The Church of St Editha is an Anglican parish church and

Grade I listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

in Tamworth,

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

, England.

History

The church of St. Editha is the largest parish church in Staffordshire. Most of the church is mid- to late-14th-century and 15th-century work with some 19th-century additions. The present building stands upon the ground where successive churches have stood since the eighth century. The first church was destroyed, along with the town, by the

Danes Danes ( da, danskere, ) are a North Germanic ethnic group and nationality native to Denmark and a modern nation identified with the country of Denmark. This connection may be ancestral, legal, historical, or cultural. Danes generally regard t ...

in 874 and it was not until the time of

Æthelflæd Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians ( 870 – 12 June 918) ruled Mercia in the English Midlands from 911 until her death. She was the eldest daughter of Alfred the Great, king of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex, and his wife Ealhswith. Æthe ...

that a second church arose. The Danes ruined this church in 943 and it was King Edgar who re-founded it around 963. Editha was probably King Edgar's aunt who died in the 960s and was canonized shortly after for her life of devotion and piety and then made the Patron Saint of the now

collegiate church In Christianity, a collegiate church is a church where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college of canons: a non-monastic or "secular" community of clergy, organised as a self-governing corporate body, which may be presided over by a ...

.G C Baugh et al (1970)
"Colleges: Tamworth, St Edith"
in ''A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 3'', ed. M W Greenslade and R B Pugh (London,

Victoria County History The Victoria History of the Counties of England, commonly known as the Victoria County History or the VCH, is an English history project which began in 1899 with the aim of creating an encyclopaedic history of each of the historic counties of En ...

series), pp. 309–315. Accessed 1 February 2016. In 1345 the town and church were destroyed by fire and so began a rebuilding, being the fourth (present) church. Begun in 1350 and completed in 1369, this edifice is a monument to the man whose task it became to rebuild and enlarge the church, Dean Baldwin de Witney. The College of Canons of St. Editha was probably a royal foundation in the 10th century, although the date of foundation is unknown. Although the right to appoint Canons was disputed, by the 12th century, all appointments were Royal. There were a Dean and six prebendaries. The college was dissolved in 1548 under the terms of the Dissolution of Colleges Act 1547 and the church became the parish church for the town of Tamworth. Samuel Parkes (c.1815–1864) was baptised here on 24 December 1815. He won the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

in the

Charge of the Light Brigade The Charge of the Light Brigade was a failed military action involving the British light cavalry led by Lord Cardigan against Russian forces during the Battle of Balaclava on 25 October 1854 in the Crimean War. Lord Raglan had intended to se ...

for saving the life of Trumpeter Hugh Crawford. His parents Thomas Park(e)s and Lydia Fearn are buried in the churchyard and commemorated by a tombstone. The church was extensively restored by

Benjamin Ferrey Benjamin Ferrey FSA FRIBA (1 April 1810–22 August 1880) was an English architect who worked mostly in the Gothic Revival. Family Benjamin Ferrey was the youngest son of Benjamin Ferrey Snr (1779–1847), a draper who became Mayor of Christc ...

and

George Gilbert Scott Sir George Gilbert Scott (13 July 1811 – 27 March 1878), known as Sir Gilbert Scott, was a prolific English Gothic Revival architect, chiefly associated with the design, building and renovation of churches and cathedrals, although he started ...

in the 1850s, and

William Butterfield William Butterfield (7 September 1814 – 23 February 1900) was a Gothic Revival architect and associated with the Oxford Movement (or Tractarian Movement). He is noted for his use of polychromy. Biography William Butterfield was born in Lon ...

, ca. 1871. There is a rare example of a double spiral staircase in the tower, the only others being in the

Château de Chambord The Château de Chambord () in Chambord, Centre-Val de Loire, France, is one of the most recognisable châteaux in the world because of its very distinctive French Renaissance architecture which blends traditional French medieval forms with cla ...

, France and All Saints Church, Pontefract. Spiral staircase, St Editha's Church, Tamworth

Deans of Tamworth

Stained glass

There are medieval fragments in the vestry east window. The chancel east window dates from 1870, by

William Wailes William Wailes (1808–1881) was the proprietor of one of England's largest and most prolific stained glass workshops. Life and career Wailes was born and grew up in Newcastle on Tyne, England's centre of domestic glass and bottle manufacturing. ...

. There are south

clerestory In architecture, a clerestory ( ; , also clearstory, clearstorey, or overstorey) is a high section of wall that contains windows above eye level. Its purpose is to admit light, fresh air, or both. Historically, ''clerestory'' denoted an upper l ...

windows of 1873, by

Ford Madox Brown Ford Madox Brown (16 April 1821 – 6 October 1893) was a British painter of moral and historical subjects, notable for his distinctively graphic and often William Hogarth, Hogarthian version of the Pre-Raphaelite style. Arguably, his mos ...

for

Morris & Co Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. (1861–1875) was a furnishings and decorative arts manufacturer and retailer founded by the artist and designer William Morris with friends from the Pre-Raphaelites. With its successor Morris & Co. (1875–194 ...

. The chapel east window of 1874 is by

Edward Burne-Jones Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, 1st Baronet, (; 28 August, 183317 June, 1898) was a British painter and designer associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood which included Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Millais, Ford Madox Brown and Holman Hun ...

also for Morris & Co.

Organ

The church has an historic pipe organ dating from 1766. The first instrument was installed by Nathaniel Dudley. Samuel Green built a new organ in 1792, taking the Dudley organ to Isleworth in South West London.

Alexander Buckingham Alexander Buckingham (ca. 1777 - 1853) was one of the main organ builders in England during the early 19th century. Life He is thought to have started work around 1791 with John Avery. Later he went to be foreman to Thomas Elliot. From around ...

added a chair/choir division in 1809 and a pedal division was added by William Hill in 1841. Further work was carried out by

George Holdich George Maydwell Holdich (14 August 1816 – 30 July 1896) was a British organist and organ builder based in London. Early life Holdich was born on 14 August 1816, the third son of the Revd. Thomas Holdich (Vicar of St Mary the Virgin's Church, ...

, Brycesons Bros and finally Nicholsons of Worcester. A new organ was built in 1927 by

Harrison and Harrison Harrison & Harrison Ltd is a British company that makes and restores pipe organs, based in Durham and established in Rochdale in 1861. It is well known for its work on instruments such as King's College, Cambridge, Westminster Abbey, and the R ...

incorporating much of the old pipework and is expected to be restored in 2009/2010. A specification from 1929 can be found on the National Pipe Organ Register.

Organists

Tomb of Sir Thomas Ferrers and his wife Ann - geograph

* John Alcock 1766 – 1790 * William Birch 1790 – 1815 * John Valentine 1815 – 1816 * Thomas Valentine 1816 – 1818 * John Twelch Greaves 1818 – 1828 * John Hewitt 1828 – 1829 * James J. Greaves 1829 – 1832 * John Twelch Greaves 1832 – 1867 * T. H. Reade 1867 – 1868 * J. Smith Creswell 1868 – 1874 *George Herbert Gregory 1874 – 1876 (afterwards organist of St Botolph's Church, Boston * William Edward Wadely 1876 – 1877 * R. Matthews 1877 – 1886 * Henry Rose 1886 – 1950 * W. Darling 1950 – 1965 * W. H. Hughes 1965 – 1972 * Kenneth Edwards 1973 – In 1929, Henry Rose appointed the then 13-year-old

Ernest Titterton Sir Ernest William Titterton (4 March 1916 – 8 February 1990) was a British nuclear physicist. A graduate of the University of Birmingham, Titterton worked in a research position under Mark Oliphant, who recruited him to work on radar ...

as assistant organist. Titterton later went on to help develop the

atomic bomb A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bomb ...

References

External links

St Editha's homepage
{{Authority control Former collegiate churches in England Grade I listed churches in Staffordshire Tamworth Double spiral staircases Buildings and structures in Tamworth, Staffordshire