Remains of the Old Church of St Chad

Remains of the Old Church of St Chad

This is a fragmentary church building comprising the chancel's south wall and the south transept's east wall, both dating to the 12th century, together with a Lady Chapel constructed in the late 15th century and subsequently altered during the 16th and 17th centuries. The church was largely demolished in 1788.

The north and west walls are constructed from coursed and squared red sandstone, whilst the south and east walls are built from Grinshill stone. The roof is covered in Welsh slate. The building is roughly square in plan.

The Lady Chapel formerly stood on the south side of the church, positioned within the angle between the chancel and south transept. Its north and west walls therefore represent the original 12th-century chancel and south transept walls, though both have undergone later alteration.

The west wall contains a wide, low arch that was formerly open between the south transept and the Lady Chapel, which was blocked with masonry around 1788. The arch has two keeled mouldings on imposts, with the left-hand capital retaining upright leaves. Within the arch sits the former west door from the demolished nave, now serving as the present entrance. This door has a moulded pointed arch and double doors with deep moulded panels dated 1663. To the left-hand side stands the truncated south-east crossing pier, which retains two triple-shafted responds that originally supported the south and east crossing arches. To the left is the south transept stair turret, featuring a flat-headed doorway on its south side.

The north wall, which was formerly the chancel's south wall, displays a wide round-headed arch with roll moulding set between triple clustered shafts with simple Romanesque foliate capitals. This arch was formerly open to the chancel but was blocked with masonry around 1788. To the left of the arch is a triple sedilia, probably of 15th-century date, decorated with Perpendicular lierne vaulting. Above this is a blocked lancet of 13th-century date.

The east and south walls both feature angle buttresses and contain two three-light windows. All windows except the south-west example display the same Decorated pattern of trefoils within superimposed arches. The south-west window also has Decorated tracery but features twin trefoil-headed panels in its centre.

The interior walls are whitewashed and hung with wall tablets and hatchments, whilst the floor is covered with ledger slabs. In the north-west corner is a late 12th-century foliage capital and a diagonally set shaft with a damaged capital. At the west end of the south wall is a Decorated tomb recess. The roof comprises moulded beams and square panels.

Several monuments survive within the chapel. A memorial to Thomas Edwards, who died in 1634, and his wife, erected after 1641, is in Jacobean style and constructed from black and white marble with Corinthian side columns and an entablature on which two children kneel. A memorial to Richard Taylor, who died in 1741, is a wall tablet featuring Ionic side columns with bold brackets and a central leaf corbel. A memorial to Richard Hollings, also who died in 1741 and signed by T.F. Pritchard, is constructed from red mottled marble on which delicate drops of flowers and husks are displayed.