Church of St Cassian

Church of St Cassian

A parish church of Grade I importance, sited on the west side of Village Street in Chaddesley Corbett. The building dates from the 12th century, with substantial extensions in the late 13th and 14th centuries. The tower and spire were rebuilt in 1778–1779 by James Rose, and the church underwent a significant restoration in 1863–1864 by William Butterfield. The structure is built of sandstone ashlar with tile roofs.

The west tower, rebuilt in 1778–1779, rises through four stages and is capped by an octagonal stone spire. The upper windows each comprise a pair of two-centred lights, whilst the tower windows contain two lights under two-centred heads. A crenellated parapet sits above a moulded cornice, with offsets to each stage and angle buttresses. The third stage has windows of two lights under two-centred heads; the second stage features a circular window set within a quatrefoil recess; the first stage has a two-light window under a two-centred head. The ground floor on the west side has a three-light 19th-century window under a two-centred head, replacing the original door; the entrance is now accessed via a two-moulded order archway in the south wall.

The south aisle has a crenellated parapet and diagonal buttresses, with a 18th-century flying buttress to the right of centre. Three windows contain three cinquefoiled lights under segmental pointed heads. Behind the flying buttress is an ogee-headed burial niche with crocketted canopy. The east window, extended in the 14th century, has three lights (the outer two trefoiled, the central inquefoiled) under a two-centred head.

The north aisle comprises four bays. The three bays to the left each have a 19th-century window of two trefoiled lights under two-centred heads. The right-hand bay contains a 12th-century doorway with a semicircular head of two enriched orders and engaged respond shafts with scalloped capitals. The west window has three trefoiled lights under a two-centred head. The 13th-century north chapel, a structure of three bays, is defined by heavily restored stepped buttresses. Its windows each contain two lights under two-centred heads set in hollow moulded reveals. The east window, which rises above a 19th-century vestry, has three lights under a two-centred head.

The 14th-century chancel represents a fine example of the Decorated style. The south wall contains three windows: to the left, a window of three lights (two trefoiled, one cinquefoiled) below a two-centred head; to the right, a similar arrangement with a quatrefoil central light; the central window has three trefoiled lights above an ogee-headed doorway. The east window displays five trefoiled lights with reticulated tracery under a two-centred head.

Interior

The nave features a late 12th-century south arcade of three bays with columns bearing scalloped capitals and two-centred arches of two plain orders. The north arcade is mostly of the early 12th century, comprising four bays with columns supporting semicircular arches, except for the westernmost arch which matches the south arcade. A tall tower arch of two-centred form and two chamfered orders dominates the space, though it is largely obscured by a mid-20th-century organ loft. The chancel arch is a segmental pointed arch of two chamfered orders, the inner dying into the responds. The north arcade has two bays with an octagonal pier supporting two-centred arches with two orders of hollow chamfers. Three-seat sedilia with ogee heads are situated on the south wall, and a piscina with a nodding ogee head stands nearby.

The nave roof comprises eight bays with restored 19th-century trusses featuring arch braces and a pair of raking struts above elaborately cusped work. The north aisle has a 19th-century lean-to roof of five bays. The chancel is roofed with a 19th-century barrel vault.

Fittings include a 13th-century recumbent stone effigy of a knight in the south aisle. The nave contains a 12th-century Hereford school font of goblet form with interlaced knop and four dragons to the bowl, and a pulpit by Butterfield. A memorial brass to Thomas Forrest (died 1511) and his wife Margaret is now wall-mounted in the chancel. The north chapel houses a 13th-century recumbent stone effigy of a priest beneath the arcade. Notable wall tablets in the north chapel include one to Lady Mary Yate (daughter of Humphrey Packington, died 1696), flanked by Doric pilasters with entablature and surmounted by armorial bearings; a tablet to Humphrey Packington (died 1631) in black and white marble with Ionic columns to a broken segmental pediment; and a memorial to Dame Ann Audeley (daughter of Humphrey Packington, died 1642) with an eared architrave flanked by consoles. The south-west corner holds a wall tablet to Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Holt of Aston (died 1647), flanked by Ionic columns with entablature.