Church of St Chad

Details

PREES C.P. CHURCH STREET SJ 5433-5533 (south side) 14/61 Church of St. Chad - 28.10.60 GV II*

Parish church. Late C14 on pre-Conquest site with large C15 porch, tower of 1758 and chancel largely of 1864, when whole church was restored. Regularly coursed and dressed yellow and red sandstone with pink sandstone ashlar to chancel (south side); plain tile roofs with coped verges. Nave and chancel in one; north aisle; north-west tower and north porch. Tower: in 3 stages; embattled parapet with crocketed corner pinnacles and weathervanes, gargoyles to moulded cornice on north, south and west sides. Windows with Y-shaped tracery to belfry and roundels with keystones to second stage on north and south, latter filled by clock of 1897; second stage on west has window with plain Y-tracery similar to those of belfry; pointed window below to first stage. Pointed north doorway approached by flight of 5 steps. Nave: buttressed in 3 bays; cusped 3-light windows to centre and east bays, former square-headed, latter with 4-centred arch and elongated quatrefoils to head; small window with cusped head in rectangular projection to right of east window, formerly connected with rood screen. Pointed double-chamfered C14 doorway in west bay has hoodmould and head-stops. Vesica-shaped west window of 1856. Chancel: buttressed in 3 bays; south side has a C19 window of 3 cusped lights with quatrefoils above to west bay; small pointed doorway to centre with hoodmould and head-stops possibly reused from an earlier doorway; small 2-light cusped window with quatrefoil above to east bay. Pointed east window of 3 cusped lights with large multifoil above. Stone to left of doorway has inscription, now partly illegible, to Hugh Lowes, died 1643. Windowless north wall retains some medieval stonework to lower courses. North aisle: buttressed in 4 bays; square-headed 3-light windows with pointed heads to 2 eastern bays and two 3-light trefoil-headed windows with cusping above and segmental arches to 2 western bays; east window of 3 lights has intersecting Y-tracery. Stone above second window from east has a carving of a pick-like object of indeterminate date. Late C15 porch in west bay has stepped gable, moulded cornice and empty statue niches flanking richly moulded pointed doorway with head-stops; diagonal corner buttresses. Plain C19 pointed south doorway has encaustic tile above recording 're-edifying' of church in 1864. Interior: collar beam roofs to nave, chancel and north aisle with arch bracing to nave, 2 tiers of circular windbraces and richly carved wooden corbels; dated 1602 with Sandford family coat- of-arms to east collar beam in north aisle. Stone corbels at west end of aisle probably survive from medieval roof. Mid-C14 four-bay arcade separates nave from aisle; short octagonal piers with moulded capitals and plinths and pointed double-chamfered arches, westernmost arch cut by east wall of tower. The same arcade carries on for a further 2 bays to divide chancel from north (former Sandford) chapel at east end of north aisle. At the junction between nave and chancel the wall has been shaved off for former rood screen with position of doorways to loft visible; similar evidence for screen between north aisle and chapel, which has restored trefoil-headed piscina in south wall. Restored C14 choir stalls against south wall of chancel have plain misericords except that to west, which has carved male head and leaf decoration; C19 pews in nave and aisle incorporate reused C17 and C18 panelling. Wood carving of Charity (probably C16 or early C17) fixed to pew next to north door. Jacobean communion table, carved with birds and floral decoration, currently in north aisle and 2 oak chests probably C18. Two C18 paintings on wooden boards flanking south doorway represent Moses and Aaron and probably once flanked altar; the nail-studded door is probably late medieval but has been completely re-planked on external side. Octagonal font of 1849 replaced that now outside church (q.v.). Stained glass: fragments of C15 glass brought from Battlefield reassembled in north-east window of north aisle; also good collection of mid- to late C19 glass throughout church, most notably the south-west nave window (c.1864) by David and Charles Evans of Shrewsbury, the east window of the north aisle (c.1887) with Minton tiles beneath and the engraved glass (c.1855) in the north-west window of the north aisle. Monuments: C19 wall tablets to members of Sandford family in north aisle chapel and to Hill family in chancel, outstanding amongst which is the memorial by Thomas Carline depicting the burial of Sir John Hill (died 1824). Small brass to Robert Hand (died 1757) fixed to wall by north door. 3 benefactors' boards in tower, earliest dated 1696. A priest is mentioned here in Domesday and the large size of the parish suggests that the church, which was collegiate until the late C13, may originally have been a minster. B.O.E., pp.230-1; D. H. S. Cranage, The Churches of Shropshire, Part 8 (1906), pp.712-16.

Listing NGR: SJ5569833456

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

260517

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Cranage, DHS, The Churches of Shrewsbury, (1894-1908), 712-16
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Shropshire, (1958), 230-1

End of official list entry

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