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Badsey & Aldington Trail - Location 18

St James Church – Churchyard

The original churchyard was extended to the main street in 1866, and the row of lime trees on the eastern portion was planted in 1879, followed by the yew hedge in 1884. The cross opposite the porch was restored in 1910 as a memorial to the Rev. T. H. Hunt who was Vicar from 1852 to 1887. In 1951 two cottages were demolished to the north of the new lychgate dedicated to Arthur Sears, a prominent local market gardener, to provide a further extension to the churchyard. There are monuments to many local families, the commonest of which is Knight (170), and more prominent families such as the Sladdens who lived at Seward House. There are also those of foreign refugees who settled in Badsey, and that of Johann Rosskopf, a WW1 Prisoner of war who died while billeted at the Manor House. His remains were moved in 1963 to the German War Cemetery at Cannock Chase. There are also several Commonwealth War Graves.