The current church is built on the site of a slightly earlier building. The first church was originally built as a chapel-of-ease to what was the main parish church at Claines, about 2 miles away. The land was acquired on 30th January 1828, with work on the chapel starting on the 11th March 1829, when the foundation stone was laid by the Bishop of Worcester, and it was consecrated on 27th October 1830.
In 1862 it finally because a parish church in its own right to serve the increasing population of Barbourne. However, by 1893 the decision had been made to replace the building with a larger one on the same site. The original building had been intended merely to serve as a chapel-of-ease when the whole population of Claines was only 5,000, but by 1892 the Parish of St. George's alone had 4,000 people living in it. It seems that the 1829 structure was fairly unloved as evidenced by the following description in Littlebury's Directory of Worcester, 1879:
"St. George's, in St. George's Square, north of the city was erected in 1829-30 at a cost of £3,500, defrayed by subscription and a grant from the Incorporated Church Building Society. It has no architectual feature of importance, but has recently been made as neat and ecclesiastical as such a building is capable of, under the direction of Mr. W. J. Hopkins, architect...."
Futhermore a letter from the Vicar at the time seeking contributions towards the costs of the new church wrote:
"[the old church] was built at the most debased period of church architecture, and in it all the wost features of a Georgian Church are combined. There are three galleries, no proper Chancel, and a Sanctuary of such mean dimensions that there is only room at the Altar rail for seven communicants..."
The architect selected for the new building was Mr Aston Webb (later Sir Aston Webb).
The last service at the old church was held on 20th August. Until the new church was ready services were held at a temporary church at the Old Militia Barracks next door (on the site now occupied by Homenash House).
The foundation stone for the new church took place at a ceremony held on Wednesday 11th October, 1893 and the building was finally consecrated on Tuesday 23rd April (St. George's Day) 1895.
Earlier History of the Site
The church, together with the rest of the square, is built on meadow or pasture land originally known as "Flag Closes" or "White Ladies". The land appears to have been acquired by Holland and Elizabeth Cooksey on the 27th June 17591. In February 1795, Elizabeth, now a widow, conveyed a four fifths share to her four children: Richard Cooksey, Charlotte Evans (nèe Cooksey), Harriet Cooksey and Sarah Cooksey. It seems this was an undivided share and Elizabeth retained the fifth part. It would appear that Richard had financial problems for within a few days he had transferred his interest in one fifth of the land to two trustees, a William Dowdeswell and a Thomas Blayney, who were charged with settling his debts with his creditors. In Trinity Term 1796 Richard Cooksey's trustees issued a Writ of Partition against Elizabeth Cooksey to partition off a fifth part of the land. Presumably this would have allowed them to sell the land. What this action did for family harmony is only to be imagined. While the Writ was succesful it was later declared void.
Richard Cooksey died in March 1798, followed by his mother in November the same year. Matters had been made complicated by the fact that William Dowdeswell had left England for East Indies thereby rendering the various trusts reposed in him inoperative.
A meeting was held of Richard's creditors at The Talbot Inn on the 3rd March 1800. Amazingly, to modern eyes, an Act of Parliament was required to resolve the problem of the 'missing' trustee and, accordingly, at this meeting it was agreed to petition for an Act of Parliament to allow the subsitution of a Thomas Bird in place of William Dowdeswell and to carry out the partition of the lands. This was achieved later that year.
The meadow land (amounting in area to 7 acres, 2 roods and 33 perches which equates to approximately 7.71 acres or 336,684 sq. ft.) was sold on the 24th March 1801 to George Hope, a butcher on the Tything of Whitstones in the parish of Claines (note that at this time the city boundary did not extend as far as the Tything and so this area was actually part of the parish of Claines). He paid exactly £1,100 pounds for the land.
It is unclear what George Hope did with the land during his ownership. Various documents, but specifically his Will, refer to a garden at the far end of the meadow. The exact position of this garden is unclear. As the meadow area is slightly greater than the area of the square (roughly 291,000 sq. ft.) it seems that the garden must have been beyond where the church now stands on the land to the East of St. George's Lane South. During this time the land became known as "Shrubbery Meadow". George died in early 1818, leaving the "rents and profits and produce" from the meadow land to care for his widow (Sarah) and his children and, after his widow's death, the meadow was to be split: the southern three acres were to be fenced off along their northern perimeter and left to his son George Hope (a farmer); the remainder, including a carriageway across its southern edge, was to be left to another son, William Hope (another butcher). The carriageway referred to led to the "garden at the back part of such meadow" and this in turn was left to the third son John Hope. Support to the idea that the garden was 'behind' the church is given by the fact the the Will also refers to another "carriage road to and from the turnpike road across the South end of such meadow" which was also left to John. While slightly ambigious it seems that this refers to a different carriage road to the one up the middle of the meadow - probably what is now Saint George's Lane South. The gravestone for John Hope can be found by the footpath around the North side of the church.
Times have not changed - Sarah (George's widow) and her two elder sons, George and Williams, must have come to the conclusion that selling the land for development made good sense and they decided not to partition it as instructed in George Hope's Will.
Accordingly the land was divided into 22 plots (7 along each of the North and South sides, and 8 along the curved East side) and put up for sale by Auction. Confusingly Lots were number in the opposite direction to the later house numbering - Lot 1 being where No. 30 now stands. The prospectus (complete with 'Estate-agent-speak') for this sale started:
SHRUBBERY PLACE
TO BE SOLD BY AUCTION
By R. GILL
At the STAR and GARTER INN, in the City of Worcester
ON MONDAY the 10th day of January 1825
AT FOUR O'CLOCK in the afternoon in lots convenient for building
A DESIRABLE
FREEHOLD PIECE
of
MEADOW GROUND
in the Occupation of Mr. William Hope
Adjoining to a Messuage and Garden called THE SHRUBBERY on the South and the Turnpike Road leading out of Worcester towards Birmingham on the West. The above is
LAID OUT IN 22 LOTS
On a most approved plan
With a HANDSOME DRIVING ROAD to the front and another Driving Road to the back of each Lot with a spacious PLEASURE GROUND in the middle. The whole is most delightfully situate within Five minutes walk of the CENTRE of the CITY of WORCESTER, combining all the advantages of TOWN and COUNTRY and affording an unusuallt eligible opportunity for INVESTMENT of MONEY in PURCHASE of LOTS, each of which will give A VOTE FOR THE COUNTY and a Purchaser a pleasurable retirement at the same time retaining all the conveniences of communication with the city. The Lots are laid out in sizes to accommodate the wishes of every Purchaser, containing from 800 to 1,700 Square yards each, and nearly fifty foot frontage.
It seems that the Hopes must have misjudged the demand for new building land as only two or three lots appear to have been sold, and one of these sales may have preceeded the actual auction as the plan which accompanies the prospectus shows that a Mrs Jane Yarnold had acquired Lot 1. Pigot's Worcestershire Directory for 1829 shows Mrs Jane Yarnold living at Thames House which stood opposite the square where the college is now sited. The second lot sold was Lot 22 (the site of Nos 1 & 2 today) which was bought by William Young Clarke, a Glove Manufacturer of the Tything, for £322 and 10 shillings, the land being conveyed to him on the 30th June 1825. The third lot sold was probably lot 10 as there is a Lease and Release (a form of conveyancing) dated 29th and 30th June 1825 transferring the land where the Militia building was to stand from the Hopes to Joseph Bradley, a tallow chandler.
A second auction was held on the Monday 21st May 1827 at the Talbot Inn. The sale was for sixteen lots along the North side of the square, but this time the Lots were roughly half the size of those at the first auction (i.e. 25 feet frontage rather than 50 feet). No plan has yet been uncovered for this auction, but Lot 1 must have corresponded with the western half of the original Lot 2. Lot 10 (and half of Lot 9) is where the old Vicarage now stands. Lots 11 and 12 are where Nos. 22 and 21 now stand. Presumably the remaining 4 lots in the sale stretched round to where the chuch now stands, but omitting the area sold to Joseph Bradley.
Mainley's map of 1828, which appears to be a fairly reliable representation, shows only three buildings on "Shrubbery Place". In addition to the chapel, it shows what is probably now Nos. 28 & 29, and another building immediately to the North of the chapel which could be the future Militia building, but is probably more likely to be the house that stood immediately to the North of the future Militia building. This corner of the square is the most difficult to decipher owing to the fact that it is the only part of the square to have been fundamentally redeveloped when Homenash House was built there in the 1980s.
Crisp's map of 1832 shows the same three buildings, plus one other roughly half way along the North side of the square. In addition this map shows two, probably agricultural, buildings on the South side of the square near to St. George's Lane South. The square is still referred to as Shrubbery place, though it seems that is is also being called St. George's Place (after the new chapel) as evidenced by entries in Pigot's 1829 directory.
A third and final auction ws held on Tuesday 1st October 1833 at the Talbot Inn. This time the sale was for sixteen lots along the South side of the square, and again, these lots were roughly half the size of those at the first auction. Lot 1 equates to where No. 3 now stands; Lot 16 equates to where No. 18 now stands (next to the church).
