St Werburgh's Church is the name of two separate churches in the village of
Warburton,
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tam ...
, England. The older church is located to the west of the village, and may date back as far as the middle of the 13th century. It is now a
redundant church
A redundant church, now referred to as a "closed church", is a church building that is no longer used for Christian worship. The term most frequently refers to former Anglican churches in the United Kingdom, but may also be used for disused church ...
but services are held in the summer months. The church is recorded in the
National Heritage List for England
The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, a ...
as a designated 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 ...
.
The authors of the ''
Buildings of England
The Pevsner Architectural Guides are a series of guide books to the architecture of Great Britain and Ireland. Begun in the 1940s by the art historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, the 46 volumes of the original Buildings of England series were publish ...
'' series call this church "a lovable muddle".
The newer church was built in 1883–85 and is located to the southeast of the village on the A6144 road. It is a Grade II listed building.
It is an active
Anglican parish church
A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...
in the
diocese of Chester
The Diocese of Chester is a Church of England diocese in the Province of York covering the pre-1974 county of Cheshire and therefore including the Wirral and parts of Stockport, Trafford and Tameside.
History
Ancient diocese
Before the si ...
, the archdeaconry of Macclesfield and the deanery of Bowdon. Its
benefice is combined with that of
St Peter, Oughtrington.
The dedication is an unusual one, ordinarily local to Chester, where
Werburgh
Werburgh (also ''Wærburh'', ''Werburh'', ''Werburga'', meaning "true city"; ; c. AD 650 – 3 February 699/700) was an Anglo-Saxon princess who became the patron saint of the city of Chester in Cheshire. Her feast day is 3 February.
Life
Werbur ...
is the patron saint. Werburgh, an Anglo-Saxon saint who has given her name to ''Warburgtune'', as Warburton was called in the
Domesday survey
Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...
(1086), was the daughter of
Wulfhere
Wulfhere or Wulfar (died 675) was King of Mercia from 658 until 675 AD. He was the first Christian king of all of Mercia, though it is not known when or how he converted from Anglo-Saxon paganism. His accession marked the end of Oswiu of Nort ...
, the first Christian king of Mercia. She died around AD 700 as
Abbess of Ely, with the care of several nunneries. Her relics were moved to the abbey of St Peter and St Paul in Chester, which was later rededicated to St Werburgh.
Old church
History
There is evidence of a
Saxon church on the site before the Norman Conquest.
In 1187–90 Adam de Dutton founded a
priory
A priory is a monastery of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. Priories may be houses of mendicant friars or nuns (such as the Dominicans, Augustinians, Franciscans, and Carmelites), or monasteries of ...
on the site for
Norbertine
The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré (), also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines and, in Britain and Ireland, as the White Canons (from the colour of their habit), is a religious order of canons regular of the Catholic Church ...
canons but this was short-lived and there is now no trace of the priory. It is likely that the building of the present church began in the middle of the 13th century. Towards the end of the 16th century, the
chancel
In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse.
Ov ...
area was remodelled and a pulpit, altar rails and communion table were installed. In 1645 the church was extensively altered and extended. The south and west walls of the nave were rebuilt and the roof of the nave was lowered. A small chapel and vestry with a stone foundation and
timber framed
Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden ...
wall were added to the south side of the chancel, while a stone extension was added to the north side. In 1711 the east end of the chancel was rebuilt and a brick tower was added at the east end of the church. In 1722 a gallery was built. Wooden floors were installed in 1813, the vestry was incorporated into the church and a new vestry was built onto the south side of the tower. In 1857 the chancel floor was tiled, the walls were painted with medieval designs and the timber supports and the chancel ceiling were plastered. Stained glass was added to windows and the gallery was removed. By 1880 the church needed major repairs, and because of this the new church was built and the old church ceased to be the
parish church
A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...
. Repairs were undertaken in 1894 for
dry rot
Dry rot is wood decay caused by one of several species of fungi that digest parts of the wood which give the wood strength and stiffness. It was previously used to describe any decay of cured wood in ships and buildings by a fungus which resul ...
, in 1927 for
death watch beetle
The deathwatch beetle (''Xestobium rufovillosum'') is a species of woodboring beetle that sometimes infests the structural timbers of old buildings. The adult beetle is brown and measures on average long. Eggs are laid in dark crevices in old w ...
and in 1958, again for death watch beetle. In 1971 the church passed into the care of the Redundant Churches Fund, the predecessor of the
Churches Conservation Trust
The Churches Conservation Trust is a registered charity whose purpose is to protect historic churches at risk in England. The charity cares for over 350 churches of architectural, cultural and historic significance, which have been transferred in ...
.
In October 2021, the church was one of 142 sites across England to receive part of a £35-million injection into the government's
Culture Recovery Fund
The Culture Recovery Fund is a grants programme issued by the UK Government as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The fund aims to financially support cultural organisations in England (such as theatres, museums, and music venues) which had bec ...
.
Exterior
The church is built around a timber frame and some
timber framing
Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden ...
with
wattle and daub
Wattle and daub is a composite building method used for making walls and buildings, in which a woven lattice of wooden strips called wattle is daubed with a sticky material usually made of some combination of wet soil, clay, sand, animal dung a ...
infilling is retained in the north wall. The rest of the north wall and the south and west walls are built in
sandstone
Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks.
Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...
. The chancel, south transept and vestry are brick, as is the tower which is placed, unusually, at the east end. It is roofed in
Kerridge
Kerridge is a village in Cheshire, England, part of the parish of Bollington. Kerridge borders the neighbouring parish of Rainow.
It gives its name to Kerridge Ridge – one of the western foothills of the Pennines – by which it stan ...
stone slabs. The roof of the chancel is some lower than that of the nave.
[ The tower has a pairs of semicircular-headed belfry windows on each face, a stone cornice and six sugar loaf pinnacles.][
]
Interior
The chancel is surrounded on three sides by a wooden half-screen. This screen, the altar table and the pulpit date from the 17th century. The pews date from 1813. The font is octagonal, the base being inscribed 1603 and the pyramidal cover 1595. In the church is a stone sarcophagus dating possibly from the early 12th century. One bell is present which is dated 1575. Parish register
A parish register in an ecclesiastical parish is a handwritten volume, normally kept in the parish church in which certain details of religious ceremonies marking major events such as baptisms (together with the dates and names of the parents), ma ...
s start in 1611 but are complete only from 1634.[ The stained glass in the east window is by Wailes and the sanctuary floor has Minton tiles; both date from 1857.][
]
External features
In the churchyard is a stone sundial dated 1765 with a copper dial and gnomon. This is listed Grade II, as is the lych gate
A lychgate, also spelled lichgate, lycugate, lyke-gate or as two separate words lych gate, (from Old English ''lic'', corpse), also ''wych gate'', is a gateway covered with a roof found at the entrance to a traditional English or English-style ch ...
. This is dated 1887 and consists of a timber frame with a slate roof.
New church
This church was built between 1883 and 1885 to a design by the Chester architect John Douglas for Rowland Egerton-Warburton
Rowland Eyles Egerton-Warburton (14 September 1804 – 6 December 1891) was an English landowner and poet from the Egerton family in Cheshire. He was a devout Anglican in the high church tradition and a local benefactor. He paid for the re ...
. It is built in red sandstone with a tile roof. The plan consists of a four-bay nave with a north aisle, a south porch, a three-bay chancel and a northeast tower. The tower is in three stages with diagonal buttress
A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient buildings, as a means of providing support to act against the lateral ( ...
es. It has two two-light belfry openings in each face, castellations and corner pinnacles with crocket
A crocket (or croquet) is a small, independent decorative element common in Gothic architecture. The name derives from the diminutive of the French ''croc'', meaning "hook", due to the resemblance of crockets to a bishop's crosier.
Description
...
s. It contains a font cover dated 1595 and an oak chest which was removed from the old church.[ There is a ]ring
Ring may refer to:
* Ring (jewellery), a round band, usually made of metal, worn as ornamental jewelry
* To make a sound with a bell, and the sound made by a bell
:(hence) to initiate a telephone connection
Arts, entertainment and media Film and ...
of eight bells cast in 1884 by John Taylor & Co
John Taylor Bell Foundry (Loughborough) Limited, trading as John Taylor & Co and commonly known as Taylor's Bell Foundry, Taylor's of Loughborough, or simply Taylor's, is the world's largest working bell foundry. It is located in Loughborough, ...
.
See also
*Grade I listed buildings in Greater Manchester
There are 48 Grade I listed buildings in Greater Manchester, England. In the United Kingdom, the term listed building refers to a building or other structure officially designated as being of special architectural, historical or cultural sign ...
*Grade I listed churches in Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England. It was created by the Local Government Act 1972, and consists of the metropolitan boroughs of Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan and the citie ...
*Listed buildings in Warburton, Greater Manchester
Warburton, Greater Manchester, Warburton is a civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, Greater Manchester, England. It contains 22 Listed building#England and Wales, listed buildings that are recorded in the National Heritage List f ...
*List of churches in Greater Manchester
This is a partial list of churches in Greater Manchester, North West England, split according to metropolitan district. There is a mixture of Christian denominations in Greater Manchester, including churches aligned to Orthodox Christianity ...
*List of new churches by John Douglas
John Douglas (English architect), John Douglas (1830–1911) was an English architect based in Chester, Cheshire. His output included new churches, alterations to and restoration of existing churches, church furnishings, new houses and alterati ...
*
*
References
Further reading
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Warburton, Saint Werburgh
Churches completed in 1190
12th-century church buildings in England
Churches completed in 1885
Grade I listed churches in Greater Manchester
Grade II listed churches in the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford
Church of England church buildings in Greater Manchester
Gothic Revival architecture in Greater Manchester
Churches in Trafford
John Douglas buildings
Churches preserved by the Churches Conservation Trust