STAVERTON’s online parish clerk John Corfield is hoping to track the history of St Paul’s Church in the village and is appealing for people with history books to help him with his endeavour.

Mr Corfield became the OPC last year after moving to the village from Trowbridge. The role of an OPC is to assist those who are researching their family history in a specific parish who might otherwise have difficulty accessing information at record offices.

Through genealogical information, as well as historical and social information, the OPC collates this information which is uploaded to the OPC website.

Now, Mr Corfield, 66, is gathering history on St Paul’s Church before it is sold.

He said: “I’m after anything that can help me record a history of Staverton which can refer to the publications. There’s a book by Pete Lavis on the history of St Paul’s Church and what I have come to discover is that it is a holy grail because I cannot find a copy and when I called the History Centre at Chippenham, they didn’t have one either.

“The church of St Paul’s has been around since medieval times and it is a historic part of the village.”

St Paul’s Church was completely rebuilt and enlarged in 1826, adding 120 extra seats and creating a nave and chancel, with the porch added in 1861.

Some of the original stonework was retained, as was the font and new gates were installed in 1829 and extra seating in 1836, which included tiered pews in the south west corner.

St Paul’s amalgamated with St Mary Magdalene in Hilperton Marsh in 1954, and they became known jointly as the Staverton Churches, then joined with St Michael’s in Hilperton.

St Paul’s suffered more financial instability in the 1980s and stayed open, thanks to village support, until it was finally closed for worship in 2010.

Mr Corfield’s main objectives are to make a photographic record and transcriptions of all the gravestones as well as make photographic records of the births, deaths and marriages in the village over this time.

He added: “The role is relatively new because all my life I have been an engineer and I only retired a couple of years ago. I do like detail and order so this is something I can do at my own pace and it is collating information which people can use who might be interested in finding out more.”

The books Mr Corfield is on the lookout for include The Book of Staverton - An Ancient West Wiltshire Parish by Pete Lavis, A Century of Nestlé at Staverton 1897–1997 by Pete Lavis, Staverton 2000 - The Story Behind the Village Millennium Tapestry, co-ordinated by Pete Lavis, Staverton School Centenary - Village History Trail produced and published by Pete Lavis and, more importantly, A History of St Paul’s Church, Staverton by Pete Lavis published in 1996.

To help with the project, email John Corfield on john_e_f_corfield@hotmail.com.