Christ Church

WHITCHURCH RURAL C.P. TILSTOCK SJ 53 NW 4/27 Christ Church - - II

Parish church. Dated 1835, by Edward Haycock. Red brick with some red sandstone ashlar and cement-rendered (later alteration)dressings. Slate roof. 5-bay nave and chancel in one with partly integral west tower, in a classical style. Tower: 2 stages externally. Ground-floor stone impost band, slightly corbelled belfry with string course, corner pilasters, frieze and cornice, and steep pyramidal cap with fishscale slates and cross finial. Lourved round-arched belfry openings to east and west with impost bands and moulded arch. Pair of west doors with diagonal match boarding, radial fanlight and stone arch with hoodmould. Stone step up to door. Stone half-H panel above west doorway inscribed: "CHRIST CHURCH / ERECTED ANNO DOMIE / MDCCCXXXV / FROM DONATIONS BY THE LATE / EARL OF BRIDGEWATER". Circular painted wooden clock below belfry to west. Nave and chancel: stone plinth, stone impost band, moulded stone eaves cornice, eaves band to east, and parapeted gable end to west with moulded stone coping. Small integral brick end stack to east. 5 bays; round-arched small- paned cast-iron windows with stone cills and brick arches. Pair of west windows flanking tower. Central round-arched east window with cement- rendered architrave and stone cill, lower small round-arched window to left and boarded door to right. Interior: mainly 1835, with some later fittings. Moulded plaster cornice and ceiling rose. Short square- ended chancel with cornice,and framed by flanking piers with capitals and bases and supporting entablature. Early C19 west gallery with 2 attenuated cast-iron Doric columns supporting frieze and cornice , cast- iron balustrade consisting of 6 panels divided by colonnettes and Gothic organ case. Dog-leg staircase up to gallery with closed string and stick balusters. Porch beneath tower. West doorway with a pair of late C19 or early C20 8-panelled oak doors with carved stone shield above to west. Fittings: tripartite reredos. C19 wrought-iron and wooden altar rails. Octagonal wooden pulpit. Plain C19 pews. Octagonal stone font with bowl inscribed: "SUFFER THE LITTLE CHILDREN TO COME UNTO ME" and wooden cover. Step up to chancel with encaustic tiles. Some early C19 memorial tablets. This church stands near the site of an earlier chapel dedicated to Saint Giles. Tilstock became a separate ecclesiastical parish in 1844. The present building is a classical version of Christ Church, Ash (q.v.), the plan of which is almost identical (cf. partly integral tower). The church is aligned north-south but this description refers to liturgical north, south etc. B.o.E., p. 301; D.H.S., Cranage, An Architectural Account of the Churches of Shropshire, Part 8, p.730; Colvin, p. 406.

Listing NGR: SJ5426537876