Saturday 6 June 2015

Pub 48, Day 18 – The Church House

By Rob

I lived for a series of years,
Not far from the toll of the bell,
My house they pull'd over my ears,
And I was consign'd to my cell.

Before my remains were dissolved,
The Black Resurrection took place,
My troubles upon me resolved,
Much to the Old Serpent's disgrace.

     - Joseph Mather, 'The Black Resurrection'

Joseph Mather, an eighteenth-century Sheffield songster, wrote the above verse in disgust at the behaviour of a certain 'Old Serpent' – the Reverend James Wilkinson. 

In 1785, the local authorities decided to widen Church Lane. With the permission of Reverend Wilkinson, they took a portion of the churchyard from the local Sheffield Parish Church (now the Cathedral) and removed a number of bodies that had been buried there; hence the title of Mather's song – The Black Resurrection.

Mather was not alone in his anger at Mr Wilkinson, the wealthy and influential Vicar of Sheffield who, in his additional role as Justice of the Peace, is known to have imprisoned his detractors and whose monument was the first commissioned work by Sir Francis Chantrey.[1]

Mr Wilkinson was seen as having behaved outrageously by allowing the remains of local parishioners to be exhumed. However, a rhyming testimony by James Wills at the turn of the century, that calls Church Lane a "dark and dreary street" that "might justly be styled the robber's retreat" suggests that Mr Wilkinson was right to allow the work to go ahead.
[2] Either way, this turbulent event led to the creation of the area around the Cathedral that we know today.

Reverend James Wilkinson (picture from Art UK)
Reading this blog you may be surprised, impressed and perhaps even a little awestruck at my comprehensive knowledge of the city centre. However, as it transpired, I didn't know this spot quite as well as I thought. For one thing, I had no idea there was a pub – called The Church House – right next to the Cathedral.

Andy, on the other hand, was well aware of the pub’s existence. At the age of fifteen, while on work experience at a nearby bank, he had popped in there during his lunch hour with a few of his older, adult colleagues. They told the bar staff that Andy was, in fact, seventeen years old and – as this was somehow seen to be marginally less illegal than if he had been fifteen – the staff graciously agreed to turn a blind eye to his drinking.

But before South Yorkshire Police break down the doors, I should point out that the pub has changed hands a few times since then. You see, before it was The Church House it was Sanctuary Bar, and before that it was The Priory pub, and a long time before that it was the Church of England Educational Institute. The street it stands on has also seen its name change more than a few times, finally being renamed as St James' Street in honour of the nearby church of St James, which was destroyed in the Blitz.

In short, this small section of the city has been relentlessly reconfigured, revamped and renamed over the centuries and it stands as testament to the rich cultural fabric of Sheffield. And, talking of the rich cultural fabric of Sheffield...

...We walked into The Church House and got exactly what we'd expected; a really nice stone-built pub that – despite serving beer and bar snacks – managed to keep hold of its Victorian dignity.  The clientele was inevitably made up of those middle-aged posh people that inexplicably seem to always have free time on their hands, and some German tourists.

We ordered ourselves a pint of Theakston Lightfoot. A pale ale that's perfect in the summer that, with a refreshing fruity flavour, went down nicely.

..............................................................................................
Fun fact: The beer gets its name from the Lightfoot brewery, which was taken over by Theakston in 1919. The amalgamation made a lot of sense, as the two brewing families were very close and linked through marriage. Alternatively, there's an old rumour that the real motivation behind Theakston's acquisition lay in the fact that Lightfoot had the better cricket team...[3]
.............................................................................................. 

Before & After
(The picture on the left is from picturesheffield.com where it is available to buy as a print)

Sipping our ale we found that we very much liked The Church House. It had a good range of beers on tap, the atmosphere was pleasant, the building was impressive, and the pub was in a great location. All was as it should be, until I got up and wandered over to the gents and saw something that you don't often see in a modern British public house.

Laid out on a small empty stage, right next to the toilets, there was a coffin. Why it was there remains a mystery to this day (because we didn't bother to ask the bar staff). I can only imagine that the sight of a coffin in a pub would have enraged Joseph Mather beyond all reason if he had been there with us...

...Inside The Church House it lay,
Unearthed and disturbed from its rest,
But I managed to drink up and pay,
Knowing we still had to finish Pubquest.

Pub: The Church House (4 St James' St, S1 2EW)
Rating: 8/10
Brewery: Theakston Brewery (Masham, North Yorkshire)

NEXT UP: Stunning architecture, at the Three Tuns...

[2] Joseph Mather, 'The Black Resurrection', in John Wilsin, The Songs of Joseph Mather, Pawson and Brailsford, Sheffield, (1862), p.43

No comments:

Post a Comment