Description:The Leveson family’s history is closely associated with the history of St. Peter’s Church in Wolverhampton. R. F. Wisker refers to an entry in the Calendar Patent Rolls stating that heads of the Leveson family in the early fifteenth century were ‘named in the grant under the Great Seal for the rebuilding of St. Peter’s, Wolverhampton’ in July 1439.
The entry in the Calendar Patent Rolls for 1st July 1439 states ‘Commission to John Hampton, esquire, Thomas Swynforton, esquire, William Leveson, esquire, James Leveson, John Mollesley, William Salford and Nicholas Leveson, to take and provide the stone required to build the church of the king’s free chapel of Wolverhampton on the soil of John Appulton, one of the king’s prebendaries there, with his licence and on reasonable terms’.
The Leveson family continued to be involved with the Collegiate Church. R. F. Wisker notes that Nicholas Leveson was a benefactor of St. Peter's in the fifteenth century. The Sutherland Papers include an Indenture which was made in 1477 between ‘the Gentilmen Wardens yomen & comyners of the town & paryssh of Wolverhampton’ and ‘John Worseley mason’ relating to work on the Collegiate Church of St. Peter.
The indenture describes in detail the work which would be carried out on the Church by the mason, John Worseley. John was to ‘take adown all the stone warke of the stepull in the Churche’ as far as ‘the lower parte of the wyndowes in the seyd stepull’.
John was then ‘through the helpe of Almyghty God’ to ‘settle a Towre of viij square to the highness of xl fete’ on to the Church. A ‘spyre’ which was ‘viij square’ and ‘vj score fete’ high was then to be added ‘withinne the space of iiij yeres next folowynge’.
John was ‘to fynde’ all the necessary ‘toles’ for ‘hys warke’ over the next four years, for which he would be paid one hundred and twenty pounds. The Gentlemen Wardens, Yeomen and Commoners were to bring to the Church Yard ‘all stone necessary’ for John’s work and also ‘to fynde all yron & lede’ which was required.
At the time which the Indenture was made it was not possible to know whether the ‘olde warke necessary to be taken down’ would need to be taken down ‘lower than the neder parte of the forseyd wyndowes in the stepull’ in order to ‘have a sure Foundation’ to build the new tower and steeple upon. The indenture states that if this was the case, the Gentlemen Wardens, Yeomen and Commoners would ‘rewarde’ John for this extra labour ‘accordynge to right & concience’.
However, the indenture also states that the required height of the tower had not been finalised. John Worseley was ‘to abate of hys wages’ if the Gentlemen Wardens and Yeomen thought that the tower ‘nedeth not to comprehende the highness of xl fete’.
Contextual Information from: R. F. Wisker ‘The Estates of James Leveson of Wolverhampton (d.1547)’, Staffordshrie Archaeological Transactions, Volume 37.
Click on the images on the left to learn more about the Collegiate Church of St. Peter in the nineteenth century.