Church of St Chad

Church of St Chad

Parish church dating from the 12th century with significant additions and alterations in the early 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries, followed by various minor restorations throughout the 19th century. The building is constructed of sandstone, with rubble to the north aisles and ashlar elsewhere. The nave has a green slate roof with grey slate on other sections, stone coped gables and an eastern ridge cross. The structure features a deep plinth with moulded copings to the tower and chancel, a continuous moulded sill band to the chancel, and embattled parapets with ridgeback copings to the nave and tower.

The plan consists of a two-stage western tower, a clerestoried nave with north and south aisles, and a lower chancel.

The 15th-century tower has stepped angle buttresses of almost full height at all four corners. The 19th-century west door is set in a cavetto moulded recess and features a central stone pillar flanked by two flat-headed doors. Above these are four-centred arched Y-tracery windows, all contained within a larger four-centred arch with cusped spandrels beneath a flat hoodmould. Higher up is a tall three-light window of 15th-century panel tracery in a deep cavetto moulded surround with hoodmould. The south side of the tower has small stairlight windows to the west side and a central trefoil-headed lancet above. A continuous moulded string course separates this from pairs of cusped Y-tracery louvred bell openings in deep cavetto moulded surrounds with continuous hoodmoulds on each face. A further moulded string course sits above with corner and central gargoyles, topped by parapets.

The west wall of the north aisle is blank, but the north wall has rubble buttresses at either end and two Y-tracery windows with hoodmoulds to the west, the western one featuring cavetto mouldings. To the east is a three-light intersecting tracery window in a deep cavetto moulded recess with hoodmould. Above are four 16th-century two-light mullioned windows with cusped segment-headed lights and incised spandrels, set in flat-head recesses. A moulded string course above carries two large gargoyles, with parapets beyond. The east wall of the aisle has a blocked pointed doorcase, now bearing a 1760 memorial plaque above.

The chancel to the east has three narrow pointed early 14th-century two-light windows featuring different designs of reticulated tracery, set in moulded recesses with hoodmoulds. Between the western two is a double gableted stepped buttress. Two similar diagonal buttresses flank the east window, with crocketed top gablets. A 19th-century east window contains six lights with two major mullions and a central rose pattern to the top. The south chancel elevation mirrors the north except for the addition of a small moulded pointed priests' door to the west of the buttress, with hoodmould and carved head labelstops.

The south nave aisle has a three-light intersecting tracery window in a deep cavetto recess with hoodmould to the east, with two wall memorials below to Joseph and Timothy Holme of 1747 and 1757. Angle buttresses stand at the east and west corners of the aisle. The south facade features a three-light intersecting tracery window in a moulded recess to the east and a chamfered Y-tracery window with hoodmould to the west. Beyond to the west is a 19th-century gabled porch with a pointed Early English style door. Above in the clerestory are four windows similar to those on the north elevation. An inner door, early 14th-century, has a keel moulded surround.

Interior

The north arcade consists of four bays. The three bays to the west are late 12th-century with stepped semi-circular arches with chamfered hoods on plain columns featuring scalloped capitals. The eastern bay is early 14th-century with a polygonal respond, moulded capital and pointed double-chamfered arch. The four-bay south arcade retains 12th-century columns but was altered around 1300 when double-chamfered pointed arches were built on moulded capitals. The chancel arch is of similar date and style, while the tower arch is 15th-century, tall with a moulded pointed arch and moulded capitals.

Both the chancel and nave roofs are 19th-century, the nave roof being in 16th-century style. The chancel features bead moulded hoods with carved label stops and a moulded sill band below the north and south windows. On the south side of the chancel is a cusped pointed piscina dating from around 1300, with similar hood and labels. A triple sedilla of similar date sits nearby, featuring cusped four-centred arches divided by small pilasters and a painted coat of arms below the central seat. A similar 19th-century piscina occupies the north side of the chancel, also with a painted coat of arms in a quatrefoil below.

Choir stalls are mostly 19th-century but incorporate re-used medieval poppyheads. Nave stalls are plain 19th-century work, as is the pulpit. Altar rails and pulpit rail are late 19th-century, combining brass and ironwork. The font is also 19th-century, possibly incorporating a re-used bowl. Stained glass appears only in the north and south chancel windows, where small medieval coats of arms are preserved in roundels.

The church contains a fine collection of tombs and memorials, principally to the Longford and Coke families of Longford Hall. In the chancel's north wall is a 15th-century tomb niche with a pointed moulded arch with wavy cusping to the inner edge and an effigy of a priest below (with a 19th-century head replacement). Above are two large wall memorials: to the west, one to Thomas William Coke (died 1842) by Robert Hall of Derby with a bust by Joseph Francis of London, set in a Gothic aedicule; to the east, a memorial to his wife Anne Amelia (died 1844) in white marble with relief carving of angels. At the west end of the north nave aisle are various re-set effigies, including two of Sir Nicholas de Longford, who died circa 1350 and 1416 respectively, both dressed in armour with lions beneath their feet. To the east are another pair dating from circa 1610, of Sir Nicholas de Longford and his wife. Above on the north wall is a marble and slate classical wall memorial with skull and crossbones in a segmental pediment to Richard Peacock (died 1764), and to the west is another memorial to Edward Coke (died 1727), a plain shouldered plaque with coat of arms above. The west wall of the north aisle carries a wall memorial of 1714 to the Carolibyarch family, and several early 18th-century floor slabs to the Peacock family are also present. The south nave aisle has an early 15th-century crocketed ogee tomb niche to the east, with crocketed side pilasters and flower decoration to the arch underside, beneath an armoured knight with head on helmet, feet on lion and coat of arms to the base. The east wall holds a 13th-century gravestone with elaborate carved cross, while the west wall features an obelisk wall memorial to Edward Coke with carved coat of arms to the top, dated 1733. The south aisle also contains another memorial, similar in style to Richard Peacock's, dated 1682. Above the chancel arch on either side are two painted coats of arms.