The story of the St James Mission Church and the St James bell: stolen, recovered, forgotten, found and restored
The history of the St James Mission Church has been well documented in the guide and history of St Philip & St James Church Alderley Edge, Cheshire, by local historian and former church warden Michael Scaife MA (OXON) published in 2011 and, later updated in 2018 whilst the church received lottery funding for the Spire renovations. 2016/17
The St James Mission Church stood at the corner of Heyes Lane and Moss Road. It was opened by the Bishop of Chester Rt Revd Dr Francis Jayne on 16th June 1908. It was built in response to housing development on Heyes Lane in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The first vicar was the Revn. Paige-Cox (second vicar at St Philips Church). The church was primarily used for Sunday School classes, but there was also a monthly service of Holy Communion. The outbreak of the Second World War, however, forced its closure. After the war, the building of the Bollin Fields estate greatly increased the population of that part of the village and brought with it new and younger church members keen to renovate and reopen the church, which took place in 1949. There was an evening service every Sunday, twice monthly services of Holy Communion and a Sunday School. For a quarter of a century the mainstay of the worship at St James was Mr J D Bird, a licensed Reader. A strong community spirit built up. People of St James played a leading role in the annual Rose Queen Fete. By the 1970s, however, the building needed repairs which the parish could ill afford.
On 9th March 1975 St James was closed, the building was demolished and the land sold by the Church to a local family, Mr & Mrs Keith Grantham. They built a bungalow after Mr Grantham was sadly paralysed from the waist down during a hospital investigation on his kidney, which resulted in medical negligence.
St Philips had asked for the bell, a pew and some flooring to be sent to the church to be reused. A demolition team called Radcliff Bros from Up Holland, Lancashire were employed to dismantle the mission.
It was stipulated the mission had to be dismantled within six months of purchase. Radcliff’s started to dismantle but before long absconded with the bell, pews and flooring leaving the site exposed and dangerous.
Keith Grantham, being a well-respected local man, had the support of many friends within the community, who joined forces and cleared the site, making it safe. He couldn’t do it as he was confined to a wheel chair and was worried about the safety of the site.
A local police man and close friend Geoff Gregory enlisted the help of local detectives Jim Buckley and Pete Halden (also friends) who looked into the disappearance of the bell, pews and flooring. Mr & Mrs Grantham helped identify the culprits from photos and the men were duly caught and detained in the cells at Wilmslow Police Station. They were ordered to return the items by the magistrates court. The Radcliffe brothers remained in the cells till they remembered who they had sold the items to and eventually the bell and one pew was returned. The flooring was never recovered, even after the Grantham’s Solicitors sent bailiffs to the Radcliffe’s house.
The Grantham’s duly passed on the information to the Rector, Revn. Fred Leese, who was to arrange for bell and pew to be collected by St Philips Church. Over the passage of time, they were forgotten, the pew disintegrated, and the bell remained in Keith’s shed.
Sadly Keith Grantham died in 2019. During discussions for Keith’s funeral Ruth mentioned the bell to Revd Robin Pye. Ruth wanted the bell to go back to its rightful place. The bell was duly returned to St Philips.
During the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown, Martin Sinker and Bob Tuffin raised the bell into its new home in the lower chamber of the tower, alongside the remains of an eight-bell peal of tubular bells. They used some climbing rope and some borrowed crevasse rescue pulleys to hoist it through a series of trap-doors. There is now a pull-rope system and the bell mounting has been secured.
A service of blessing of the St James bell was held at St Philip and St James on Sunday 22nd August 2021.
St Philips Church was renamed St Philip & St James Church in 2009 under Revn. Jane Parry in order to honour the memory of the St James Mission Church.
Mandy Parr February 2020
The story of the St James Church bell, as told by Ruth Grantham 12th February 2020.
To Mandy Parr from AHG.Version 2 updated by Ruth Grantham March 2020 .
Further update August 2021.
Photos: L - R: Ruth Grantham rings the bell at St Philip & St James Church, February 2020, The Interior of the Church during Harvest
The house on site of St James Mission Church