St James Church Handed Back to the City-God ‘elp Us

Here we go again. It was handed back by the Chairman (how many chairmans, can one man be) of the Churches Conservation Trust, Loyd Grossperson the Heritage marauder of Liverpool’s World Heritage Site.

The CCT have owned it for decades.
It is reported that this marks a milestone. Well Isay reported.
It is said this marked the first milestone on the road to a £16m regeneration project at St James In The City church, in Upper Parliament Street.
The Toxteth chapel is thought to be one of the world’s earliest surviving examples of a church supported by cast-iron columns.
Built between 1774 and 1775 by Cuthbert Bisbrowne, it served Liverpool’s West African, Caribbean and American communities, including many slaves.
But it has been owned by the Churches Conservation Trust (CCT) for the past 29 years. http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/10/st-james-church-liverpools-heritage-at.html
The congregation had to move out in the 1960s because of plans to extend the M62 into the heart of the city.
Yesterday, trust chairman Loyd Grossman officially handed the building back to the Bishop of Liverpool, the Right Reverend James Jones.

Mr Grossman said: “I have been chairman for almost three years now and one of the first things I did was hold a meeting in St James to listen to the various plans people proposed. http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/11/loyd-grossman-lectures-us-on-heritage.html
“I think a huge amount of progress has been made in three years. We are very lucky we have got to this wonderful stage, where St James is going to be returned to use as a place of worship and to be a focal point for the community.“St James In The City is an historic church of global and national significance. We believe historic churches should be protected for future generations by bringing them back into the heart of community use.
“The bold and exciting plans from the Dioceses of Liverpool do just this.” http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/04/english-heretics.html
The parish’s vicar, Rev Neil Short, said the first major piece of renovation will be to replace the church’s ailing roof. http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/04/mad-hatters-tea-party-at-st-james.html
His vision for the church also includes building a new block next to the centuries-old church containing offices, apartments and community facilities and should help pay for the restoration.
It was feared thousands of bodies would have to be exhumed from the cemetery to make way for the block, but other options are now being looked into.
Mr Short said yesterday: “It feels absolutely brilliant to take ownership of the church because we will be able to maintain the structure of this building.
“We will see this building in its original glory but we will also be able to refurbish it and make it suitable for the 21st century.”
He added surveys on the roof will be done shortly, and the parish is applying to a host of bodies for grants to fund the work.
picture and quotes courtesy Liverpool Daily Post http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2010/05/21/historic-church-handed-back-to-liverpool-ahead-of-16m-regeneration-project-92534-26490355/
Who fail to mention where the money is to come from.

So the Church as property developers are still pushing ahead to knock a block of flats next to this church.

And to think Bishop Jones is the Chairman of Liverpools Stop the Rot campaign.

St James Church-Is A Bit Of Common Sense Happening At Last

Has The Reverend Neil been caught "Short".

 http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2010/01/04/plans-to-build-over-thousands-of-graves-in-a-liverpool-churchyard-are-set-to-be-dropped-92534-25518985/  Ben Schofiels writes; The vicar who planned to build over the buried bodies vowed there would now be “minimal” disruption to his city centre cemetery.

It had been feared a huge new block being built next to St James church, on Upper Parliament Street, would concrete over a historic burial yard.
But new plans are now being considered that could see the new addition put up away from the graveyard.
Liverpool Diocese wants to see St James, which was built in 1775, brought back into use after it closed three decades ago.
Last year, it announced plans to build a “mixed use” block containing offices, apartments and community facilities in the graveyard. Rent-paying tenants would provide an income for the parish and help bankroll the estimated £2m building renovations.
The church needs a new roof, extensive re-pointing to brickwork and an internal overhaul.
Initial plans were to build the new block parallel to the church.

But now another proposal has emerged which could see the block set at the eastern end of the church, running along the disused Chesterfield Street. Rev Neil Short, the vicar of the new parish of St James in the City, said all the options were still being considered.
But he added: “We want to minimise disruption and if building on Chesterfield Street is a viable option, then we want to pursue that.
“We’re keen to look at everything that’s possible and to collect all the information and then to talk to everybody involved, then to decide what’s best.

Yes we bet they are seeing as they have been exposed as nutters http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/04/mad-hatters-tea-party-at-st-james.html  with a plan to dig up 7000 bodies out of the churchyard of St James (not the Cathedral Cemetery) on Parliment Street. http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/04/english-heretics.html Has Ricky the Arch Deacon or the Arch Enemy Panter whatever way you look at it been caught with his pantsdown http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/search/label/Ricky%20Panter  kidding us that the Church would pile drive through a couple of thousand skulls to lay foundations for a block of flats so they can raise fears.

It seems they are now saying they wont do this at all but build the flats on the road next to it, and in doing so still altering the setting of a Grade II * listed buildings.

I like to show respect for the clergy but this bunch of buffoons dont deserve any, they really dont.

The Bishop is Chair of the Echo Stop The Rot campaign that didnt stop anything.

Short, who should stick to wine and crackers evenings, rattling his tamborine, is mad, he goes on. But the reality is I can’t say – we have to look at all the options, collect the information and decide what’s best.”

Rev Short is determined to make an impact in his community.
He has certainly made an impact on me as a joker, a mad hatter who wants to make a name for himself.
His evangelical congregation started out with just him and his wife.
That has since grown to more than 30 adults and around half a dozen children.
The state of the church had meant they held their services in Liverpool Cathedral.
But now a marquee has been put up inside the church to keep worshippers dry.
Another tent is on the altar and acts as a creche for children.

How did the Church get in this state in the first place.......because it was left yo rot the only reason it has not been felled by the local clergy is because someone had the foresight to list it. http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/10/st-james-church-liverpools-heritage-at.html
If this was ever the case to write a blog, to alert people to the dangers of Liverpools Heritage, to shame them into stopping making mistakes well this is it.
Bible Bashers acting as property developers what ever will they think of next.

St James Church-Liverpool’s Heritage at Risk No 4

This Church on the corner of Upper/Lower Parliament St and Park Lane may be the earliest remaining cast iron structure in Britain. Garade II*
This is the Church that had a giant neon Rabitt bolted to it without planning permission despite being in peril.
http://www.englishheritage.org.uk/upload/pdf/190609north_west_2009_har_register.pdf
PAGE 64 FOR LIVERPOOL
It is not a beautiful or monumental structure described by Picton as 'a plain brick building'. But this is none the less an historical architectural and engineering monument, of the greatest importance.

It is now owned by the Churches Conservation trust who, along with English Heretics http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/04/english-heretics.html  and the local Church elders are making, fools of themselves with plans to dig up 7000 bodies and build a block of flats on the graveyard……Poltergeist.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/04/mad-hatters-tea-party-at-st-james.html
It is Norman in character with its small semicircular headed windows. Its architect was Cuthbert Brisbane who was working on land presented by Lord Sefton for a sum of £3000 raised by 27 shareholders prior to its construction. It was built in 1774-5.
Wrought iron and cast iron were to revolutionise church design and architecture in general in the 19th century. Here we see the precursor to the Albert Dock with its vaulted and iron columned spans and it also led to the more ordinary. Such as, Coleman’s Fireproof Repository, just up Park Lane. Cast Iron columns, the type we see in this Church are quatrefoil clustered, would make it able to build vast open spaces at minimum cost. Making it a valuable style of construction for Ecclesiastical designs.

There was an earlier church with pre-cast columns the Church of St Anne, in St Anne’s Street which was built in 1772. This has now been demolished.
This is on English Heretics National at Risk register and has been for a long time.

Bishop James Jones who supports the current scheme to smack a load of piles through the skulls and bones of the dead bodies in the graveyard, unmarked, as all the head stones have been removed should be ashamed of himself. This Church is more at risk from the people who should be looking after it than the elements. How sad. But how terrible would it be if it was vandalised or set on fire the same as was done St Andrews Church on Rodney Street. http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/2009/10/st-andrews-church-rodney-st-liverpools.html

£950,000,000 of European Objective One Money Liverpool has lapped up, by the fat cats, and you cant look after our heritage. Mr Bradley Fireman and Council leader, whose watch could make a visit with his appliance any day to put out a fire should take an interest. In Toxteth where his watch is, so much wasted opportunity still beckons decades after the Toxteth riots.
http://liverpoolpreservationtrust.blogspot.com/search/label/St%20James%20Church

This once again is in the constituency of her shyness the “Dame of Dereliction” Louise Ellman, who is oblivious to neglect it seems to me.
Quentin Hughes was a Chairman of the then, now largely redundant Merseyside Civic Society and was instrumental in having the Churches Conservation Trust take it on.
Quentin in his book LIVERPOOL City of Architecture states “The Church was declared redundant and was supposed to be cared for against the ravages of vandals by The Churches Conservation Trust. How wonderful it would be if it could be converted into a museum of iron architecture in whose development Liverpool has played such a significant part. However it now looks as though the trust is abrogating its responsibility, disliking, the task of caring for city centre Churches". That was almost a decade ago.
Just who can you trust?

Mad Hatters Tea Party at St James Church.

Is Vic There....or is he in another world?

One would wish to give respect to the Clergy but what a group of Mad Hatters we have in Liverpool.

Here we have the Rev Small with some Idiot dressed as a white rabbit jumping up and down on the graves that they intend to dig up in St James Cemetery. You couldn't make this up.

They then enticed people in with the bribery of an Easter Egg for their kids to enable them to have a loaded questionnaire thrown to them.

Questions not included on said questionnaire.

1. Are we all mad.

2. Is Ricky Panter the Arch Deacon or the Arch Enemy.

3. We have put a giant neon bunny rabbit on the side of a church on English Heretics at risk register and are planning to dig up three thousand bodies to build a block of flats...is this Sacrilegious.

4. Is this proposed development an action that renders the Bishop in his post as Chairman of the Stop the Rot ( that doesn't stop anything) campaign untenable.

ENGLISH HERETICS

Last night was a consultation evening at St James Church.
I went with an open mind even being very dismayed about the plan to exhume 3000 bodies and build a block of flats on the cemetery.
All the usual suspects were there Louise Obrien from EH, Andrew Pearce from the MCS, Graham Ives from English Heretics. I could swear that during his speech he and the panel sprouted little red horns and barbed tails, it may have just been the light. Here we have a clear example of English Heretics being so out of touch that it is doing more damage than good.

So too are the Churches Conservation Trust whose representative Peter Aires was left in no uncertain terms as to the ill feeling regarding the plans to turn the Church into a piece of property development.
Louise Ellman MP who has watched the church deteriate and living closeby, for the last 10 years did make an appearance but said nothing.
The vicar Revd Neil Short is one of those fluffy characters just the type to organise a wine and cheese evening and a tambourine jamboree. He said he was from Burnley and had been the vicar in Burscough and responsible for the churches restoration there.
Philip Stott the business advisor spoke, he wouldn’t be my choice of accountant. He said it is going to cost 2 million to restore the church and a million to exhume the 3000 bodies and then they are going to lease back the land and church from a developer….its absurd.
There are 7000 bodies buried there in total.
You know when serving my apprenticeship there was an old saying don’t build on sand, it is clear you don’t want to build foundations on decaying skulls and ribcages of dead people either.

THE CHURCH NEEDS TO SHOW MORE RESPECT FOR THE DEAD.
This is like an Amityville Horror in the making.
Who wants a flat on an old graveyard?
A well spoken lady from Toxteth town hall asked the same question why not go back to the drawing board it is a bad idea.
A man at the back suggested why not take the road over at the end, the council own it…that is a good idea. If Trevor Jones can do it with public roads why can't the church.
A bloke called Ricky Panter who introduced himself as the Arch Deacon tried to argue the case but I had none of it.

English Heretics leave the dead alone and we the LPT will support the job to get it back into service….but if the Church carry on with the idea for grant aided exhumation and the ruination of the setting of a Grade II* listed building and we will fight them all the way.

I walked out through the graveyard and I swear I could feel the dead turning in their graves below my feet.

Wayne Colquhoun

GOD HELP US
Lets put a huge neon rabbit on the side of a Grade I listed building
What a really daft idea this is.....made worse by the fact that St James Church is on the English Heretic's national at risk register.

A open letter.

Liverpool Preservation Trust
11-13 Holts arcade
India Buildings
Water St
Liverpool L2 0RR

0151 236 1282
6.3.09
Bishop of Liverpool
James Jones

Dear Bishop Jones,
It is hard to fathom out in my imagination just how you could consider putting a giant neon rabbit on the top of a Grade I listed property. St James Church, which is on the English Heritage National at risk register and has been for some time.
Considering that the Church themselves has allowed it, is may I say incredulous.

The words sacrilegious spring to mind.

Even if it is deconsecrated a little more respect is required for our heritage we feel.

As our colleagues or we peruse the planning lists weekly it is even more alarming to suggest that this has been carried out without listed building consent.

As you are the Chair of the Echo Stop the rot campaign If I may be so bold as to suggest that this looks a bit like the Church shooting themselves in the preverbal foot and sets a very bad example indeed.

We understand that attention needs drawn to the plight of this building on the at risk register but really to put a big stupid neon lamp of a bunny rabbit is one step beyond.

1.Would you please advise me when and forward copies of the listed building consent and relevant planning permission.

2.Advise whether any fees for the renting of the space have been obtained.

3. Who gave permission for such an idea?

4.When this is coming down

I look forward to hearing from you by return.

Wayne Colquhoun

Chairman and Spokesperson

further reading

http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100regionalnews/tm_headline=bishop-james-jones-branded-a-liar-who-dislikes-liverpool%26method=full%26objectid=21087043%

http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2008/06/18/campaigners-battle-to-save-landmark-church-spire-and-tower-64375-21092678/

Lawrence Westgaph who has trawled through all the archives has advised me there is no evidence of any slave buried in the cemetry.

Lets all go on a Big Dig, with the Vicar, and up a load of bodies from the nearest graveyard.

This whole story is made worse as it is an idea by the very people who buried them .....the Church who now want to dig the burials up and build a block of flats.

Bishop James Jones is the Chair of Liverpool's Stop the Rot campaign that claims to save everything but in truth saves nothing.
Stop the Rot at the Church first and we in Liverpool may have a chance.

Councillor Mumby is great he is such a cuddly cushion, said my great,great,great,great Grandfather is buried here and I support the scheme..................he is a Mumby alright.

He is best leaving wishes to be cremated when he goes.


Liverpool News
Church plans to dig up 2,500 bodies, including slaves
Oct 8 2008 by Ben Schofield, Liverpool Daily Post


St James's Church, Liverpool
THOUSANDS of bodies could be exhumed by the Church of England under a project to help bring a historic Liverpool church back to life.
The Diocese of Liverpool cannot afford to renovate the historic St James Church in the shadow of the city’s Anglican Cathedral.
But it says it could bankroll a redevelopment by building a three-storey office and apart-ment block in the grounds.
That could mean having to disturb the last resting place of those buried at the church, including many former slaves.
Last night, a Diocesan spokesman confirmed: “Church records show that there may be the remains of 2,500 bodies that the Diocese may want to exhume and reinter.”
The Bishop of Liverpool, the Right Rev James Jones, is behind the vision to bring St James’s back to life.
Church authorities now want to dig test pits to find out what state the bodies buried there are in.
Strict guidelines control re-burial of human remains, and the interment process could still prove prohibitively costly.
The Diocese wants to build the block along Upper Stanhope Street, in Toxteth. The £8.7m project will include £1.9m of renovations to the church.
Rent-paying tenants in the offices and flats would provide an income for the church, which needs a new roof, extensive point-ing and a interior refurbishment.
Project leader Rev Neil Short said last night: “These explora-tions are vital to see whether we can carry on with the project to develop a new church at St James.
“We are very aware that work of this kind can create sensitivities among a number of people, and are keen to show that we are doing this in the most responsible way possible.
“We are taking expert architectural and archaeological advice on the best way forward, and will carry out all work according to legal guidelines.”
A spokesperson for the Diocese added: “We want to be honest and open. We don’t want people driving past the graveyard and seeing that there’s digging going and wondering what it is.
“The exciting thing is we’ve got a vision for a church to come back into use for the community.”
St James’s closed its doors in the mid-1970s, but the last burial was in 1898 and the Diocese says “very few” took place after 1851.
The Diocese are planning to build a block containing up to 20 units of “supported housing” over administration and conference areas. The flats will provide capital funds and income for the church, which will be connected to the block via its lobby. The building will have a footprint of around 1,200 sq m.
The ground floor will include offices, seminar rooms, a lounge, a kitchen and toilets.
Some of the office space will be leased on a long term basis. The Anthony Walker Foundation – set up in honour of the murdered Huyton school boy – has expressed an interest in taking on some of the offices. A public information document circulated by Rev Short adds: “The aim is to plant a creative open evangelical church in the centre of Liverpool to connect with the growing residential population and the huge transient population who work, socialise or attend university in the city.
“It will bring a transforming Christian presence into a largely unchurched area. Fundamentally, we hope that this will become a beacon church inside and outside the city and diocese of Liverpool.
“St James is a much loved treasure, a link to our history and of enormous townscape value.”
Having cost £3,000 to build, the church was consecrated in July, 1775, and is one of the oldest standing Liverpool churches. It is also thought to be the oldest British building using cast-iron pillars.
Many slave traders frequented the church and some of their slaves were baptised there. The Diocese thinks black slaves may be among those whose final resting places will be disturbed. It says it has been in discussions with Liverpool’s International Slavery Museum about the possible exhumations.
Richard Benjamin, head of the museum, confirmed he was work-ing with church representatives to look into putting on an exhibition about the history of St James.

http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/views/liverpool-columnists/peter-elson/2008/07/14/act-now-to-save-our-crumbling-heritage-sites-92534-21334575/