Welcome to our latest bulletin with news of : churches tours; copying of Elford’s windows; Wren’s tercentenary; auctions of Hanley and Tamworth churches.
We hope these news-items will be of interest to anyone who supports the preservation & heritage of Staffordshire’s historic churches. If you hear any Staffordshire news that would fit this bulletin, please let us know.
Tours this summer
The Staffordshire Historic Churches Trust’s programme of tours for the next few months is now set.
In June, the tour is in south Staffordshire: it includes Shenstone Old Tower (now almost fully renovated), Shenstone Church itself, Chasetown St Anne, Wall and finishes (with tea, as usual!) at Shareshill Church.
In July, the programme moves to the Stafford area, with Bradley, Church Eaton, and Moreton on the itinerary.
And, finally in September, a tour round the other side of Stafford – to Ingestre, Colwich and Great Haywood (both the RC and CofE churches).
There are no surprises on the list, but some of these churches are real classics – worth seeing again if you’ve seen them already, and definitely worth seeing if you’ve not visited them before.
Membership of the SHCT is a prerequisite, but it’s hardly expensive. See how to join the SHCT.
‘If you seek his monument, look around’
This year marks the tercentenary of the death of Sir Christopher Wren, arguably England’s greatest architect and the designer of 51 churches in London, as well as St Paul’s Cathedral. A project to mark the anniversary is taking place, details of which may be found at www.Wren300.org.
By coincidence (or was it?….), the September tour of the SHCT (see above) takes in Ingestre Church (see photo above), one of the few Wren creations outside London. Ingestre is an estate church, sitting rather beautifully in the grounds of Ingestre Hall and is quite a treat. (And, amid all the church’s eighteenth-century cool gracefulness, a little anachronistically but a bonus nonetheless, is a fiery Victorian window by Burne-Jones).
Family at prayer
Elford Church, in the south-east of the county, got a mention in a recent newsletter from the Staffordshire Archives. One of their researchers came across a page in the ‘Great Cartulary’ of Lord Stafford, showing some noblemen & women at prayer. These are recognisable figures, having been copied from a 1537 stained glass window at Elford Church.
The people shown are from the Stafford family, displaying each their own heraldic symbols.
Going, going…
The rather sad story of St John’s in Hanley continues to limp to its inevitable conclusion.
The redundant church is invidiously situated immediately behind the Potteries Shopping Centre with only a modern roundabout for company, on its other side. It’s now dreadfully run down.
However, it dates back to 1738 – and one can see it must have had some grandeur then.
Once the shopping centre was built, overshadowing it, the writing was on the wall, but it actually finally closed as a church, in 1988, after a major fire. It has been subject to all sorts of ventures, including a spell as antiques centre, but its latest indignity was to be put up for auction last month.
Its Victorian glass (see example, right) is of variable quality, but surely worth saving.
It’s not the only church under the hammer. The Central Methodist Church in Tamworth, which was built in 1886 with an imposing neo-gothic frontage, goes to auction on May 18. A good deal is known about its history thanks to work by local historian Patrick Comerford, but it is now considered ‘surplus to requirements’.
Norman fonts
Serious historians will be pleased to see that a recent Staffordshire Archaeological & Historical Society journal (volume LIII) includes an article by Professor John Hunt analysing features in Norman churches across a swathe of Staffordshire.
The article is quite dense and meant really for scholars, but one thing certainly becomes clear from it: that stone fonts made at the time carry a ‘message’. Professor Hunt demonstrates that the carvings on the fonts often relate to social and theological beliefs of the time. Thus, presumably the artisans who created them must have been under instruction – and that the carvings are not just random or made up of ‘fashionable’ shapes. It puts these old fonts in a very new light.
We are blessed in the county with some great examples of Norman fonts, so the professor had much material to study…
Space & time
Sometimes, one wonders why historic churches hold such fascination for one; and now and again someone will put their finger on it.
In his Formulary For A New Urbanism”, the commentator Ivan Chtcheglov writes: “Architecture is the simplest means of articulating time and space, of modulating reality, of engendering dreams”. Chtcheglov is not referring directly to churches, but if the cap fits…
Has anyone else got a quote that captures the fascination created by walking around an old church?
Latest on the A-Z
The work on this website of compiling A-Z profiles of Staffordshire historic churches continues, albeit slowly. Examples of churches whose profiles have recently been updated on this site are Barton Under Needwood St James / Blymhill St Mary / Brewood St Mary RC / Cheddleton St Edward the Confessor / Coppenhall St Lawrence and more.
Thank you to those who have emailed in their reviews, thoughts and comments on these chosen church/es.
This work depends on such contributions from enthusiasts, so if you feel you too can help compiling the profiles of the county’s churches, even if it’s just some brief notes, please have a look at this summary of the ways in which you can help – the Get Involved page.
If you wish to comment on an item on this page, please use the Comments Box further down this page or email us
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