The history of the Catholic community in Haunton can be traced back to a record in the Doomsday Book of a Chapel dedicated to St James the Great located in the village green area of the village in the centre of Haunton. The more recent history of the Catholic Church in Haunton – "the Village of Saints" as the names of many of original dwellings were listed under Saints names, begins with Colonel Charles Edward Mousley and his wife Mary. Charles, born in Spain of a Spanish mother in 1819, succeeded to the estate of Haunton Hall. In 1845 a chapel was built within the Hall as a living centre for Catholic life of family and domestics.
In 1851 the Squire of Clifton Hall had a son, Henry James Pye, who became the Rector of St Andrews church in Clifton Campville. The same year the Rector was married to Emily, only daughter of the famous William Wilberforce, remembered as the great campaigner against the slave trade. The Reverend and his wife led a comfortable life at the rectory. However, in June 1868 after being shaken by controversy rooted in preaching, which repudiated major doctrines of Christianity, a period of study and prayer for guidance resulted in he and his wife becoming Catholics. This caused great distress and consternation to their families and his father cut them off as strangers. As a result the very new and uncertain future resulted in Henry Pye being called to the bar and he became a barrister on the Midland circuit, and a JP for Staffordshire and Warwickshire. Some time later his brother, Capt. Charles C. Pye followed into the Catholic Church and their father relented and by 1880 Henry John Pye was again in Clifton Campville.
Henry John Pye eventually inherited his father’s estates and being full of zeal for the survival of the faith, he decided to build a church dedicated to St Michael for the convenience of local Catholics in Haunton. Around this time two other Catholic families moved into the area – the de Traffords and the Mostyns, both were very supportive of the Catholic Church.
The first church dedicated to St Michael was a temporary iron roofed structure opened on 1st January 1885, replacing the chapel at Haunton Hall. Between 1886 and 1887 the Haunton church was extended by the addition of a chancel built with the stones of the historic St James the Great, which had become derelict. The stones were all re-cut and the re-use of the stones was seen as symbolic at this time, the chancel arch being seen as the link between the pre- and post – reformation Catholic Church. The dedication of the church was changed to include St. James to give us the present dedication which is an unusual one.
In 1901, the old prefabricated "tin roofed church" was replaced by the present stone church, designed by Edmund Kirby, an architect who worked mainly on Catholic churches in the Liverpool area.
The church is small and simple, in an adaptation of the early English style, with a timber bellcote at the west end. The west window is a triplet of lancets over three shorter lights, a feature which together with the brackets inside the church suggests a gallery was planned. The windows of the church are notable for the quality of their stained glass, which is surprisingly rich and excellent in design. Most of the glass is from the studios of John Hardman & Co., a firm associated with the great Gothic revivalist AWN Pugin back in the 1840s and which continued to produce good glass into the 20th century. The earliest windows are at the east and west extremities of the church.
The east window is to the memory of Lady Mostyn who died in 1899 and features our Lady Immaculate, patron of the chapel at Haunton Hall, and the two patrons of our church, St James the Great Apostle and St Michael the Archangel. Tradition tells us that James was the first of the Apostles to lay down his life for Christ. He is also venerated as the Apostle of Spain, in which country he preached the Gospel.
The west window commemorates Henry John Pye, buried in the churchyard 8th January 1903. The upper lights show the Crucifixion with St Mary Magdalene at the foot of the Cross and Mary his Mother in the left panel and St John the Beloved in the right panel.
The lower lights show St Charles Borromeo, Patron Saint of Charles Pye, and St Barbara, the Patron Saint of his sister Barbara. The pelican, symbol of Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross, appears at the top.
The other widows in the nave commemorate others of the local Catholic gentry and are very good; showing the influence of C E Kempe, an artist whose work can be seen in the north window of the Lady Chapel, a work of 1925.
The foundation stone is at the S W angle of the church, described as symbolising the union of Jewish and Gentile races in Christianity.
The new nave and sanctuary were opened on 22nd May 1902 by Bishop Isley of Birmingham in the presence of among others Lady Mostyn’s son, Francis Mostyn, Bishop of Minervia, a regular attendee of Haunton events. Between the opening and consecration, many gifts were presented to the Church, including a Holy Water font in the Byzantine style from Treviso in Italy, which now serves as the Baptismal Font.
On the 19th June 1902, the relics of two martyrs, St Simplicianus and St Purparatus were placed in the altar, which is alabaster inlaid with marble with a white marble tabernacle.
The Consecration of the Church was solemnly celebrated during the reign of King Edward VII on 20th June1907 and 3rd July was fixed as the anniversary of the consecration.
Father John O’Toole was the Priest at the time of the building of the church having been requested by Mr Pye. Father O’Toole lived in the original presbytery, St Mary’s Cottage, and served as Parish Priest for 35 years. During his time in Haunton he introduced a small group of French Nuns to the village in 1904. The Sisters of St Joseph of Bordeaux had been driven from their Convents in France by the anti-Catholic laws of the time. They remain in the village now, housed in a newly built Convent, after their departure from Haunton Hall which had become a boarding school run by the Nuns until 1987.
The Centenary of the Church was marked by a group effort of Parishioners and Nuns purchasing and working more than 100 kneelers to complement the beautiful Church.
Contacts:
The church has its own web site - http://www.measevalley.org.uk/haunton.htm.
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