OLD WEST BROMWICH PHOTOS

What caused the fire at the church and what happened to the graves and head stones

The official line from the council at the time was that a vagrant got into the church and it caught fire! The vagrant however was never found and Sandwell Council managed to get rid of a listed building that was going to cost a fortune to repair. As far as I can remember the graves which still had connections with living relatives were moved to other graveyards around the borough, the others unfortunately become the property of Sandwell council to dispose of as some of the graves were well over 150 years old and in a bad state of disrepair.

The Church to be fair had seen better days it was dark on the outside and in need of some major external TLC. I did go inside there once and surprisingly enough it was not too bad at all the fixtures and fittings were intact.

Good job it`s gone, the Tatters would have had all the Lead off of the Roof by now.

It's surprising how many people don't remember the Jobcentre is built on a graveyard. Back of the Church was very popular in the Adelphi days, I say no more!

barbara at July 31, 2010 at 1:10 PM

It's surprising how many people don't remember the Jobcentre is built on a graveyard. Back of the Church was very popular in the Adelphi days, I say no more!

Hi Barbara i remember taking a short cut through the church when going to the Adelphi with my sister and scaring ourselves to death the path looked like choclate squares i loved that church

joan collins at July 29, 2010 at 11:40 PM

What caused the fire at the church and what happened to the graves and head stones

Karen has Just been speaking to someone who lives in one of the houses that leads onto the then Graveyard and she remembers well the move of the graves.

She reckons that there were legal notices put in the local papers asking for relatives to contact the council, after a length of time people moved in to open up the graves and move them to a site in London (Why London is beyond me ?).

This woman remembers vividly looking out of her bedroom window to see the horrific scenes of skeletons been bought to the surface and the kicking of skulls around the yard and then the bodies were put in cheap coffins and shipped away

there is a plaque on the wall in all saints (old church) stating that the remains from christ church graves are buried there. The plaque is on the wall at the gateway to the extension of the all saints churchyard the condition of which is a disgrace to the town