The Slave's Grave on the South-East Side of the Church

The drawing of Oxhill Church c.1821 in the Aylesford collection in Birmingham Reference Library shows a flagged path leading straight to the road from the porch, not at the oblique angle that the present path follows. No sign of this former path remains.

Beside the present path is the base of a mediaeval preaching cross.

The oak tree by the gate was planted to commemorate Queen Victoria's Jubilee, and coins minted in that year are buried beneath it. The tradition was continued for the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II on 2002 when a young English oak was planted at the rear of the church. A plaque records the event.

The churchyard wall was at one time a good deal higher, for in 1793 John Taylor was paid for rebuilding the wall to a height of 4 ft. 4 ins.

In 1821 the churchyard on the north side was shown in the drawing as having no tombstones, and only one lone tree.

Later in the century however, White's Directory of 1874 mentions “an avenue of larches leading up to the church porch” and an early photograph illustrates this. Parts of the church and the tower were cloaked in ivy at this date. Now the ivy is gone, the only larches left are those along the churchyard wall, and nineteenth and twentieth century burials have introduced some tombstones to this side of the Church.

A rare Slave's grave can be found in the church yard. You can read more about it here.