Coach & Horses
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ST JAMES THE GREAT, PARISH CHURCH OF HARVINGTON
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The great east window
There will always be more to write on our church, which has been a spiritual centre for villagers for many hundreds of years. The following material is a collection of various items and photographs.
Various folk have written about its history, including me, and there is some debate as to how long there has been a church on the site. See under 'Histories' for further information and discussion:-
Bailey's History
Fair's History
Millennium
Rawes' Early History
Winterburn's History and the VCH,
to name six sources. The age of the nave and chancel is generally accepted as early fourteenth century, however there is a debate as to the age of the tower which is definitely older than the nave. This site believes that it dates from the late 11th century but readers will have to come to their own conclusions. There are also differences of opinion as to whether our church replaced a previous structure.
In the 1920s much work and copying was achieved on the contents of the parish chest by the then Reverend Davenport. Revd Davenport also made a fine transcription of the memorials that once stood in the churchyard. The contents of the Parish Chest were deposited at the Worcestershire Record Office in 1980.
Probably the oldest piece of church furniture is our font, a description of which is to be found under Rawes' History. A major addition is a complete transcription of the memorials from both inside and outside the church, which also include past references to lost memorials. The survey of the church's interior in Church Memorials
now helps to illuminate the many changes that have taken place over the centuries.
Information from a folder
in the Vicar's Vestry.
after 1958 Cook family collection
1894 Theophilus Sharp, Rector
1958 from Cook family collection
Amongst church documents
Amongst church documents
Amongst church documents
An envolpe amongst church documents contains a number of records relating to charitable bequests. The above was considered worthwhile producing as it deals with the early creation of the Clarke Charity. This is an interesting document as it both early, 1605, and records a number of villagers.
Notes:- William Clarke may have lived in the village and may have been of the same yeoman Clarke family who in the mid to late seventeenth century lived at Crooked Walls; Revd Thomas Ferriman presumably lived in the Rectory as again did Revd Thomas Eades; the Haywards lived at either Harvington Hill or Manor Farm; for John Edwin see The Retreat and the Old Bakery; for the Marshalls see Manor Farm and Bank House.
Made in Longlartin Prison in Worcestershire in 1988 by a prisoner serving life. It was given to Pat Freeth, the wife of the then rector Barry Freeth, Pat was a Prison visitor. The model was given by Pat in 2014 to Joy Rawes at Crooked Walls and is now (2016) on a window sill in the church.
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The memorials and the contents of the interior of the church was surveyed in 2022. The glass topped wooden casing is on the old parish chest near the alter. The note upon the casing reads:- "The contents of this book are a record of the kneeler project begun in 1993 to give the names of those who donated, those who sewed and those in whose memory the work was carried out".
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Old issues of the parish magazine are useful in shewing church officials of the past as well as interesting items of the time. The following are only the front, back and inside covers, as the material inside is not pertinant to Harvington.
May 1932
Feb 1933
Aug 1951
July/August 1984
An annual event
by organised by Mike & Carol Barbour.
A remarkable hat festival, themed from birth to death, took place in St James' Church on the bank holiday weekend of 24/25/26th August 2024. The event was organised by Mike and Carol Barbour with the help and support of many volunteers.
by curtesy of Clive Haynes of Worcester.
