Tag: St johns

May 18th – only just still standing, the fabric of the old St. John’s School in Walsall Wood High Street continues to gently decay. Soon, I think the roof will collapse, the clearly rotten timbers unable to support the tons of roofing tiles resting upon them. Permission has been granted for some years now for a development of flats here,meaning demolition of most of the old school and the old bungalow next to it, also empty now for several decades. Sadly, the downturn came, and the developers ran out of money.

A small, suburban, architectural tragedy.

November 28th – Christmas is bearing down upon us. Last week, I recorded the unlit Christmas tree, ready to be decorated in St John’s churchyard, Walsall Wood; a week later there are lights in the tree and wrapped round the lampposts down the high street. It’s not the fast return of Christmas that bothers me, it’s the increasingly short gaps between them that bothers me. Humbug.

November 22nd – At least is was dry on the way home. Dry and getting colder, but as I shot through Walsall Wood the lights of St. John’s church looked warm in the gloom. I guess there was some event going on there, but I liked the contrast with the dark exterior. I noticed also that Walsall Wood again had a fine Christmas Tree – not yet lit up. This is probably the work of Councillor Mike Flower, who’s personally stepped in as an act of unusual generosity and felicity to get the Wood a decent tree since he’s been elected – a huge difference from Brownhills where they throw a string of pound shop lights over the trees by Morris Miner. Mike’s a nice lad, really. Shame he fell in with the Tories…

August 11th – Walsall Wood church of St. John is an imposing, typically industrial red-brick church, sadly vandalised by a thoroughly unsympathetic extension, an affliction meted out surprisingly frequently to local churches by the Lichfield Diocese, who seem to have about as much understanding of ecclesiastical aesthetics as I do of brain survey. Both Pelsall and Brownhills churches were similarly debased; it’s particularly sad in this case as the church itself has a beautiful, devotional interior and didn’t deserve this treatment.

July 24th – Shenstone Churchyard is a tranquil place. Right atop St. Johns Hill, the church itself is a dark, brooding sandstone edifice, replete in a severe, gargoyle-enhanced Victorian gothic which I’ve never found pleasant. The grounds, however, are shady, dotted with mature trees and overlooked by the ruins of the remaining tower from a previous incarnation of the church. Nearby is what I assume to be the ruins of the former chancel steps, right there in the graveyard. Peace, with history bearing all around.

June 7th – The old St. John’s School and adjacent bungalow in Walsall Wood continue to deteriorate unloved, as they have done for 30 years or more. This formerly handsome, well liked building is slated for demolition and redevelopment, yet nothing ever seems to happen. This belies a tale of neglect, bad management and community frustration. It’s sad to see a beautiful building, a gift to the community of Walsall Wood over a century ago, just rot away on the whims of those after a fast buck from the property market.

April 28th – Shenstone is a neat and compact village built on the slopes of and around a central hill. On top of this hill stands the imposing structure of Shenstone Church, St. Johns. At this time in the spring, only one church tower is visible, but there are actually two – another, smaller ruined tower from an earlier church still stands, being gently carried to dust by the weather, in a corner of the churchyard.