Stafford Churches Trail

St. Mary, Stafford
Collegiate Church with Perpendicular octagonal crossing tower. Nave with 5 bay arcades c.1190-1200. Chancel c.1300. Fine north transcept with Decorated window and doorway. First major restoration, by Scott 1841-44. Tomb chest of Sir Edward Aston (d.1568) of Tixall. Unusual Norman font. Foundations of Saxon church of St.Bertelin west of church. www.stmarysstafford.org.uk  

St. Chad, Stafford
Despite heavy restoration by Ward and Scott in the 19th Century a good example of a small Norman parish church. Norman nave with circular piers, east and west crossing arches with Beakhead ornament and zig-zag, chancel with blank arcading. Perpendicular crossing tower.

St. Mary, Castle church
Perpendicular west tower is believed to be 14th or 15th century and the remainder of the church was rebuilt by Scott and Moffat 1844-5 in Norman style with lancets in lower chancel. Large mysterious slab with close abstract decoration c.1180-1200, probably part of an altar. Church probably associated with village of Monteville- "old hollow way" to castle passes through churchyard.
For further information please visit the website at: www.castlechurch.co.uk

Society of friends (Quakers), Foregate street, Stafford
Built 1730, Small single room brick building with original panelling gallery, staircase and overseers bench. Hiding place in roof from days of persecution.

St. Austins (R.C.), Wolverhampton road, Stafford
Originally built 1791, extended 1815-17. Present church dates from 1861-2, by E.W. Pugin. Brick with stone dressings. 16th century Flemish figures in west window. Other windows by Hardman.

Holy Trinity, Baswich
Medieval west tower with 18th century top. Norman chancel arch. Nave and chancel rebuilt in red brick 1740 by Richard Trubshaw. Georgian west gallery. 1 elevated family pew. 3 decked pulpit. Tomb chest (1587) with shields and 4 tapering square bulsters.

St. Michael, Colwich
West tower 1640 in Gothic tradition. Rest of building mainly Victorian by Stevens of Derby 1856. Early English style arcades. Ornate chancel with canopied stalls. Monuments to Wolseley and Anson families. Admiral anson of Shugborough (d.1762) buried in family crypt.

St. John Baptist (R.C.), Great Haywood
Built 1828 at Tixall and moved here 1845 by local catholics. Ornate west front with high octagonal south west turret. Straight headed, late perpendicular windows, with stone panelled dado underneath inside. Rich west gallery.

St. Mary, Ingestre
Built beside Ingestre Hall, 1676 for Chetwynd family. Attributed to Wren. West tower with balustrade. Nave with flat decorated stuccoed ceiling and chancel with plaster tunnel vault. Round clerestory windows. Magnificent carved oak screen and pulpit with tester. Memorials and tombs of Chetwynd and Talbot families. Early electric light fitting 1876.

St. John, Stowe-By-Chartley
Norman church as nave, chancel and doorways with zig-zag and scalloped capitals show. Several windows and west tower decorated. Effigies of Sir Walter Devereux (d.1537) and wives, of Chartley, with Renaissance decoration. 2 tablets by Lutyens (1916 and 1927).

St. Andrew, Weston
One of the finest early English west towers in the country. Early 13th century wit lncet windows and broad clasping buttresses. Wide triple chamfered arch. Arcades and chancel arch later 13th Century. Rest of the church mainly by Scott 1860 and Butterfield 1872. Two bells 1400.

All Saints, Sandon
Mainly 13th to 15th Century. Windows with Y tracery and inter-sected tracery, also 3 stepped lancet lights. Good arch-braced roof. Ornate north aisle remodelled 1851 as chapel for Earls of Harrowby. 17th Century reredos and pulpit with tester. 17th Century heraldic glass in east window. Elevated family pew 1782. Large monument to Sampson Erdeswick, the antiquary (d.1603). Painted family tree 16th Century.

Christ Church, Hilderstone
Built 1827-9 by Thomas Trubshaw. Commissioners' type church with north west steeple with recessed spire. Inside octagonal piers with leaf capitals. Lancet windows. Box pews.

St. Michael, Stone
Early example of Gothic Revival style, built 1758 in grounds of earlier Augustinian Priory. Square west tower. 2 tier of windows with Y tracery along nave. 2 galleries. Original box pews. Two 17th Century tombs of Crompton family in churchyard. Classical style Mausoleum of Earl st. Vincent, Nelson's admiral, to east of church.

St. Domonic (R.C.), Stone
Large, towerless, spacious church with nave, aisles and transepts in late 13th century style. Built 1852-63. Nave by Charles Hansom. Monument to Archbishop Ullathorne 1889. Attached to convent of similar date.

 

Last Modified: 02/10/2008 08:01:04
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