Church of St Chad, Stockton, Shropshire

Description

STOCKTON

823/15/13 STOCKTON
01-FEB-74 CHURCH OF ST CHAD

II*
DATES OF MAIN PHASES, NAME OF ARCHITECT: C15 tower, upper parts of which are C17, the remainder of the church rebuilt in 1858-59 by Richard Yates.

MATERIALS: Local ashlar red sandstone, except for red and grey sandstone of tower, under tile roofs.

PLAN: Cruciform plan with shallow transepts, west tower, lower and narrower chancel, north vestry.

EXTERIOR: Tudor-Gothic tower, Perpendicular nave and transepts, Decorated chancel. The 3-stage tower has diagonal buttresses. The pointed west doorway has nook shafts and is under a stepped gable carried above the sill of the 4-light west window, all rebuilt 1858 and made necessary by removal of a porch. On the north side is a Tudor-arched doorway to the stair turret and a small straight-headed window to the second stage. Three-light C17 transomed bell openings have louvres. The embattled parapet incorporates large gargoyles and the bases of corner pinnacles. Buttressed nave and transepts have embattled parapets on moulded cornices, and gargoyles. The nave is 2 bays with 2-light windows and sill band, and transepts have segmental 3-light windows. On the south transept plinth is a foundation stone of 1858. The narrower chancel has a trefoil frieze below eaves, and coped gable. The south wall has two 2-light windows, with sill band carried over a pointed south door. On the left side is a blocked straight-headed opening, possibly a doorway from the previous church. Triple pointed east windows have trefoil tracery lights and linked hoods. A blind trefoil is in the gable. The lean-to vestry, with corner pinnacles, has pointed east doorway under straight hood mould with quatrefoil spandrels, and in the north wall are windows with cusped pointed lights under square hood moulds.

INTERIOR: The tall tower arch has polygonal hollow-moulded responds and moulded capitals. The nave roof is 7 unequal bays, a boarded wagon roof with pendants, on corbelled brackets with terms. Bracketed beams across the transepts are on angel corbels and are enriched by quatrefoils and more angels. The tall pointed chancel arch has an inner order on semi-circular responds, with moulded capitals and hood moulds with head stops. The chancel has a cambered tie-beam roof, divided into panels by purlins and subsidiary beams, the main members of which are moulded. It stands on a moulded cornice above shafts on angel and knight corbels. East and south chancel windows have shafted rere arches. The pointed north vestry doorway has shafts with foliage capitals and stilted segmental-pointed head. Next to it is a window into the vestry, with an over-elaborate neo-Norman rere arch. Tower walls are exposed dressed stone, as is the chancel, which is painted white above sill height. The tower has a panelled wainscot. Nave and transepts have plastered walls. C19 tiles are in the nave floor, with raised wood floors to the pews. Encaustic tiles in the chancel.

PRINCIPAL FIXTURES: The Perpendicular octagonal font has a panelled stem and base. The Jacobean pulpit is profusely decorated. A later panelled reading desk is on the south side of the chancel arch. Other furnishings probably belong to the 1859 rebuilding. Pews have panelled ends and backs. Choir stalls have plain ends with carved arm rests, short carved poppy heads, and relief carving to quatrefoils in the bench backs. The communion rail has open Gothic arcading. In the nave south wall is a stone wall tablet with brass inscription plaque which is no longer legible. In the nave north wall a brass plaque to Henry Wilkinson (d 1903) with archaic lettering in relief, and marble surround. Many windows have glass of c1859. The east window shows the life of Christ, attributed to David Evans of Shrewsbury, and the south windows show the Evangelists, by Frederick Preedy. Transept windows depict a priest and an angel, as well as plain glass incorporating coloured margins with foliage trails. Other nave windows are like this. The west window shows the Presentation at the temple, 1907, by Powell¿s.

SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: The churchyard has a stone wall on the west side, incorporating pinnacles probably removed from the church. On the south side of the church is a sundial with C19 pedestal and C18 plate and gnomon.

HISTORY: A church of probable C12 origin, evidence for which is the inclusion of a Norman-style window in the later chancel. The only medieval part of the church is the tower, which is C15 in the lower stages, upper stages of which were completed before 1651. The remainder of the church was rebuilt in 1858-59 for T.C. Whitmore of Apley Park by Richard Yates, a local builder. He kept the same plan as before, except for demolition of the west porch. Glass was made by David Evans of Shrewsbury and Frederick Preedy.

SOURCES:
D.C. Cox, Sir Stephen Glynne's Church Notes for Shropshire, 1997, p 102.
J. Newman and N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England: Shropshire, 2006, p 605.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION:
The church of St Chad, Stockton, is listed Grade II* for the following principal reasons:
* Its tower of the C15-C17 is a good example of Gothic-survival architecture.
* It retains fixtures of good quality such as the pulpit and font.
* It has some interesting C19 stained glass by David Evans and Frederick Preedy.

External Links

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Church of St Chad

A Grade II* Listed Building in Stockton, Shropshire

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