Church of St Chad

Details

STAFFORD

SJ9223SW GREENGATE STREET 590-1/10/50 (East side) 16/01/51 Church of St Chad

GV II*

Church. C12; chancel east end C14; tower C14 with rebuilding of c1500; restored by Henry Ward of Stafford, c1864 and Sir Gilbert Scott, c1870ff, who rebuilt west front 1873-4; south aisle walls, 1874-5; work completed by Robert Griffiths of Stafford, 1880-6, who rebuilt south aisle walls, 1880, north transept, 1886; south vestry, 1955. Ashlar with tile roofs, slate to north aisle. Norman style with Perpendicular tower. PLAN: cruciform. EXTERIOR: 3-bay chancel, crossing tower with north transept and south vestry; 4-bay nave with lean-to aisles. Chancel has 3-light east window with Geometrical tracery, hood with head stops, large offset angle buttresses and coped gable; returns have shallow buttresses and corbel table to 2 western bays, 2 small round-headed windows with nook shafts, sill course with cable mould and imposts bands. Tower has offset angle buttresses; 2-light triangular-headed traceried bell-openings with sill course, hoods with head stops and louvreing; top traceried frieze, cornice with gargoyles and embattled parapet. North parapet has similar details to chancel returns; round-headed north entrance has 5 round-headed lights over, 2 blind, wheel window and Celtic gable cross; windows to return. Nave west end has shallow angle buttresses, round-headed entrance of 2 orders with rich moulding including beak head, paired doors with rich iron strapwork; impost course; blind arcade above has 3 lights and sill course; top niche with statue of St Chad and coped gable; clerestory has small round-headed windows with deep splays; aisles have offset buttresses, and round-headed windows. INTERIOR: chancel has intersecting blind arcading with rich capitals; piscina with sharp pointed arch; arch-braced collar trusses to roof; east crossing arch has Norman responds with rich capitals, one with fox and birds and inscription: ORM VOCATUR QUI ME CONDIDIT, C13 double-chamfered arch; similar arch to north transept, and to south transept now blocked, with smaller arch with organ and stair entrance to right; nave has 4-bay arcades on round piers with simply moulded capitals, the 2 bays to east richer, with wall shafts and zig-zag moulding; crossing arch of 2 orders with rich mouldings to shafts and arch including much beak head, double-chamfered arch immediately behind; deeply splayed clerestory windows on sill course; C17 roof has moulded beams and purlins. FITTINGS: chancel has encaustic tiles, timber altar rail and altar with painted triptych reredos; north transept has screened-off vestry and early C20 open screen and altar with canopy on posts; crossing has stalls with tracery fronts; timber pulpit and rood beam with figures, 1922, by Sir Charles Nicholson; font, 1856, round, of Norman style with beast heads influenced by C11 Manuscripts, cover, 1922, by Sir C Nicholson, tall octagonal tower with recessed traceried finial; inner porch also by Sir C Nicholson, timber, enriched frieze and brattishing, canted traceried upper part. A good example of Norman work, possibly with Byzantine influence. (Buildings of England: Pevsner N and Nairn J: Staffordshire: London: 1974-: 243; Victoria County History of Staffordshire: Greenslade MW: A History of Stafford, taken from V.C.H.: London: 1979-: 245-8; Shell Guides: Thorold H: Staffordshire: London: 1978-: 152).

Listing NGR: SJ9225523185

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

383993

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Page, W, The Victoria History of the County of Stafford, (1979), 245-8
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Staffordshire, (1974), 243
Thorold, H, Shell County Guides in Staffordshire, (1978), 152

End of official list entry

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