St James' Church, Shireshead

Image: © Rude Health Taken: 9 Mar 2014

The name 'Shireshead' is a very ancient one which may derive from the location of the first church at the apex of gently rising ground. This first building was recorded in 1520, but it was probably erected before that. In the book Northward by Anthony Hewitson, it is said to have had "a more curious or fluctuating career than any other building of the kind in the North". It was occupied for a time in the 17th century by a group of Nonconformists who are said to have been horsewhipped out of the church during Sunday worship by the Duchess of Hamilton. The minister of these worshippers, the Rev. Eleazor Aray, then took charge of the new Independent Chapel, built under the Five Mile Act in 1707. Shireshead St Paul's was built in 1805 on the site of the 1520 church, and Shireshead acquired the status of a parish in 1858. St Paul's is still standing, surrounded by a well-maintained graveyard, even though it was replaced for services in 1889 by a new building, St James's, which is in a more convenient location.

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