All Saits Church Shelsley Beauchamp

A Memory of Shelsley Beauchamp.

At one time I was a choir boy at All Saints Church. I cannot remember who was in the choir with me at the time but I do remember the vicar was the Reverend Bache. When I visited the church in 1997 while on holiday in Britain I found that there was a book in which all the past ministers at the church were listed. To my surprise, the Rev Bache was not among them. I think that the matter should be investigated and the list corrected. I know that I have the name right as I had a book of common prayer given to me by the said reverend in which he had signed his name. During the time Rev Bache was minister I had a great interest in Theology, an interest encouraged by the reverend to such an extent he suggested to my parents that I be allowed to attend a recognised Church School where I could peruse Theology in more depth with a view to taking up the church as a vocation. My parents declined saying that as I was so young I should be allowed to follow my own way until such time as I decided for myself what course in life I wished to take. After we left Shelsley I retained the interest in Theology and continued to be a regular church goer. Later, I began to read more and more until circumstances in my life changed the direction of my thoughts completely.
All Saints Church stands on the high side of the ground next to Church House Farm. Indeed the area closest to the farm has a high wall with the church grounds levee with the top of the wall. Around this perimeter is a group of well established Yew trees. When these were planted I do not know but from the architecture of the church I would assume that it had been built probably at the middle of the 19th century, long after the directive that Yew trees should be planted in church grounds to provide a ready source if material for the British 'Long Bow' had fallen into disuse.
The ground around the church is only part of the total area used as a graveyard. The other part of the graveyard is on the opposite side of the road and approached by a gate on the corner of the road that leads to Birch bank.
One item in the grounds around the church that has always intrigued me is a sandstone structure roughly circular with around two steps up and in the centre is mounted a piece of the same stone shaped something like a solid wooden carved table leg of the early Victorian period. Emerging from the top of this 'leg' is a length of iron shaped as thought it was made to hold something like a lantern, or, perhaps act as a diffuser for a spray jet as one may find in a fountain. No one has ever been able
to tell me of its origin or purpose.
Inside the church there are two very old chests that have been there for many years. They were there when I was a child and are still there now, although now in a different position within the church. I assume that they were used for keeping Parish records and other church papers for many years.
I cannot say that if you look carefully in the choir stalls you will find my name carved, because you won't. In fact my impact on the church has always been quite negligible. It was, and still is, a very nice building the ground of which house the bodies of my paternal grandfather and my cousin Marjories; husbands Reg Anderson and Walter Radky.