St Chad's Church, on Greengate Street in the centre of Stafford, is a Grade II* listed Anglican church.

Saint Chad Chad of Mercia (died 2 March 672) was a prominent 7th-century Anglo-Saxon Catholic monk who became abbot of several monasteries, Bishop of the Northumbrians and subsequently Bishop of the Mercians and Lindsey People. He was later canonised ...

, who died in 672, was the first

Bishop of Lichfield The Bishop of Lichfield is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Lichfield in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers 4,516 km2 (1,744 sq. mi.) of the counties of Powys, Staffordshire, Shropshire, Warwickshire and Wes ...

. The church was built in the 12th century, and is the oldest building in Stafford. The church was neglected in the 17th and 18th centuries, and much of the

Norman architecture The term Norman architecture is used to categorise styles of Romanesque architecture developed by the Normans in the various lands under their dominion or influence in the 11th and 12th centuries. In particular the term is traditionally used f ...

was obscured; there was much restoration work in the mid 19th century, particularly by George Gilbert Scott.

The original building

The building is

cruciform Cruciform is a term for physical manifestations resembling a common cross or Christian cross. The label can be extended to architectural shapes, biology, art, and design. Cruciform architectural plan Christian churches are commonly describe ...

and has a crossing tower.St Chad, Stafford
The Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland, accessed 12 August 2014. There is an inscription in Latin on the impost at the north-east corner of the crossing: ORM VOCATUR QUI ME CONDIDIT ("He who built me is called Orm"). It is thought that "Orm" is Orm le Guidon, an important landowner in the 11th to 12th century.Famous Ormes
The Orme Web Site, accessed 14 August 2014. The

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

is bordered by massive stone columns which have scallop capitals. The columns support four- bay arcades which have

chevron Chevron (often relating to V-shaped patterns) may refer to: Science and technology * Chevron (aerospace), sawtooth patterns on some jet engines * Chevron (anatomy), a bone * '' Eulithis testata'', a moth * Chevron (geology), a fold in rock ...

decorations on the two eastern arches of each arcade. The crossing arch, at the eastern end of the nave, has chevron decorations, and "beak-heads" on the columns. All these are features of the original Norman building.''St Chad's Church''. Leaflet obtained at the church in 2007. St Chad's church - geograph

There are intersecting arches on either side of 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 ...

; these are original features uncovered during the 1850s restoration. The two windows in the north wall of the chancel have interiors which are the only original window features in the building.Stafford St Chad
GENUKI, accessed 12 August 2014. The tower was rebuilt in the 14th century; after this the church became neglected. In the 17th century the original aisles were destroyed, the arcades were bricked up, and the

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building wi ...

s were removed.

Restoration

There was some restoration in the 1740s by Richard Trubshaw, after the west end of the nave collapsed. His work included rebuilding the parapets of the tower and building a new west front, of brick. In the 1850s some restoration of the chancel was done by Henry Ward of Stafford. Restoration work was continued in the 1870s by George Gilbert Scott: he built a new west front of stone, in Romanesque style, and he opened up the south arcade and built a new aisle on this side. After his death in 1878, work was continued by Robert Griffiths of Stafford, using Scott's designs. From 1880 to 1886 he opened up the north arcade and built a new north aisle; he restored the tower, and the north transept. The south transept was built in the 1950s.

Furnishings

The organ was built by J. Kirkland of London in 1888, and extended by J. J. Binns of Leeds in 1909. It was restored in 1995 by Peter Collins of Melton Mowbray. The font, in Norman style, was built in 1856. The altarpiece was created in 1910 by Sir Walter Tapper. The inner porch, the rood-beam and the telescopic cover of the font were designed in the early 20th century by

Sir Charles Nicholson, 2nd Baronet Sir Charles Archibald Nicholson, 2nd Baronet (27 April 1867 – 4 March 1949), was an English architect and designer who specialised in ecclesiastical buildings and war memorials. He carried out the refurbishments of several cathedrals, the desi ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stafford, St Chads Church Grade II* listed churches in Staffordshire Church of England church buildings in Staffordshire English churches with Norman architecture Diocese of Lichfield St Chads Church Anglo-Catholic church buildings in Staffordshire

The original building

Restoration

Furnishings

See also

References