A bit of an interesting mystery today on the blog – Walsall Wood Church of St. John is one we’ve covered a few times over the years, and at heart it’s quite an old building. Heavily extended both by the Victorians and in our living memory, it’s still recognisably the same church, but now considerably larger.

Walsall Wood Church before the 1980s extension…. reproportioned it. note the tall monuments in the front churchyard. Image kindly supplied by the wonderful Bill Mayo.

However, David Evans is curious about a mystery connected with this fine building. At some point in recent decades, the front churchyard was cleared of monuments and memorials. This is not unusual, as many old churchyards contained decaying structures that were often tidied to improve the church for parishioners – this happened at Pelsall and Brownhills, of course.

David has long mused over an obelisk-like, tall memorial in front of St. Johns that disappeared during the clearance, and he’d love to know more about it.

I’ll let David talk you through it with the aid of a couple of great period photos from the wonderful Link family.

HI Bob

We are fortunate in having such generous local people who contribute with good heart to our communal history. Over recent years your wonderful blog has been instrumental in seeing this rich history brought to light and flourish so well

One of the enduring mysteries in Walsall Wood is the Lost Obelisk that once graced the grounds of St John’s Parish Church. Very old images of the church appear in Bill Mayo’s local history books… These manly being from around the turn of the 20th century.

This wedding photo at St Johns Church, High Street Walsall Wood was taken in 1956 and was kindly offered by Mr and Mrs Lynk a few years ago. It shows the view towards the nearby corner with Coppice Road and the Co-op butchers and grocery shops there and the now demolished houses at the corner with Brookland Road and Lichfield Road.

Mr and Mrs Lynk kindly let me scan two of their wedding photos which show that this Obelisk was still there in 1956… A helpful date to have.

But the mystery of what happened to the monument, and who and what it commemorated still remains unresolved.

kind regards

David Evans

This image was taken outside the front door to the church and shows the High Street shops near Headley’s shop… It also shows the lost obelisk in front of the dark tree.

Can you help with this? If so, please do: Comment here, mail me on BrownhillsBob at Googlemail dot com or tug my sleeve on social media. Thanks to David and the Link family for the continued generosity and a great puzzle!