St Peter's Collegiate Church

St Peter's Collegiate Church, Wolverhampton

St Peter's Collegiate Church
Denomination Church of England
Previous denomination Roman Catholic
Churchmanship High Church
Website St. Peter's Collegiate Church
History
Dedication Saint Peter
Administration
Parish Central Wolverhampton
Diocese Lichfield
Province Canterbury
Clergy
Rector The Rev'd Preb David Wright
Priest(s) The Rev'd Eddie Brookes
Curate(s) The Rev'd Jo Williams
Laity
Organist/Director of music Peter Morris
Organist(s) Matt Rose, Toby Barnard, Ralf Ayling-Miller (organ scholar), Dr. David Rendell (emeritus)
Churchwarden(s) Sue Bowden and Deborah Castle
Verger Maureen Bolton

St Peter's Collegiate Church is located on the northern side of central Wolverhampton, England. For many centuries it was a chapel royal, and from 1480 a royal peculiar, independent of the Diocese of Lichfield and even the Province of Canterbury. The collegiate church was central to the development of the town of Wolverhampton, much of which belonged to its dean. Until the 18th century, it was the only church in Wolverhampton and the control of the college extended far into the surrounding area, with dependent chapels in several towns and villages of southern Staffordshire.

Fully integrated into the diocesan structure since 1848, today St Peter's is part of the Anglican Parish of Central Wolverhampton. The Grade I listed building, much of which is Perpendicular in style, dating from the 15th century, is of significant architectural and historical interest. Although it is not a cathedral, it has a strong choral foundation in keeping with English Cathedral tradition. The Father Willis organ is of particular note: a campaign to raise £300,000 for its restoration was launched in 2008.[1]

History

A Wolverhampton Civic Society blue plaque in the south porch summarises the history of the church.
Shaft of Anglo-Saxon cross, attributed to the 9th century, to the south of the church. Although often said to belong to an early Mercian monastery on the site, there is no evidence of such a building. The cross is as likely to have been a preaching cross from the period before the church existed.
Statue of Wulfrun bearing her charter, on the church steps, by Charles Wheeler (sculptor).
Tablet commemorating Wulfrun's bequest in the south porch.

St Peter's is an Anglo-Saxon foundation. The history of St Peter's was dominated for centuries by its collegiate status, from the 12th century constituted as a dean and prebendaries, and by its royal connections, which were crystallised in the form of the Royal Peculiar in 1480. Although a source of pride and prosperity to both town and church, this institutional framework, hard-won and doggedly defended, made the church subject to the whims of the monarch or governing elite and unresponsive to the needs of its people. Characterised by absenteeism and corruption through most of its history, the college was involved in constant political and legal strife, and it was dissolved and restored a total of three times, before a fourth and final dissolution in 1846 cleared the way for St Peter's to become an active urban parish church and the focus of civic pride.

994–1066: Origins and endowments

Wulfrun's charter

There is some doubt about the origins of the College of Wolverhampton. The most important item of evidence is a charter, alleged by an anonymous history of the Diocese of Lichfield to have been discovered around 1560 in ruderibus muri, "in the ruins of a wall."[2] The story of its discovery and its subsequent disappearance has cast doubt on the authenticity of the charter.[3] It is known from a transcription made by William Dugdale in 1640,[4] when the original was in the library at St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, and included in his famous survey, Monasticon Anglicanum.[5] Sigeric, Archbishop of Canterbury, confirms Lady Wulfrun's endowment of a Minster at Hampton. The original grant by Wulfrun, partly Latin and partly Old English, is quoted in the charter. A translation begins:

I, Wulfrun, do grant to the proper patron and high-throned King of Kings, and (in honour of) the everlasting Virgin mother of God, Mary, and of all the saints, for the body of my husband, and of my soul, ten hides of land, to that aforesaid monastery of the servants of God there, and in another convenient place another ten hides for the offences of Wulfgeat my kinsman lest he should hear in the judgment to be dreaded from the severe Judge, "Go away from me, I hungered and thirsted," and so on. Because he is blessed who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. Finally now my sole daughter, Elfthryth, has migrated from the world to the life-giving airs. For the third time I have granted 10 hides to the almighty God, with ineffable charity, more willingly than the others (Which are surrounded by these territories). 'These are the boundaries of the land that Wulfrun has given to the minster in Hamtun and the names of the towns that this privilegium refers to:
First of Earn-leie and Eswick and Bilsetna-tun and Willan-hale and Wodnesfeld and Peoleshale and Ocgingtun and Hiltun and Hagenthorndun and Kynwaldes-tun (Kinvaston) and another Hiltune and Feotherstun.[6]

The charter then defines the boundaries of the estates given by Wulfrun in considerable detail. Some of the places named are fairly easy to recognise from their modern or medieval forms: Arley, Bilston, Wilenhall, Wednesfield, Pelsall, Ogley Hay, Hilton, Hatherton, Kinvaston, Featherstone. Others raise problems. These were discussed in the notes to a collection of Anglo-Saxon charters prepared for publication by C. G. O. Bridgeman in 1916, and his conclusions have been generally accepted. These include the identification of Eswick as Ashwood, Staffordshire, as it was Haswic in the Domesday Book, and of the second Hilton as a village of that name near Ogley and Wall, Staffordshire.[7] The ten hides of land at Wolverhampton were probably those which Wulfrun herself had received from Ethelred II by a charter of 985.[8][9] These were specified as ix uidelicet in loco qui dicitur aet Heantune, et aeque unam manentem in eo loco quae Anglice aet Treselcotum uocitatur ("nine plainly in the place which is called Hampton and equally the remaining one in the place called by the English Trescott"):[10] the latter is a place on the River Smestow to the west of Wolverhampton. The Arley lands probably came from a grant which King Edgar the Peaceful had made to Wulfgeat, a relative of Wulfrun, in 963.[11][12] In 1548, before the alleged discovery of Wulfrun's charter, Edgar himselfwas generally accepted as the founder of the College.[13] Wulfgeat was an important adviser to Ethelred, a king who proverbially, as the Unready or Redeless, did not accept good advice: he fell into disgrace[14] and Wulfrun's grants were partly to make amends for his perceived injustices. When Wulfgeat died in about 1006, he left four oxen to the church at Heantune.[15]

Heantun church

The church was originally dedicated to St Mary and this was still the dedication at the Domesday survey:[16][17] It was switched to St Peter, probably in the mid-12th century: an escheator's inquisition in 1393 recalled that it was still St Mary's when Henry I (1100–35) granted a small estate to set up a chantry for himself and his parents.[18] It seems likely that the College always consisted of secular clergy —priests who did not belong to a religious order, rather than monks.[19] A writ attributed to King Edward the Confessor (1042–1066) refers to the College as "my priests at Hampton." Although the document is known to be a forgery, probably dating from a century later, the secular character of the chapter seems to have been accepted unchallenged, despite the implication in the foundation charter that it might be a monastery. All of the Domesday entries relating to the church of Wolverhampton refer to clergy, canons or priests, never monks. There is no evidence that a monastery ever existed at Wolverhampton.

A college was not originally an educational institution but rather a body of people with a shared purpose, in this case a community of priests charged with pastoral care over a wide and wild area. Wulfruna's was far from unique, even in its locality. The collegiate church of St Michael at nearby Penkridge pre-dated Wulfruna's church, probably by about half a century.[20] Frank Stenton pointed out that Old English word mynster was often used as a word for churches served by such communities of priests and does not necessarily indicate that a community was made up of monks, although it is derived from the Latin monasterium.[21] Rather than conventional parishes, substantial areas in Anglo-Saxon England were served by groups of priests who replicated the bishop's cathedral chapter in which they had been trained by working in community. These were generally not monastic houses in the full sense. Ethelred II did decree clerical celibacy for such bodies, in an effort them more monastic in character, but without success.[22] Richard A. Fletcher noted that in this period of renewed Viking activity there were numerous "communities of clergy at which reformers looked askance but which very probably made a significant if unobtrusive contribution to the Christianization of Anglo-Scandinavian England."[23] In some cases, like that of Ripon Cathedral, former monasteries were revived as collegiate churches. At least one, Stow Minster in Lincolnshire, benefited greatly from the generosity of another Mercian noblewoman, Godgifu or Lady Godiva.[24] Wulfrun's foundation belonged firmly in this wave of lay foundations. By Domesday Wolverhampton and Penkridge had been joined by St Mary's Church, Stafford[25] and St Michael's at Tettenhall.[26]

1066–1135: Norman conquest and its consequences

It is not clear when the College began to have a close connection with the Crown, although this was to become a defining characteristic, which shaped much of its history. The forged letter of Edward the Confessor is meant to point to just such a close relationship, but we know it dates from a century later, after the church had Wolverhampton had passed through a series of difficulties which it probably wanted to resolve permanently. Some of these stemmed from the Norman Conquest, which brought considerable disruption to Staffordshire's collegiate churches. Wolverhampton's was given by William the Conqueror to his own personal chaplain, Samson.

W. rex Anglorum L. archiepiscopo et G. episcopo Constant et P. episcopo et R. vicecomiti ceterisque suis fidelibus de Estaffordscire salutem. Sciatis me dedisse Sampsoni capellano meo ecclesiam Sancte Marie de Wolvrenehamptonia, cum terra et omnibus aliis rebus et consuetudinibus, sicut melius predicta ecclesia habuit tempore regis Edwardi.[27] Notification by William I to Archbishop L(anfranc) and G(osfrid), Bishop of Coutances, and P(eter), Bishop (of Lichfield) and R(obert) the sheriff and the other lieges of Staffordshire. That the King has given to Samson his chaplain the church of St. Mary of Wolverhampton with the land and all the things and customs which the aforesaid church had in the time of King Edward.[28]

Domesday shows a variable situation of retreat and advance for the canons of Wolverhampton. They no longer held Wolverhampton itself as tenants-in-chief but as tenants of Samson.[16] No holdings of the canons are mentioned at Bilston, either before of after the Conquest: the whole of Bilston now belonged to the king himself.[31] Other lands he had let out to other priests: certainly Hatherton,[32] although the Victoria County History includes, while Open Domesday does not, Kinvaston,[33] Hilton[34] and Featherstone.[35] At Arley, some of their land had been seized forcibly by one Osbern Fitz Richard.[36] On the other hand, even before the Conquest, they had acquired an estate at Lutley, Worcestershire, and they claimed woodland at Sedgeley: neither of these was in Wulfrun's grant.

At Wolverhampton, the canons' land was cultivated by 14 slaves, alongside 36 other peasants.[16] The church also had slaves at Upper Arley. The expansion of the royal forests, hunting grounds for the king and his retainers, had hit the region hard and Wolverhampton was almost surrounded, with the Forest of Kinver up to its southern edge, and the Forest of Brewood and Cannock Chase to the north. This took substantial areas out of agricultural production, making them almost valueless to the canons: there were five hides at Ashwood now subsumed into the Forest of Kinver, for example. Despite the direct royal patronage and the close attention of the royal chaplain, the Conquest had brought considerable setbacks for the canons.

Samson was elected Bishop of Worcester on 8 June 1096.[37] He may have been previously in only minor orders, as he had to be ordained a priest the day before his consecration. He became notorious, despite his vow of clerical celibacy, as the father of at least three children, two of whom later became bishops. During the reign of Henry I, he donated the church at Wolverhampton to his cathedral priory at Worcester, although its lands and privileges were protected.[38] Henry I himself made a very substantial grant to Wolverhampton church to establish his chantry there: a house with forty acres of land and rents worth £20 a year.[18]

1135–89: Anarchy and after

However, The Anarchy, the confused civil strife of King Stephen's reign, brought great challenges. First the church was seized by Roger, Bishop of Salisbury.[39] Roger had risen to be Lord Chancellor and Henry I's chief minister and had vowed to support the succession of the Empress Matilda, Henry I's daughter and chosen heir.[40] He broke his word on Henry's death, citing her marriage to Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou, as justification. His support was initially crucial in allowing Stephen to consolidate his rule after his coup d'état of 1135, and he used his influence to extend his property, building a powerful political clique that included his nephews, Nigel, Bishop of Ely and Alexander, Bishop of Lincoln. Stephen felt threatened by his over-mighty Chancellor and moved against him on 24 October 1139. Provoked into a brawl at the king's court at Oxford, Roger and his family were disgraced and dispossessed. He lost the church at Wolverhampton and its lands, along with much else, and died in December. At Oxford, in 1139 or 1140, Stephen granted Wolverhampton church to Roger de Clinton, described as Bishop of Chester and Lichfield Cathedral.[41] He also issued a writ of intendence, calling on all the clergy, laity and tenants to tranfer their loyalty to Bishop Roger.[42]

The canons were outraged at this betrayal of trust, which left them at the mercy of a powerful magnate in their own vicinity, and appealed to Pope Eugenius III. It is notable that around this time the dedication was changed to St Peter, which would be a flattering move in negotiations with Rome. Occasionally thereafter it was described as the Church of St Peter and St Paul.[43] Whatever dedication is given, the church's seals generally picture both saints.[44] Despite the briefness of the interlude under Lichfield, the impact of Bishop Roger de Clinton and his chapter of secular clergy at Lichfield may have been considerable. The diocese had three centres: Coventry, Chester and Lichfield. As the other centres were so heavily involved in the military action of Stephen's reign, it seems that Clinton gave renewed emphasis to the religious role of Lichfield, re-establishing it as the headquarters of his see.[45] It seems that he reorganised Lichfield's chapter on a prebendal model in order to counterbalance the monastic chapter at Coventry[46] and using Rouen Cathedral as his model.[47] At some time in the mid-12th century, probably under the control of Lichfield, Wolverhampton was reorganised along similar lines, with a dean and prebendaries.[48] King Stephen restored Wolverhampton church to Worcester priory by 1152, perhaps as early as 1144. In his concession, he described himself as prius inconsulte – previously ill-advised.[49]

Stephen was forced to agree that he would be succeeded by Matilda's son, Henry Plantagenet, at that time already Duke of Normandy and Duke of Aquitaine. Even before he succeeded to the throne, Henry issued a charter in which he described the church at Wolverhampton as "my chapel", restored all its privileges from the time of Henry I, and recognised it as free from secular taxation.

H., dux Normannorum et Aquitanorum, et cornes Andegavorum, omnibus archiepiscopis, episcopis, comitibus, baronibus, justiciis, vicecomitibus, et omnibus amicis et fidelibus suis Normannis et Anglis, salutem.

Sciatis me concessisse ecclesie de Wlvronehamptona, capelle mee, omnem illam libertatem quam habuit in tempore H. regis, avi mei, et omnem illam quietanciam in bosco et plano, in pratis et pascuis, in aquis et extra, in viis et semitis et omnibus locis; et canonicis ejusdem ecclesie eandem concedo libertatem et quietanciam. Quare mando et firmiter precipio ut eadem ecclesia, capella mea, libera sit et quieta ab omnibus consuetudinibus et exactionibus cum omnibus pertinentiis suis, et canonici omnia sua libere et quiete possideant, ne quis eis dampnum vel molestiam vel injuriam aliquam facere presumat.

Testibus: Rogero comite Herefordie, Waltero fratre suo constabulario, Henrico fratre suo, Gervasio Paganell. germano. Apud Dudeleg.[50][51]

Notification by Henry, duke of Normandy and Aquitaine, count of Anjou, to all archbishops, bishops, earls, barons, justices, sheriffs, and all his Norman and English friends and lieges.

That I have given to the church at Wolverhampton, my chapel, all that liberty and immunity it had in the time of King Henry, my grandfather, in woods and level land, in meadows and pastures, in waters and outside them, on roads and pathways, and all places. And to the canons of this same church I grant these liberties and immunities. By the same token, I order and strongly enjoin that this same church, my chapel, be free of all customs and taxes and all they imply, and that all its canons occupy it freely and safely, without threat of loss, harassment or injury.

Witnesses: Roger, Earl of Hereford; Walter, his brother, the Constable; Henry, his brother; Gevase Pagnell, his close friend. At Dudley.

As soon as he came to the throne in 1154 as Henry II, he issued another charter recognising the right of the canons to hold a manorial court.[52] Neither of these charters explicitly stated Wolverhampton was not subject to the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Lichfield, but the king had clearly asserted a special relationship with the Crown, recognising the church at Wolverhampton as a royal chapel. It was probably Henry II who appointed Peter of Blois as Dean of Wolverhampton: he is the first dean whose name is known. Peter was a Latin poet, lawyer and a diplomat of considerable experience. He had been tutor to William II of Sicily, one of the most cultivated rulers of his time, and Henry had brought him into his circle of close supporters when he was under extreme pressure because of the murder of Thomas Becket and ruptures in the royal family.[53] It is not clear when Peter was appointed to the position at Wolverhampton, but he outlived his royal patron, entering a period of relative disfavour under Richard I.

1189–1224: Dissolution and restoration

By the time Peter of Blois was appointed, the College was organised as a community of prebendaries, headed by a dean. Peter seems to have taken little interest in his Wolverhampton deanery until after the death of Henry II: he had numerous other benefices and was heavily involved in Archbishop Baldwin's prolonged feud with his own cathedral chapter, spending a year away, arguing Baldwin's case at the Papal Curia in 1187-88.[53]

The earliest extant evidence of any interest Wolverhampton is a letter he wrote to the Chancellor, William Longchamp, to denounce the “tyranny of the Sheriff of Stafford”[54] who was, he complained, trampling on the church's ancient privileges and oppressing the townspeople. The letter was well-calculated to win sympathy, as the sheriff was Hugh Nonant, Bishop of Coventry, an enemy of Longchamp because he supported the Prince John, the regent. It must have been written in 1190-1, as Longchamp's ascendancy dates from mid-1190 and he was forced to leave the country in October 1191.[55] Although he championed the church against outsiders, Peter considered the prebendaries corrupt. He wrote a stinging rebuke to Robert of Shrewsbury who held one of the Wolverhampton prebends and sought to retain it after he was elected Bishop of Bangor.[56]

Around 1202, Peter resigned his post and put forward a revolutionary plan from outside. In a letter to Pope Innocent III, Peter denounced the college as composed of a clique, so closely and notoriously intermarried that no-one was able to prise them apart. As they were incorrigible, a complete reform was necessary.[57] With the assent of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the king, a Cistercian monastery could be established, as the area abounded in the woods, meadows and waters[58] needed by this ascetic French order dedicated to a radical and literal interpretation of the Benedictine Rule. Peter did persuade Archbishop Hubert Walter and King John of the advantages of his plan and it received royal assent early in 1203. It appears that John had already appointed one Nicholas to the deanery, left vacant by Peter's resignation.[59] This Nicholas appeared as Dean of Wolverhampton when he was taken to court in September 1203 by Elias Fitz Philip in a property case involving an estate at Kinvaston.[60] Shortly afterwards, he appears in court again, shorn of his title, as plain Nicholas de Hamton,[61] and later again under the same designation, when it is specified that the dispute is over one virgate of land.[62] It appears that this marks his loss of the deanery, in line with the king's decision to wind up the college of Wolverhampton..

Early in 1204 John transferred the deanery and prebends to the archbishop in order for him to establish a monastery, which should pray for souls of the king and his ancestors after death, as well as in their lifetimes. He dispensed with Forest law and exactions for these properties.[63] On 28 July 1204 John also granted the manor of Wolverhampton: his charter suggests that there were already Cistercian monks waiting there in readiness.[64] On 31 May 1205 at Portchester John granted the vill of Tettenhall.[65] These were additional to the deanery and prebends and represented a further level of security in possession of the estates: the Pipe rolls show that in 1203/4 Hubert Walter had already drawn an income of 20 shillings per quarter or £4 a year from Tettenhall,[66] while in 1204/5 he received the same from Tettenhall (but in three instalments) and 33 shillings quarterly or £6 12s. for the year from Wolverhampton.[67] On 1 June 1205, still at Portchester, John issued a charter transferring to Archbishop Hubert woodland at Kingsley in Kinver Forest, which was close to Tettenhall, this time specifying that it was for the construction of a Cistercian monastery: once again, it was dispensed from Forest law and customs.[68] John also had a full charter drafted, granting in perpetual alms "the deanery, prebends and whole manor of Wolverhampton, the wood of Kingsley and the vill of Tettenhall and all their parts."[69] The scheme also received the reforming Innocent III's approval, which was still in force when Archbishop Hubert Walter died on 13 July 1205.[70]

Immediately everything was reversed. The draft charter of liberties was marked as cancelled because of archbishop's death.[69] John had changed his mind completely and on 5 August 1205, only three weeks after the archbishop's death, he appointed a replacement dean of Wolverhampton: Henry, the son of his Chief Justiciar, Geoffrey Fitz Peter, 1st Earl of Essex.[71] Abandoning any pretence of reform, the terms of Henry's appointment specified that he was to hold the deanery with its liberties and honours exactly as his predecessors. Well-connected to all the centres of power in the kingdom, he seems to have held the post of dean for nearly two decades. It is often claimed that the new church was begun early in the 13th century,[72] probably during the interregnum, meaning that it would have been constructed largely under Henry. However, the building's Historic England listing now suggests that the earliest part of the present building, the crossing and south transept, date from the late 13th century.[73]

1224-1300: Disputes and prosperity

Giles of Erdington, who became Dean of St Peter's around 1224, was a talented lawyer and was already set on a career that would make him one of Henry III's most eminent judges,[74] a Justice of the Common Bench. He soon seized the opportunity afforded by the appointment of a new and inexperienced bishop, Alexander Stavensby, to make a formal deal with the Diocese of Lichfield. The dean's right to appoint and discipline the prebends was recognised. The bishop was to intervene only in the last resort, if the dean was not carrying out his functions. For his part, the dean recognised the bishop's right to be received with honour at St Peter's and to administer the sacraments there.[75] However the whole issue blew up again in 1260, when Erdington repelled an attempt by Bishop Roger de Meyland to hold a visitation by getting a royal prohibition on 8 November "against any person attempting anything against the privileges of Giles de Erdinton, king's clerk, dean of Wolverhampton, or of the king's chapel of Wolverhampton, or of the canons or servitors there."[76] The prohibition cited a Papal rescript, issued at Lyon in 1245, that guaranteed the independence of royal chapels, which it characterised as ecclesiae Romanae immediate subjecta, directly subordinate to the Roman Church.[77] They were therefore immune even from excommunication and interdict pronounced at a lower level, which disarmed the local bishop in his dealings with them.

Erdington was equally vigorous in promoting the economic interests of the college. Sometimes this meant taking a firm line over local issues: in 1230 he literally raised a stink by taking legal action against a chaplain at Tettenhall over marshland at Codsall that was creating a health hazard.[78] Property agreements were carefully recorded, often by the device of a fine of lands, a conveyance registered by a fictional lawsuit. On 18 November 1236, for example, he was notionally sued for land at Kinvaston by Athelard: the two sides came to an agreement that Athelard's family would rent 1½ virgates from the dean and his successors for ½ mark annually.[79] To make clear the college's territorial sway, he had the boundaries walked ceremonially. In 1248, for example, the king ordered the sheriff to organise a perambulation with twelve knights near Codsall where the College's lands bordered the Oaken estate of Croxden Abbey.[80] Sometimes it was necessary to pursue offenders. In June 1253 the Dean and Chapter prosecute 39 local men who had entered the College's lands as an armed band, destroying fences and crops. None turned up in court and their sureties proved worthless, so the sheriff was ordered to take appropriate action.[81]

Erdington was concerned that the church benefit from the town's booming trade, which was based mainly on wool. In 1258 Erdington secured for the deanery the lucrative right to hold a "weekly market on Wednesaday at Wolverhampton, co. Stafford, and of a yearly fair there on the vigil and Feast of Saints Peter and Paul and the six days following,"[82] both of which took place thereafter at the foot of the church steps. Erdington took care to placate other local magnates who might tale offence at the grwth of Wolverhampton, foremost among them being Roger de Somery, lord of neighbouring Sedgley. Somery was an ambitious man who wanted to establish himself in a castle at Dudley[83] and had an interest in the town's future. In February 1261 the two sides came to a compromise. Erdington conceded conceded various useful pieces of land, including 20 acres at Wolverhampton and roadside verges on the route through Ettingshall and Sedgley, in return for an annual rent of eight pounds of wax[84] – useful to the church with its constant need for candles. Somery accepted Erdington's market without challenge, on condition his own family, as well as the burgesses and villeins might travel to and from Wolverhampton without tolls.[85] In 1263 Erdington reinforced the position of his own burgesses by granting them the right to succeed to their burgages freely, on the same terms as those of Stafford.[86] He established a chaplain in the church, suggesting that it may have been understaffed. Whatever the exemptions granted by earlier kings, it is clear that Wolverhampton and the other royal chapels in Staffordshire were paying secular taxation by this time: Wolverhampton's payment of 53s. 4d. towards the levy of a tenth was acknowledged in April 1268, along with similar sums from the chapels at Tettenhall, Stafford and Penkridge.[87]

The next dean was Theodosius de Camilla, appointed on 10 January 1269,[88] after Erdington's death. He was just as vigorous as Erdington in defending the college, but his tenure began to demonstrate some of the disadvantages of royal appointment. He was prepared to defend the college even against the Archbishop of Canterbury. The Second Council of Lyons in 1274 denounced a number of abuses of which the prebendaries were plainly guilty, including non-residence and pluralism. In fact Camilla himself was non-resident, as he was mostly involved in royal business, and it is not even certain that he ever visited Wolverhampton: he operated mainly through bailiffs, who carried out his instructions and transactions. At least three of the canons were Camilla's relatives, and they seldom appeared in the town either. Archbishop John Peckham was determined to bring the royal chapels to book. On 27 July 1280 the archbishop, against an explicit prohibition of Edward I, appeared at the doors of St Peter's, which were promptly shut in his face. He summoned the prebendaries to meet him on 31 July but they, together with the canons of all seven royal chapels, ignored him and were excommunicated. Proceedings were launched against the seven chapels in the ecclesiastical courts. This forced the king to act, and he swiftly brought the archbishop to heel, pressuring him to agree that he would accept a royal decision on the chapels within the Diocese of Coventry and Lichfield, and also in London. Bishop Meyland too was induced to agree never to visit six of the chapels, including Wolverhampton.

The archbishop's feud with Camilla continued, however. In 1282 Camilla was excommunicated and deprived of two other churches that he held. Peckham even claimed that Wolverhampton was not rightly his, as Canterbury had the patronage. However, he obtained monetary compensation for his two lost churches in 1286. He also pursued the local dispute with the diocese until 1292, when Bishop Meyland finally recognised that all seven royal chapels within its bounds were subject only to the Pope. Camilla developed the lands of the college by encouraging the tenants to enclose wastes, although he also encouraged his bailiffs to over-exploit woodlands. When he died in 1295, he was still Dean of Wolverhampton, despite all opposition.

Erdington and Camilla brought St Peter's to its medieval peak of prosperity and influence, although its spiritual standards were already notorious. The economic well-being of the church was greatly improved by their unwillingness to pay tax. Camilla was deriving 50 marks a year from the deanery by the 1290s, but declared only 20 marks for tax purposes. The total taxable value of the church was declared in 1293 as only £54 13s. 4d. This included six prebends, which are named for the first time at this point: Featherstone, Willenhall, Wobaston, Hilton, Monmore, Kinvaston. In addition there was the chantry of St. Mary in Hatherton, which was shortly to become a seventh prebend. Deans and canons alike increasingly gained an income from their estates not through their own management, but by farming, which in this period meant leasing the right to receive rents and dues to someone else, who then made a profit by exploiting them to the fullest possible extent.

1300-1479: Neglect and revival

Medieval pulpit, probably mid-15th century, in the nave of the church. It is one of the best preserved of its period, with a full set of stone steps. One of the principal criticisms of the Protestant Reformers and the Puritans was that the pulpit suffered little wear and tear for centuries, as the college neglected both pastoral care and preaching.
The fine, intact carved lion on the balustrade of the pulpit.

While the 13th century deans had been shrewd business men on behalf of the church, the 14th century deans stripped its assets, and in some cases resorted to plain embezzlement.[89] One of the most important problems was that they began to enclose waste for themselves and then to sell it off, alienating it from the church's estates. John of Everdon (1295–1303), Philip of Everdon (1303–23) and Hugh Ellis (1328–39) all pursued personal enrichment in this way. Hugh also gave away much of the stock of the deanery and left the buildings dilapidated. By 1368, things had reached such a pass that Edward III himself ordered a visitation of Wolverhampton to investigate loss of property and privileges, fraud, loss of books and ornaments, neglect of services and misconduct by the canons. In fact, Wolverhampton's deans had remained zealous in maintaining the college's rights and privileges, getting successive kings to confirm its charters, but most of the other accusations were true.

The king's enquiry had no effect. Dean Richard Postell (1373–94) embezzled an income set aside for six priests to celebrate the liturgy—something the dean and prebendaries themselves no longer did. Lawrence Allerthorpe (1394–1406) and Thomas Stanley (1406–10) continued to neglect the deanery and enquiries followed both their deaths. In addition, the townspeople complained about the neglect of spiritual duties under both Postell and Allerthorpe. Enquiries generally found that the dean and all the prebendaries were absentees. The prebendaries actually employed vicars to perform their duties for them. This was the age of the Black Death, which brought about a spiritual crisis that the church was ill-equipped to confront. Despite this neglect, there were still plenty of pious people prepared to make large donations and bequests to the church. There were two chantry chapels in the collegiate church, both well-endowed. A special body, the "wardens of the light", was founded in 1385 to tend a light in honour of St Peter. Priests were maintained at Pelsall, Willenhall and Bilston from special, earmarked endowments left by parishioners.

A remarkable product of this piety was St Mary's Hospital—not a centre for medical treatment but an almshouse. It was established through the efforts of William Waterfall, a generous layman, and Clement Leveson, a chaplain at St. Peter's, during the years 1392-95.[90] First they obtained a royal licence for the hospital, then Waterfall endowed it with three acres of land and obtained the lord of the manor's permission. The land was only 400 metres south east of St. Peter's but it fell outside the manor of Wolverhampton, in the manor of Stowheath,[91] which was held by Hugh, Lord Burnell, a powerful marcher lord.[92] Finally they obtained Dean Allerthorpe's permission, as the land fell within the jurisdiction of the college.[93] Patronage went to William and Joan Waterfall and their heirs, but was to pass to the Leveson family if they lapsed.[94] The regulations bound the chaplain to say mass and vespers daily for the residents, and prayers were to be offered for the souls of Clement Leveson, William and Joan Waterfall, Lord Burnell, and Lawrence Allerthorpe. The first recorded chaplain was John Pepard, inducted in 1402.[95] Presumably this is why the institution came to be known as Pepers Chapell and later Pyper's Chapel: Piper's Row is still a well-known street name, now the site of the City's bus station.

Amid this clerical neglect and lay piety, some of the college's ancient privileges were again challenged. In 1401 Allerthorpe had just been appointed Lord High Treasurer by Henry IV, newly established on the throne after overthrowing Richard II of England. It was at this point that Archbishop Thomas Arundel, a key supporter of the king, sent delegates to carry out a visitation of St. Peter's. Allerthorpe objected but had to back down, as there was little doubt whose support was most important to Henry.

However, the decline was stemmed by two vigorous deans, whose work in the town roughly spans the Wars of the Roses. John Barningham was appointed in 1437 and showed a genuine interest in the church, the town and its people. It was he who began the rebuilding of the church in approximately its present form. When he died in 1457, he left money not only for the rebuilding but also for the poor of the town. William Dudley, his successor, managed much of the rebuilding. He was also Dean of Windsor, the first Dean of Wolverhampton to hold both posts. He resigned in 1476 to become Bishop of Durham and was later a key supporter of Richard III. By simply spending some of their time on its affairs, after a century of neglect, these men were able partially to rebuild the college's relationship with the town.

After Dudley moved to Durham, Lionel Woodville, the Queen's brother was dean for a few years, but he resigned when he became Chancellor of the University of Oxford. In 1479, Richard Beauchamp, already Bishop of Salisbury and Dean of Windsor, was appointed.

1479–1603: Royal Peculiar and Reformation

The tomb of John and Joyce Leveson in the Lady Chapel, 1575, attributed to Robert Royley of Burton on Trent, the oldest surviving monument in the church. John was a cousin of James Leveson, like him a Merchant of the Staple, and like him had financial interests in the deanery and prebends. This financial entanglement ultimately proved ruinous for the church.

The year after Beauchamp's appointment, Edward IV resolved that, thereafter, the same person should be Dean of Windsor and Dean of Wolverhampton. It is from this point that Wolverhampton is generally considered a Royal Peculiar or Peculier. In fact, it had claimed and vindicated its status as a royal chapel, independent of the diocesan authorities, for many centuries already. From 1480, however, it was formally placed on a footing with St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, the monarch's own household chapel. It was never subsumed into Windsor. For about half a century, about half of the prebendaries were also canons of Windsor, but this practice petered out in the 16th century.[96] The link between Wolverhampton and Windsor persisted purely through the dual role of the deans and Wolverhampton kept its own seal–a key indicator of institutional independence.

Statue of Vice Admiral Sir Richard Leveson (1570–1605) of Lilleshall. A distinguished seaman who served in the Spanish Armada campaign, and another member of the family who were so closely involved in the history of the church. Originally part of a larger family group in the chancel that was vandalised during the English Civil War, it is now in the Lady Chapel
Tomb of Thomas and Katherine Lane of Bentley, c. 1585, attributed to Robert Royley of Burton on Trent, in the north chapel. The Lanes were important landowners in Staffordshire and, although they accepted the Reformation, closely allied with the recusant Giffard family of Chillington Hall

As the deans and most of the canons continued to be absentees, their lands and rights were increasingly farmed out. From 1516, it was James Leveson, one of the immensely rich and powerful Merchants of the Staple who increasingly took over responsibility for exploiting their estates. The rent agreed for the deanery holdings was £38, and Leveson managed to keep it fixed for 25 years, despite steady inflation. He also gradually extended his investments into the prebendary holdings. The Leveson family inherited and extended his interests after he died. (The name Leveson is pronounced /ˈluːsən/ loosen and is a patronymic from Louis or Lewis)

The Reformation brought dissolution for the second time in the college's history. It was threatened under the first Chantry Act in 1545 but survived because Henry VIII died before it could be implemented. Edward VI's Protestant guardians brought in a second act in 1547. The Dean argued that Wolverhampton should be exempt, as Windsor was specifically excluded from the terms of the act. Nevertheless, the college was dissolved and replaced by a vicar and curates, on £20 a year. This was not a great hardship for the dean and canons, as they continued to receive pensions at the same level as their former income from their benefices. Moreover, the canons had farmed out most of their holdings on perpetual leases, at fixed and very low rents, to the Leveson and Brooke families—allegedly in the hope of recovering them later and protecting the college's investments, but probably to make a quick gain before dissolution. The sale was authorised by the chapter of Windsor, which was not lawful, as the two colleges had separate seals and finances. The prebendary and the deanery estates themselves were confiscated by the Crown, then granted to John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland, the leading figure of Edward's later, and more radically Protestant, government.

However, Queen Mary's Counter-Reformation soon restored the old regime. As Northumberland was attainted, his property was forfeit, so it was relatively easy to restore the college's property. This was presented by Mary's letters patent as a favour to St. George's College, Windsor. However, Mary's gracious act left the years 1547–53 in legal limbo, with the status of any transactions carried out by the canons during those years uncertain. St. Peter's was the only royal peculiar in the region to be restored: all the others proved intractable, as the property had been sold or given to landowners in good standing, many of them pious Catholics. The little hospital of St. Mary was not so fortunate. The provision to say prayers for the dead would have guaranteed its dissolution as a chantry and it is never heard of again, apparently absorbed into the Leveson estates.

Despite a decision to follow a broadly Protestant path, Elizabeth did not pursue the matter further, and confirmed the restoration of the college by royal charter in 1564. This meant a restoration of the old abuses. The deans and most of the canons stayed away, failing to attend even the quarterly chapter meetings and paying scant wages to deacons, and in some cases unordained readers, to perform their functions at St. Peter's. The running of Wolverhampton's church devolved upon the sacrist, who was paid a separate income, amounting to the reasonable sum of £26 by the mid-17th century, and given a seat on the chapter. In the satellite chapels at Bilston, Pelsall and Willenhall, curates were paid £4 or £5 a year to maintain an active ministry. A Puritan survey carried out in 1604 found that all three curates then in office were drunkards and non-preachers.

1603–1660: Religious strife and civil war

Fine carving on a pillar of the wooden west gallery. The Puritans tended to dislike such ostentatious decoration, although their ire was mainly directed against items that symbolised theological differences between radical Protestants and High Churchmen, like altars. West galleries in many churches were strongholds of popular music making in subsequent centuries.
The offending altar, perhaps consecrated by Archbishop Laud himself on his visitation of 1635, when Dean Christopher Wren purged the Puritans. it is now in the Lady Chapel.
A weathercock, dated 1646, is perhaps the only reminder of Richard Lee's incumbency, and an apt symbol of the constantly changing fortunes of the time.

For Puritans, who wanted to renew and broaden the Reformation, the running of St. Peter's was one of the most notorious scandals in the Church of England. Locally, the initiative was taken by Richard Lee, who was appointed to the prebend of Willenhall in 1622 by a sympathetic dean, and who denounced what he saw as the sins of his time. The temper of the town was mainly Puritan and anti-royalist, so Lee seems to have met a warm response. However, Matthew Wren, appointed Dean in 1628 was a supporter of William Laud, leader of the High Church party that came into the ascendancy with the accession of Charles I. He particularly objected to the fact that Lee had taken up residence in Wolverhampton and preached regularly.[97] Wren became a bishop in 1634 and was succeeded by Christopher Wren, his brother and the father of the famous architect. This Wren immediately realised that Lee was beyond his control and took panic measures to deal with him. Surrendering a privilege that had survived since 1280, he called on Archbishop Laud to conduct a visitation. This was conducted by Nathaniel Brent, who embarked on a tour of the West Midlands, purging churches where there had been complaints of nonconformity.[98] Lee was suspended and Puritan parishioners disciplined. However, when Brent acted similarly at Shrewsbury, the congregation at St Julian's church installed Lee as their lector. Wren celebrated with an elaborate ceremony to consecrate a new High Altar in the church, with incense and music, all calculated to offend the Puritans.

This short-lived triumph for the Laudians came at a price. When the Long Parliament assembled in 1640, Laud's arrest was one of its first acts. In 1644, during the English Civil war, he was brought to trial for treason and the events at Wolverhampton were high on the list of accusations brought against him. Evidence against him was given by two Wolverhampton men, Leonard Lee, Richard's brother, and William Pinson. Although the trial itself was inconclusive, Laud was attainted and beheaded a few months later. Richard Lee himself was promoted to curate at St Julian's, Shrewsbury, in 1642,[99] although he was forced to flee when the town fell to the royalists. St. Peter's church itself suffered considerable damage at the hands of Parliamentary soldiers in 1642. Much worse was an attack on the chapter house by royalist soldiers under Colonel Leveson, which resulted in the loss of all its records. A law of 1643 suppressed all deans and chapters and, after the fighting drew to a close in 1646, the college was dissolved, for the third time in its history. Its assets were vested in trustees, and they provided £100 for a minister - none other than the apparently stainless Richard Lee. However, Lee appears to have taken on two other parishes - Melbourne[100] and Rugby[101] - and was in no great hurry to quit either. The post of sacrist was abolished and his £26, together with a further £50, was provided for an assistant minister. This allowed the trustees to raise the incomes of the other ministers to viable levels too. The minister at Shareshill was granted £100 and the minister at Wednesfield £50. However, this all happened in the absence of the Levesons, who had claims on six of the prebends since the reign of Edward VI, but whose property was sequestrated. Once the sequestrations were discharged in 1652, the Levesons reclaimed their lands at the former low, fixed rents, and the trustees' careful financial management fell apart.

The Restoration of Charles II automatically brought the restoration of the college at St. Peter's, as the legislation abolishing it was regarded as invalid. Everything was restored very quickly. However, the loss of the records at the hands of Leveson, whose family coincidentally had important claims on college property, was a serious problem for the restored institution.[102]

1660-1848: Decline and demise of the old order

The Church of St. John in the Square was originally built as a chapel-of-ease to relieve overcrowding at St. Peter's in 1750s.
Bilston revolted against the dean's appointment of clergy in 1730s and symbolised its independence of spirit by building its own chapel. The present St. Leonard's church replaced the 18th-century building in 1826.
St. George's church was built in a Neo-Classical style, already being superseded by Gothic Revival at the time. It relieved the growing overcrowding in churches but proved a short-lived success, as a church-building boom sponsored by the Evangelicals ringed the town centre with ample new seating. The building, long-derelict, was incorporated into a supermarket in 1980s.

The college was hampered financially from its restoration. It challenged the Levesons legally but the Court of Chancery dismissed the case in 1667 and awarded Robert Leveson costs.[103] Leveson sold his Wolverhampton estates to the Earl of Bradford, his nephew, in 1705 and the college went to court again to recover its alienated lands. This time the case was dismissed immediately. Not until 1811 did the college finally abandon its attempts to recover its property - more than two and a half centuries after its loss.

All the dependent chapels but Kinvaston were now very poorly funded and unable to attract able or dedicated ministers. They were still expected to contribute to the upkeep of St. Peter's and to the expenses of the sacrist, who doggedly defended his income from burials and other rites. They were now starting to chafe at the bit. Bilston revolted against the dean's attempts to impose a curate twice—in 1730 and 1735—and the congregation elected their own.

The population of Wolverhampton itself and of the towns to the east was growing rapidly as manufacturing took hold. Peniston Booth, a dean who actually spent some of his time at the deanery house in Wolverhampton, was sufficiently in touch with opinion to authorise the building of new chapels of ease at Wednesfield, Willenhall and Bilston. With considerably more persuasion, and after a major public campaign fronted by Lord Grey, he acquiesced in the building of a new chapel of ease in Wolverhampton itself. It was authorised by a private Act of Parliament in 1755, and the fine Neo-Classical St John's Church, Wolverhampton quickly rose on a site enclosed in a square to the south of St. Peter's.[104]

The college, with its deanery and prebends, was increasingly proving a straitjacket for the Anglican Church in Wolverhampton. The increasing population was a challenge in itself, but it also brought social misery and discontent as the crowded housing of the Wolverhampton and the Black Country failed to keep up with demand. Increasing religious diversity was another consequence. There had been Protestant Dissenters since the Civil War, but their numbers were greatly increased by the preaching of Methodism: in 1761 John Wesley himself preached at an inn-yard in what he called "this furious town" of Wolverhampton.[105] Catholic recusancy was strong in the surrounding countryside. Despite the Penal laws, in the 1730s the Giffard family of Brewood succeeded in building a Catholic chapel in the guise of a private house, just to the west of St. Peter's. As Catholic Emancipation approached, this was rapidly expanded into a functioning Roman Catholic church.[106] Already, distress in Ireland was bringing immigration and a large working class, Irish Catholic community, concentrated to the north of St. Peter's in the slums of an area known as "Caribee Island".[107]

In 1811 a special Act was passed to reform St. Peter's church itself. The post of sacrist was replaced by that of perpetual curate. Three readerships were abolished and their income signed over to the curate. A fund was established from proceeds of mining on the deanery land to improve the income of the curate. This did not go far enough. The curate was still heavily dependent on fees from the dependent chapels and friction over this continued to sour relations. However, the curates initially performed their duties very much better than earlier sacrists and things were improved further by the building of a new chapel of ease in the town: St. George's, another Neo-Classical structure, completed in 1830 to a design by James Morgan.

It was in connection with a possible post at St. George's that William Dalton, an Evangelical Anglican clergyman from Ulster first visited Wolverhampton. He returned in 1835, after marrying Sarah Marsh, the widow of a Bilston ironmaster, to take up the living of St. Paul's, yet another chapel of ease on the south-western edge of the town. Dalton began a lifelong campaign to build more churches to serve the growing population. Dalton's agitation had a venomously anti-Catholic edge, attacking both Anglo-Catholicism and Roman Catholicism,[108] but his church-building campaign won wide support. It further undermined the relevance of the dean and the Royal Peculiar.[109] St. Peter's itself and all the new chapels already operated as parish churches in all but name, but were hampered by lack of funds. The deanery was a sinecure that took £600 a year out of the town - largely the product of coal mining on deanery lands.[110]

The radical Whig administration of the 1830s was determined to remedy a wide range of abuses at the local level. The establishment of elected municipal self-government for Wolverhampton and most of England's towns and cities came in 1836. This swept away the last vestiges of ecclesiastical influence in the politics of Wolverhampton and created a much stronger expectation of local accountability. In the same year, the Ecclesiastical Commissioner was established, aimed at rationalising the finances and structures of the Church of England, and charged with recommending further legislation to reform the Church. Henry Lewis Hobart, the Dean of Windsor and Wolverhampton, was generally considered a wealthy nonentity and had failed to win any real support at Court. The perpetual curate, Dr. George Oliver, appointed in 1834, was a quarrelsome man who had alienated all the local clergy, mainly in disputes over burial fees. The old order was suppressed completely under the terms of legislation, variously termed the Cathedrals Act 1840 and the Ecclesiastical Commissioners Act 1840, but actually entitled An Act to to carry into effect, with certain Modifications, the Fourth Report of the Commissioners of Ecclesiastical Duties and Revenues.[111] Section 21 decreed that the deanery should be suppressed, along with those of Middleham, Heytesbury and Brecon.[112] Section 51 restricted the rights of any appointees to positions within the colleges but allowed the existing deans to continue in office until their deaths.[113] The prebends were left vacant in readiness and, on Hobart's death in 1846, the deanery was wound up. In 1847, Dr. Oliver resigned and the post of perpetual curate was suspended, with John Dakeyne appointed sacrist, pending a full reorganisation. In 1848, a specific piece of legislation for St. Peter's, the Wolverhampton Church Act, abolished the ancient college altogether and transferred all its assets to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. They swiftly oversaw the establishment of a rectory for St. Peter's and confirmed Dakeyne as rector. All the dependent chapels were turned into separate parish churches, each with its own vicar. From the available funds, the Commissioners were able to grant the rector a living of £750 a year, and to improve the incomes of all 13 of the other clergy involved, as well as to contribute to building repairs. St. Peter's and all the newly established parishes became part of the Diocese of Lichfield, subject to the bishop as Ordinary.

Timeline

Architecture

St Peter's Church is built of red sandstone on an elevated site in the centre of the City of Wolverhampton. The oldest part of the building above ground is the crossing under the tower, which probably dates from the beginnings of the Abbey in 1200, followed by the Chapel of Our Lady and St George (Lady Chapel). Much of the Church was rebuilt and extended in the fourteenth century, in the Decorated Style. However, the Church was to be substantially altered in the middle of the fifteenth century at the expense of the town's wool merchants, with the addition of a clerestory to the nave, and reduction in height of the north and south aisles. The upper part of the tower was rebuilt around 1475 to a height of 120 feet, and the Chapel of St Catherine and St Nicholas (Memorial Chapel) was completed at the end of the fifteenth century. The chancel was reconstructed in 1682 following considerable damage caused to the original medieval one during the Civil War, and it was again completely rebuilt in 1867 as part of the extensive restoration of the Church under architect Ewan Christian.

Unique features include the carved stone pulpit with a figure of a lion at the foot of the steps to protect the minister delivering the sermon. The font dates from 1480 with several stone carved figures and the west gallery dates from 1610, paid for by the Merchant Taylors' Company for use by the boys of Wolverhampton Grammar School.

Near the south porch is a 14-foot-high stone column, carved in the ninth century with birds, animals and acanthus. It may have been a column pillaged from Roman Viroconium and brought to Heantune, either as part of a preaching cross or memorial. The carvings have deteriorated, but a cast made in 1877 can be seen in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Bells

The bells of St. Peter's are the second oldest complete ring of 12 in the country and third oldest in the world, all twelve cast in 1911 by Gillett & Johnston of Croydon.

Five bells are known to have existed at St. Peter's in 1553. In 1698 a new 23 cwt. ring of eight was cast by Abraham Rudhall I. In 1740 Henry Bagley III of Chacombe cast a large ‘funeral’ (or hour) bell of some 35 cwt. In 1827 the eight were augmented to ten by Thomas Mears. The ten ringing bells were rehung by Barwells in 1889 and the seventh was recast in 1895 by Mears & Stainbank after cracking during a peal attempt.

The bells, including the hour bell, were recast and two new trebles added to produce a new ring of twelve by Gillett & Johnston. This was their first complete ring of twelve, to be followed by Coventry in 1927, Croydon in 1936 and Halifax in 1952. They were tuned on the 5 tone Simpson Principle in the key of C sharp major. Gillett also provided a new single-tier steel and iron H-frame with new fittings throughout. The clock chime was connected to the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 8th and the clock generally rearranged. They were rung for the first time as 12 for the coronation of King George V after a silence of three years. The front eight were subsequently rehung in 1977 and the tenor in 1985.

In April 2000 maintenance work was carried out. The 9th, 10th and 11th were rehung on new bearings and the pulley on the 10th was renewed. The 12 ductile-iron clappers were replaced by the original, overhauled wrought-iron clappers and other minor works carried out. All work was carried out by Whitechapel Bell Foundry of London.

The bells are rung twice weekly, on Mondays for practice and for the main Sunday service.[116][117]

Music

The organ of St Peter's Collegiate Church, Wolverhampton

The three-manual Father Willis organ, was built in 1860.[118] A campaign to raise £300,000 towards its restoration was launched in 2008. The restoration work, designed to return the organ to its former glory after the wear and tear of near-daily use, is due to be completed by Principal Pipe Organs of York.

On Saturday 25 September 2010 a concert of Elgar's greatest pieces was held at the church which included the very first football chant, He Banged The Leather for Goal, written by Elgar himself,[119] in respect of Wolves star of the time, Billy Malpass. The concert was a joint venture between the church and Wolverhampton Wanderers to raise funds for the organ appeal and to firm the link that Elgar had between respective organisations. Elgar was a Wolves fan and cycled from Malvern (a good 40 miles approx) to watch the Wolves with close friend Dora Penny, daughter of then St Peter's Church Rector Revd Penny. St Peter’s director of music Peter Morris said: "We wanted to celebrate the connection between Elgar and the church, so we got in touch with Wolves and it just grew. "We knew about Elgar’s connection with the club because the rector’s daughter Dora Penny used to write about him going to watch them when he came to visit."[120]

There is a strong choral tradition: more than 80 children and young people are involved in the Music at St Peter's, along with Lay Clerks and choral scholars. There are separate boys' and girls' choirs, each of which generally sings at a Cathedral during the Summer holidays. The Boys' Choir, Lay Clerks and choral scholars sang at Lincoln Cathedral in 2007, York Minster in 2008, Norwich Cathedral in 2009, Rochester Cathedral in 2010, Ely Cathedral in 2011, Wells Cathedral in 2012, Chichester Cathedral in 2013 and Ripon Cathedral in 2014, Durham Cathedral 2015 and Edinburgh Cathedral 2016.. The girls choir, Lay Clerks and choral scholars sang at Chester Cathedral in 2007, Chichester Cathedral in 2008 and 2010, Carlisle Cathedral in 2009, Canterbury Cathedral in 2011, Truro Cathedral in 2012, Salisbury Cathedral in 2013, Exeter Cathedral in 2014.

The church is involved with the Choristers Outreach Programme of the Choir Schools Association and Sing Up which takes choristers into Primary Schools in the city to help the singing programmes in schools.

The Director of Music is Peter Morris and the Assistant Director of Music is Matt Rose. The assistant organists are Toby Barnard, Ralf Ayling-Miller (Organ Scholar) and Dr. David Rendell (Organist Emeritus).

List of organists

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
  • Sidney Campbell 1943–1947
  • Charles Leslie Parker Hutchings 1947–1964
  • David Jones 1964–1970
  • Brian Armfield 1971–1979
  • Andrew Newberry 1979–1983
  • Timothy C. Storey 1984–1993
  • Alistair Pow 1994–1998
  • Gary Cole 1998–2001
  • Nicholas P. Johnson 2001–2003
  • Peter Morris 2003–

St. Peter's from the west

Today

Worship is in the Catholic tradition of the Church of England. Vestments, reservation and the sacrament of reconciliation are all part of its tradition with incense used at festival services. Sunday services usually comprise Holy Communion, Choral Eucharist, and Choral Evensong. Choral Evensong is also sung on Wednesdays at 5.15pm.

St. Peter's is open on weekdays and Saturdays, and before and after services on Sundays. There is a shop within the church and a coffee lounge in the nearby St. Peter's House.

The church has strong links with St Peter's Collegiate School, which, although originally founded adjacent to the church in 1847, is now located at Compton Park, along with St Edmund's Catholic Academy and the Wolverhampton Wanderers FC training ground.

Lists of Incumbents

Deans of Wolverhampton

Main article: Dean of Wolverhampton

Rectors of St. Peter's Collegiate Church

After the suppression of the deanery, a new sacrist, John Dakeyne, was appointed in 1847, with a view to making him rector on the winding up of the college. This duly occurred in the following year.

  • John Dakeyne, 1848
  • John Iles, 1860
  • John Jeffcock, 1877
  • Alfred Penny, 1895

  • John Ginever, 1970
  • John Hall-Matthews, 1990
  • David Frith, 2003
  • David Wright, 2009

See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ "Organ Appeal" (pdf). Parish of Central Wolverhampton. 2008. Retrieved 2008-10-12.
  2. ↑ Anglia Sacra, p. 445.
  3. ↑ "S 1380". The Electronic Sawyer: Online catalogue of Anglo-Saxon charters. King's College, London. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
  4. ↑ G C Baugh, W L Cowie, J C Dickinson, Duggan A P, A K B Evans, R H Evans, Una C Hannam, P Heath, D A Johnston, Hilda Johnstone, Ann J Kettle, J L Kirby, R Mansfield and A Saltman (1970). Greenslade, M W; Pugh, R B, eds. "Colleges: Wolverhampton, St Peter, footnote 1.". A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 3.
  5. ↑ William Dugdale. "Monasticon Anglicanum 6, p. 1443.". Gallica. Bibliothèque nationale de France. Retrieved 27 April 2016. In this document, probably dated 994, Dugdale gave the date as 996, but this has generally been regarded as incorrect. See Bridgeman, p. 114.
  6. ↑ Duignan, p. 9-10.
  7. ↑ Bridgeman, p. 112-3.
  8. ↑ "S 860". The Electronic Sawyer: Online catalogue of Anglo-Saxon charters. King's College, London. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
  9. ↑ Bridgeman, p. 103.
  10. ↑ Kemble, p. 214.
  11. ↑ "S 720". The Electronic Sawyer: Online catalogue of Anglo-Saxon charters. King's College, London. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
  12. ↑ Translation in Bridgeman, p. 99-100.
  13. ↑ Baugh; et al. (1970). Greenslade, M W; Pugh, R B, eds. "Colleges: Wolverhampton, St Peter, footnote 1.". A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 3.
  14. ↑ Duignan, p. 9, footnote 2.
  15. ↑ Bridgeman, p. 119.
  16. 1 2 3 Wolverhampton in the Domesday Book
  17. ↑ Domesday text, Phillimore reference: STS 7,13
  18. 1 2 Calendar of Inquisitions Miscellaneous, 1392–1399, p. 20, no. 44.
  19. ↑ Baugh; et al. (1970). Greenslade, M W; Pugh, R B, eds. "Colleges: Wolverhampton, St Peter, note anchor 13.". A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 3.
  20. ↑ Baugh; et al. (1970). Greenslade, M W; Pugh, R B, eds. "Colleges: Penkridge, St Michael, note anchor 2.". A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 3.
  21. ↑ Stenton, p. 148-9.
  22. ↑ Stenton, p. 660.
  23. ↑ Fletcher, p. 394.
  24. ↑ Fletcher, p. 395.
  25. ↑ Baugh; et al. (1970). Greenslade, M W; Pugh, R B, eds. "Colleges: Stafford, St Mary, note anchor 1.". A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 3.
  26. ↑ Baugh; et al. (1970). Greenslade, M W; Pugh, R B, eds. "Colleges: Tettenhall, St Michael, note anchor 1.". A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 3.
  27. ↑ Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum, Volume 1, p. 125, no. XXVI.
  28. ↑ Translation based on Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum, Volume 1, p. 57, no. 210.
  29. ↑ Staffordshire, Page 4, at Open Domesday
  30. ↑ Morris, John; Palmer, J. N. N.; Palmer, Matthew; Slater, George; Caroline, Thorn; Thorn, Frank (2011). "Domesday text translation". Hydra Digital Repository. University of Hull. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  31. ↑ Bilston in the Domesday Book
  32. ↑ Baugh; et al. (1970). Greenslade, M W; Pugh, R B, eds. "Colleges: Wolverhampton, St Peter, note anchor 18-19.". A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 3.
  33. ↑ Kinvaston in the Domesday Book
  34. ↑ Hilton in the Domesday Book
  35. ↑ Featherstone in the Domesday Book
  36. ↑ St Peter's Collegiate Church in the Domesday Book
  37. ↑ Bateson, Mary; Costambeys, Marios. "Samson". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/24600. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  38. ↑ Baugh; et al. (1970). Greenslade, M W; Pugh, R B, eds. "Colleges: Wolverhampton, St Peter, note anchor 22.". A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 3.
  39. ↑ Baugh; et al. (1970). Greenslade, M W; Pugh, R B, eds. "Colleges: Wolverhampton, St Peter, note anchor 23.". A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 3.
  40. ↑ Kemp, B. R. "Salisbury, Roger of". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/23956. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  41. ↑ Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum, Volume 3, p. 170, no. 452.
  42. ↑ Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum, Volume 3, p. 170-1, no. 453.
  43. ↑ Collections for History of Staffordshire, 1913, p. 8
  44. ↑ See for example, the 13th century seal reproduced at "The Collegiate Church of St Peter in Wolverhampton" (pdf). Parish of Central Wolverhampton. Retrieved 2008-10-12.
  45. ↑ Franklin, M. J. "Clinton, Roger of". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/95152. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  46. ↑ Baugh; et al. (1970). Greenslade, M W; Pugh, R B, eds. "House of secular canons - Lichfield cathedral: To the Reformation, note anchor 37.". A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 3.
  47. ↑ Baugh; et al. (1970). Greenslade, M W; Pugh, R B, eds. "House of secular canons - Lichfield cathedral: To the Reformation, note anchor 39.". A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 3.
  48. ↑ Baugh; et al. (1970). Greenslade, M W; Pugh, R B, eds. "Colleges: Wolverhampton, St Peter, note anchor 23-4.". A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 3.
  49. ↑ Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum, Volume 3, p. 359, no. 969.
  50. ↑ Delisle and Berger, p. 66.
  51. ↑ Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum, Volume 3, p. 356, no. 962.
  52. ↑ Baugh; et al. (1970). Greenslade, M W; Pugh, R B, eds. "Colleges: Wolverhampton, St Peter, note anchor 30.". A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 3.
  53. 1 2 Southern, R.W. "Peter of Blois". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/22012. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  54. ↑ Petri Blesensis Bathoniensis Archidiaconi Opera Omnia, Letter 108, Volume 1, p. 340.
  55. ↑ Baugh; et al. (1970). Greenslade, M W; Pugh, R B, eds. "Colleges: Wolverhampton, St Peter, footnote 31.". A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 3.
  56. ↑ Petri Blesensis Bathoniensis Archidiaconi Opera Omnia, Letter 97, Volume 2, p. 74.
  57. ↑ Petri Blesensis Bathoniensis Archidiaconi Opera Omnia, Letter 152, Volume 2, p. 87-8.
  58. ↑ Petri Blesensis Bathoniensis Archidiaconi Opera Omnia, Letter 152, Volume 2, p. 89.
  59. ↑ Baugh; et al. (1970). Greenslade, M W; Pugh, R B, eds. "Colleges: Wolverhampton, St Peter, footnote 37.". A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 3.
  60. ↑ Wrottesley (ed.), p. 87.
  61. ↑ Wrottesley (ed.), p. 118.
  62. ↑ Wrottesley (ed.), p. 126.
  63. ↑ Rotuli Chartarum, p. 115.
  64. ↑ Rotuli Chartarum, p. 135.
  65. ↑ Rotuli Chartarum, p. 152.
  66. ↑ Eyton (ed.), p. 119.]
  67. ↑ Eyton (ed.), p. 125.
  68. ↑ Rotuli Chartarum, p. 153.
  69. 1 2 Rotuli Chartarum, p. 154.
  70. ↑ Ralph of Coggeshall, p. 160.
  71. ↑ Rotuli Chartarum, p. 156.
  72. ↑ "St. Peter's Collegiate Church". Wolverhampton History and Heritage Website. Bev Parker. Retrieved 4 May 2016.
  73. ↑ "Church of St Peter". Historic England. 2016. Retrieved 4 May 2016.
  74. ↑ Baugh; et al. (1970). Greenslade, M W; Pugh, R B, eds. "Colleges: Wolverhampton, St Peter, note anchor 48.". A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 3.
  75. ↑ Baugh; et al. (1970). Greenslade, M W; Pugh, R B, eds. "Colleges: Wolverhampton, St Peter, note anchor 49.". A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 3.
  76. ↑ Calendar of Patent Rolls, 1258–1266, p. 126.
  77. ↑ Annales Monastici, Volume 1, p. 275.
  78. ↑ Patent Rolls, 1225–1232, p. 356.
  79. ↑ Collections for a History of Staffordshire, Volume 4, p. 232-3.
  80. ↑ Close Rolls 1247–1251, p. 50.
  81. ↑ Collections for a History of Staffordshire, Volume 4, p. 124.
  82. ↑ Calendar of Charter Rolls, 1257–1300, p. 7.
  83. ↑ J.W. Willis-Bund. Parishes: Dudley, note anchor 38. in A History of the County of Worcester, Volume 3.
  84. ↑ Collections for a History of Staffordshire, Volume 4, p. 248-9, no. 53.
  85. ↑ Collections for a History of Staffordshire, Volume 4, p. 250-1, no. 54.
  86. ↑ Baugh; et al. (1970). Greenslade, M W; Pugh, R B, eds. "Colleges: Wolverhampton, St Peter, note anchor 57.". A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 3.
  87. ↑ Calendar of Patent Rolls, 1266–1272, p. 221.
  88. ↑ Calendar of Patent Rolls, 1266–1272, p. 310.
  89. ↑ Baugh; et al. (1970). Greenslade, M W; Pugh, R B, eds. "Colleges: Wolverhampton, St Peter, note anchor 86.". A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 3.
  90. ↑ Baugh; et al. (1970). Greenslade, M W; Pugh, R B, eds. "Hospitals: Wolverhampton, St Mary, note anchor 2.". A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 3.
  91. ↑ Baugh; et al. (1970). Greenslade, M W; Pugh, R B, eds. "Hospitals: Wolverhampton, St Mary, note anchor 5.". A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 3.
  92. ↑ Entry for Hugh Burnell at the peerage.com
  93. ↑ Baugh; et al. (1970). Greenslade, M W; Pugh, R B, eds. "Hospitals: Wolverhampton, St Mary, note anchor 7.". A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 3.
  94. ↑ Baugh; et al. (1970). Greenslade, M W; Pugh, R B, eds. "Hospitals: Wolverhampton, St Mary, note anchor 9.". A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 3.
  95. ↑ Baugh; et al. (1970). Greenslade, M W; Pugh, R B, eds. "Hospitals: Wolverhampton, St Mary, note anchor 13.". A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 3.
  96. ↑ Baugh; et al. (1970). Greenslade, M W; Pugh, R B, eds. "Colleges: Wolverhampton, St Peter, note anchor 109.". A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 3.
  97. ↑ Baugh; et al. (1970). Greenslade, M W; Pugh, R B, eds. "Colleges: Wolverhampton, St Peter, note anchor 141.". A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 3.
  98. ↑ Coulton, p. 88.
  99. ↑ Coulton, p. 90.
  100. ↑ CCEd record 227133
  101. ↑ CCEd record 187708
  102. ↑ Baugh; et al. (1970). Greenslade, M W; Pugh, R B, eds. "Colleges: Wolverhampton, St Peter, note anchor 156.". A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 3.
  103. ↑ Baugh; et al. (1970). Greenslade, M W; Pugh, R B, eds. "Colleges: Wolverhampton, St Peter, note anchor 165.". A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 3.
  104. ↑ Hickman, Peter. "St. John's in the Square: the New Church". Wolverhampton History and Heritage Website. Bev Parker. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
  105. ↑ Journal of the Rev. John Wesley, Volume 3, p. 47.
  106. ↑ "Giffard House and St.Peter's & St.Paul's Church". Wolverhampton History and Heritage Website. Bev Parker. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
  107. ↑ Quirke, James. Quirke, Patrick, ed. "Roman Catholicism in Wolverhampton 1828–1865: The Growth of the Catholic Community in Wolverhampton (part 4)". Wolverhampton History and Heritage Website. Bev Parker. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
  108. ↑ Quirke, James. Quirke, Patrick, ed. "Roman Catholicism in Wolverhampton 1828–1865: Anti-Catholic agitation in Wolverhampton (part 4)". Wolverhampton History and Heritage Website. Bev Parker. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
  109. ↑ Hickman, Peter. "The Remarkable Story of the Reverend William Dalton". Wolverhampton History and Heritage Website. Bev Parker. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
  110. ↑ Baugh; et al. (1970). Greenslade, M W; Pugh, R B, eds. "Colleges: Wolverhampton, St Peter, note anchor 184.". A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 3.
  111. ↑ Phillimore and Phillimore. p. 172.
  112. ↑ Phillimore and Phillimore. p. 174.
  113. ↑ Phillimore and Phillimore. p. 183.
  114. ↑ "Christian places of worship in Wolverhampton". University of Wolverhampton. Retrieved 2008-10-12.
  115. ↑ G C Baugh, W L Cowie, J C Dickinson, Duggan A P, A K B Evans, R H Evans, Una C Hannam, P Heath, D A Johnston, Hilda Johnstone, Ann J Kettle, J L Kirby, R Mansfield and A Saltman (1970). Greenslade, M. W.; Pugh, R. B., eds. A History of the County of Stafford 3. London: British History Online.
  116. ↑ "The Bells". St. Peter's Guild of Change Ringers, Wolverhampton. Retrieved 2010-01-09.
  117. ↑ "The Collegiate Church of St Peter". Parish of Central Wolverhampton. Retrieved 2008-10-12.
  118. ↑ "ORGAN OF THE MONTH 47: May 2006". Birmingham Organists' Association. May 2006. Retrieved 2008-10-12.
  119. ↑ Richard Alleyne (26 September 2010). "Sir Edward Elgar wrote football chant along with his classical music". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2010-09-27.
  120. ↑ http://www.expressandstar.com/news/2010/09/23/choirs-songs-to-honour-wolves-legend-malpass
  121. ↑ Staffordshire Advertiser - Saturday 23 April 1836
  122. ↑ Hertford Mercury and Reformer - Saturday 22 January 1842
  123. ↑ Staffordshire Sentinel and Commercial & General Advertiser - Saturday 28 July 1860
  124. ↑ Hubbard, William Lines; Green, Janet M., eds. (1908). Musical Biographies. The American History and Encyclopedia of Music 2 (Toledo: Irving Squire). p. 14. Retrieved 27 April 2016.

References

"Church of St Peter". Historic England. 2016. Retrieved 4 May 2016. 

External links

Coordinates: 52°35′13″N 2°07′41″W / 52.5869°N 2.1280°W / 52.5869; -2.1280

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