north and south
aisles, chancel and a central turret, and was built
in banded red and blue brick; originally the roof
was similarly striped. (fn. 95)
There is one bell, installed after 1885. (fn. 96) A
churchyard extension was consecrated in 1930. (fn. 97)
The registers are complete from 1855. (fn. 98)
A chapel of ease at Priorslee in Shifnal parish,
probably of 12th-century build, survived to serve
the needs of the area's increasing industrial
population in the later 18th century and, having
been replaced by a new church of ST. PETER in
1836, was demolished in 1838. (fn. 99)
In the mid 18th century the old chapel was
occasionally served (like Wombridge) by William
Laplain and Stephen Panting, successive vicars of
Wrockwardine (1740-87). (fn. 1) A set of plate was
given in 1771. (fn. 2) In 1799 land bought by Queen
Anne's Bounty provided the minister serving the
chapel with £20-£30 a year; (fn. 3) baptisms took place
there. (fn. 4) E. Roberts was minister on the nomination
of the vicar of Shifnal; Roberts, however, had
moved to Wales and the one Sunday service there
was then taken by Robert Smith, curate of Shifnal. Said to be inconveniently timed, at one
o'clock, it attracted a poor congregation. There
were eight to ten Easter and Christmas
communicants. (fn. 5) By 1824 Smith was minister at
Priorslee, residing at Coppice Green, 5 km. to the
east. His living was then worth c. £120 a year.
The frequency and time of services remained
unaltered. (fn. 6)
Under J. T. Matthews, minister c. 1827-c.
1857 and headmaster of Shifnal grammar school, (fn. 7)
services were more frequent and more conveniently timed and a new church was built. In 1829
there were Sunday services at one and three
o'clock, one with a sermon, and communion was
celebrated four times a year. (fn. 8) In 1843, after the
new church had been built and consecrated,
services remained the same and there were 20
communicants. Marriages and burials had begun
in 1837 and 1839 respectively. (fn. 9)
William Angell, minister from Matthews's death
until 1881, had been his curate for at least the last
year of his life. (fn. 10) During Angell's time, in 1863,
Priorslee became an ecclesiastical parish separate
from Shifnal. The perpetual curate was styled
vicar from 1868 and the benefice remained in the
patronage of the vicar of Shifnal (fn. 11) until 1982
when (fn. 12) it was united with the benefice of St.
George's; patronage of the united benefice was
then vested in the vicar of Shifnal and the bishop
of Lichfield jointly. (fn. 13) The living, worth £140 in
1843, was worth £224 in 1885 and £400 in 1932. (fn. 14)
The glebe had comprised 23 a. in Shifnal and a
28-a. farm in Halesowen (Salop. and Worcs.) in
1843; by 1884 the latter had perhaps been exchanged for one near Oldbury (Worcs.). (fn. 15)
It is not clear when in the 19th century a
benefice house was first provided. In 1926 an old
six-bedroomed vicarage was sold and a new one
built on adjoining land. (fn. 16)
The new brick church built at Snedshill, 1 km.
north-west of the old chapel and closer to the
population, was designed by Ewan Christian. It
consisted of a nave seating 415, 200 seats being
free. A west tower and vestries were added between 1843 and 1851. (fn. 17) In 1903 a south gallery
was removed and a chancel designed by C. B.
Dalgleish added. (fn. 18) A churchyard extension was
consecrated in 1917. (fn. 19) The single bell was installed in 1958; another of 1726 survives unhung. (fn. 20)
The register of baptisms begins in 1813, marriages in 1837, and burials in 1867. (fn. 21)