Church Of St Editha

This former collegiate church is one of the largest parish churches in Staffordshire, with origins stretching back to the 9th century. The plan of the former crossing tower reveals these early foundations. Significant Norman work survives in the crossing arches and in parts of the chancel walls (the south wall and part of the north wall). An Early English north porch was added in the 13th century. Following a fire in 1345, most of the present church was rebuilt in the mid to late 14th century. The west tower dates from the late 14th to early 15th century, and the clerestories and roofs were added in the 15th century. The church underwent extensive restoration by B. Ferrey and G.G. Scott in the 1850s, and by W. Butterfield around 1871.

The church has moulded plinths throughout and plain parapets. It comprises a three-bay chancel with crossing and seven-bay clerestory extending over both; a four-bay north chapel and north transept; a two-bay south chapel and vestry; a nave with clerestory and five-bay aisles; and a west tower.

Chancel and Eastern Arm

The chancel features a six-light east window with a king mullion and Perpendicular tracery, topped by a mid-14th-century crocketed hood mould with stops. Flanking niches have crocketed ogee hoods, and offset diagonal buttresses support the structure. The south side has 14th-century two-light windows, while 19th-century four-light clerestory windows (most with crocketed ogee hoods) run along both sides beneath a plain parapet.

The north chapel has a hollow-chamfered plinth, a seven-light Perpendicular east window, and four-light north windows with head stops to the hoods, set between offset buttresses. The north transept features a four-light window and an embattled parapet.

The south chapel has offset buttresses flanking windows with renewed tracery of unusual design and a blocked east window. The gabled vestry has straight-headed windows: three round-headed lights to the east, and windows of two-plus-two lights and three traceried lights to the south. A plain south door provides access.

Aisles and Porches

The north aisle has a plinth and plain parapet, with three-light windows featuring Geometrical tracery set between offset buttresses. The two-storey porch has a round-headed entrance with 20th-century glazed infill and door. The first floor has a light with a crocketed hood with stops, and a stair turret rises within the buttress to the right. A five-light transomed west window with Perpendicular tracery is interrupted by the tower buttress.

The south aisle similarly has a plinth, with three-light windows showing early Perpendicular tracery between offset buttresses. End gabled buttresses support a stack to the east and a crocketed pinnacle to the west. The pointed entrance features continuous leaf-trail moulding. An entrance to the crypt and a slate sundial are set into the plain parapet. The clerestory matches that of the chancel. A four-light west window is crowned by a pinnacle to the parapet.

West Tower

The three-stage tower has gabled angle buttresses incorporating stair turrets, with plinth and string courses. The 19th-century west entrance has a hollow-chamfered architrave displaying the arms of the diocese and province in the spandrels, along with a Tudor flower motif, and paired doors. An embattled parapet runs below a six-light window with Perpendicular tracery, fronting a wall passage. The 19th-century south-west stair entrance has a niche containing a figure of St George. The first stage has a four-light transomed south window with Perpendicular tracery, and small lights illuminate the second stage. The bell stage features paired Y-tracery louvred openings beneath a cornice with gargoyles. An embattled parapet with crocketed pinnacles topped by wind vanes supports a truncated spire.

Interior

Chancel and Crossing

The chancel has three unglazed two-light windows to the north above three mid-14th-century arched tomb recesses with cusping, all opening to the north chapel. The east window is flanked by two tiers of niches with crocketed ogee heads. Similar niches alternate with the clerestory windows. The panelled roof has stop-chamfered members, with bosses over the sanctuary.

The crossing preserves round-headed north and south arches with flat responds. The jambs of the west arch display chevron moulding with 15th-century cusped panels on the former arch abutments. A squint opens to the south aisle.

North Chapel and Transept

The north chapel has a glazed 19th-century screen with brattishing and a 15th-century panelled roof with bosses. The 1882 sedilia and piscina project with cusped arches and gables. Niches flank the east window. The transept has a 19th-century panelled roof.

South Chapel

The south chapel features a 14th-century two-bay west arcade with filleted quatrefoil piers. The north wall has a round-headed entrance to the chancel with a blocked, deeply splayed window above and a shafted buttress to the vestry. A 14th-century south piscina and a 15th-century roof with few bosses complete the space.

Nave, Aisles, and Tower

The aisles have 15th-century panelled roofs with bosses. The pointed entrance to the porch has rib vaulting. A similar panelled roof covers the nave. The arcades have quatrefoil piers with fillets, and the clerestory matches that of the chancel. The 19th-century west wall has an unglazed traceried opening over a doorway with continuous moulding.

The tower has a rib vault with deeply splayed windows and a blind arch to the north. The crypt has single-chamfered vaulting.

Fittings

The chancel contains an 1852 reredos by G.G. Scott and J.B. Philip, featuring cusped arcading with marble shafts flanking five cusped gabled arches filled with mosaic (1887) by Salviati. Encaustic tiles pave the sanctuary, and a 19th-century traceried rail runs across the chancel. The crossing has stalls with 20th-century book rests.

The north chapel has a late 19th-century traceried timber altar and reredos with riddel posts. The south chapel houses a free-standing organ. The nave contains a rich 19th-century timber pulpit with detached shafts and an 1854 font by G.G. Scott, octagonal with a shafted pier and enriched panels.

Memorials

The chancel has three tombs set in recesses. To the east is the tomb of Sir Baldwin de Freville (died around 1400) and his wife: a chest with figures under gablets with pinnacles, an inscription to the cornice, and two effigies on top. The central tomb is 15th century, with a chest featuring cusped panels and shields, moulded square balusters at the angles, and an effigy of a woman with a kennel head-dress. To the west is the tomb of Sir John Ferrers (died 1512) and his wife: a chest decorated with Tudor flowers and shields, Tudor flowers to the cornice, and two effigies (the male figure now without legs).

On the north wall is a tablet to Elizabeth Adderley (died 1661), with an oval panel flanked by scrolls and foliage, a cartouche on the apron, and a segmental pediment with a swan-neck pediment above. On the south wall is a tablet to Henry Michel (died 1629) and his wives, featuring a round-headed panel; another to Thomas Willington (died 1696), a cartouche with Latin inscription and flanking drapery, an apron in the form of drapery with further inscription, and an armorial bearing above; and a rich Gothic Revival tablet to Francis Blick (died 1842) in the form of a niche.

The north chapel contains a tomb recess with an effigy of the priest Baldwin de Witney (died 1369) and a 14th-century floor slab with indents for missing brasses. The transept has a fragment of a 15th-century effigy of a knight and a wall tablet to members of the Comberford family (died 1671–1725) in the form of drapery with Latin inscription.

The south chapel has a wall tablet to Elizabeth Hood (died 1899) in early 19th-century style, with a stole and weeping figure by a draped urn and willow. The north aisle has war memorial wall slabs and a tablet to John Horner (died 1769) in the form of an obelisk with a putto and portrait medallion and an apron with palms. Other 18th-century tablets are mounted on the west wall.

The tower contains a large monument to John Ferrers (died 1680) and his son Humphrey (died 1678), by Arnold Quellin of Grinling Gibbons' studio. A chest with cartouches flanking a trophy of arms supports a tablet with Latin inscription, flanked by free-standing kneeling figures in Roman armour. The top features a sarcophagus with gadrooning, festoons, putti, and a flaming urn, with a free-standing armorial bearing to the front. Also here is a tablet to John Clarke (died 1818), showing a weeping figure by a tomb with an armorial bearing.

Stained Glass

Medieval fragments survive in the vestry east window. The chancel east window (1870) is by Wailes. Good south clerestory windows (1873) are by Ford Madox Brown for Morris and Company. The north chapel east window (1874), a fine work by Edward Burne-Jones for Morris and Company, is complemented by two north windows (1901 and 1925) and two windows by Messrs Camm (1939 and 1940). The north aisle has two windows by H. Holiday (1919) and one by G.E. Smith (1945). Three south aisle windows are by H. Holiday for Powell and Son (1881–6). 19th-century windows also fill the transept and south chapel.

The church is especially notable for its Norman work and its remarkable collection of monuments.