HISTORY OF ST. JAMES' CHURCH
There has been a Church of Saint James at Welland since 1300. The Old Church was situated at the end of Welland Court Lane, off the Upton Road and about a mile or so from the present Church. Due to an increase in the population of the village in the late 1800s and the deterioration of the Old Church, it was decided to look for another site.
Mr Abraham Watkins, Churchwarden, of Welland Villa (now Church Villa), generously gave the plot of land on which the new Church of Saint James was built. The work was commenced in 1873 and the foundation stone was laid on St. James' Day, July 25th of that year. It was consecrated on 2nd April 1875.
The architect was J. West Hugnall of Worcester, the builders were Wall and Hook, of Brimscombe, Gloucestershire and the cost was approximately £4000. This was raised by private donations and small grants from the Worcestershire Church Extensions Society and the Incorporated Church Building Society.
The tower has a wooden spire and houses six bells by John Taylor and Co. of Loughborough. The structure is of Malvern Stone, taken from the Gullet Quarry, Castlemorton and faced with Bath stone. The nave is 61 feet by 25 feet, has four bays resting on round piers with alternating bands of blue and white stone. It is in the early decorated style of the 13th century.
The east window was given by the Countess Beauchamp and is by Hardman and Co., and the stained glass window in the south aisle, dedicated to Benjamin Hall and his wife Elizabeth, is by Charles Earner Kempe. The other stained glass window in the south aisle, came from the Church of the Good Shepherd in Upper Welland (now a private house) in the 1970s. The window in the north aisle and given by the Reverend J. Coombes, is by Edward Green of Hereford.
The clock on the tower was added to commemorate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897.
The church plate consists of a handsome silver-gilt chalice with a high spire-like cover, both of elaborate repousse work, with the hall marks for 1613; a blown glass flagon with a silver-gilt lid, neck-band and foot, with the hall marks of 1582, both bearing the Taylor arms. There are also a silver cup of the usual type dated 1571 and a modern silver-gilt cup, flagon and paten — the last three a gift of a Mrs. Forsdyke - and a modern platen partly made from an old one melted down.
Electric lighting was added in 1930 by J. H. Taylor and Co., Huddersfield. The church had previously been lit by oil lamps suspended on chains between the columns. Holes in the choir stalls can still be seen where there had been stands for oil lamps.
The organ is by W. G. Vowles of Castle Street, Bristol and is used regularly.
There are two war memorial plaques in the north aisle and books commemorating the villagers who gave their lives in the Great War and World War Two. On the south and north walls are two memorials taken from the Old Church and there are also three brass memorial plaques.
In the porch is a list of Vicars from 1300 to the present day and just inside the door to the Church is a picture of the laying of the foundation stone and some of the previous
Vicars from the era. There is also in the vestry, a small stone travelling font from the 17th century and brought from the Old Church.
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