St Chad's Church, Wybunbury

St Chad's Church, Wybunbury
Tower of and lych gate of St Chad's Church, Wybunbury
St Chad's Church, Wybunbury Location in Cheshire
Coordinates: 53°02′43″N 2°26′56″W / 53.0452°N 2.4488°W / 53.0452; -2.4488
OS grid reference	SJ 700 499
Location	Wybunbury, Cheshire
Country	England
Denomination	Anglican
Architecture
Functional status	Demolished, other than the tower
Heritage designation	Grade II*
Designated	12 January 1967
Architectural type	Church tower
Style	Gothic
Specifications
Materials	Sandstone ashlar Lead roof

St Chad's Church, Wybunbury was an Anglican church in the village of Wybunbury, Cheshire, England. The body of the church has been demolished but the tower still stands. The tower has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II* listed building.^[1] The site of the church is a Scheduled Monument.^[2][3]

History

The Domesday Book contains a reference to a priest in Wybunbury. The church was broken into in 1464, the cross was broken and valuables were stolen. The tower was built in the 15th century on the site of the earlier church. Around 1750 it was noted that its foundations were settling and the tower was beginning to lean. In the early 1790s the church was repaired or rebuilt.^[4] In 1833 the body of the church was demolished, James Trubshaw attempted to straighten the tower and rebuilt the body of the church in a style loosely based on the previous building. This church was replaced in 1892–93 by a church designed by James Brooks. which in turn was demolished around 1976.^[1] The tower was saved from demolition by a group of villagers who formed the Wybunbury Tower Preservation Trust.^[5]

Architecture

Only the tower now remains and Richards considers that it is one of the finest towers in Cheshire.^[4] It still leans to the north. It is built in sandstone ashlar with a lead roof.^[1] The tower is square and has five stages. The west doorway is deeply recessed and immediately above it is a window of three lights. On each side of the door and of the window are niches containing statues, possibly of bishops, while over the window is a fifth niche containing a statue of the Trinity.^[4] The fourth stage has a square wrought iron clock face. The fifth stage has two two-light belfry openings. The parapet is battlemented with crocketed pinnacles at the corners.^[1] The tower contains a ring of six bells which were cast in 1791 by John Rudhall.^[6]

Other features

The lych gate still stands and it serves as a war memorial.^[7]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Tower of former Church of St Chad, Wybunbury (1279389). National Heritage List for England. English Heritage. Retrieved 27 September2011.
2. ^ Site of the church of St Chad, Wybunbury (1017060). National Heritage List for England. English Heritage. Retrieved 27 September2011.
3. ^ Pastscape: St Chad's Church, English Heritage, http://www.pastscape.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id=74461, retrieved 14 March 2011 
4. ^ ^{a b c} Richards, Raymond (1947), Old Cheshire Churches, London: B. T Batsford, pp. 373–376 
5. ^ Official Website, Wybunbury Tower Preservation Trust, http://www.wybunbury.org.uk/, retrieved 21 September 2009 
6. ^ Wybunbury Tower, Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers, http://dove.cccbr.org.uk/detail.php?searchString=Wybunbury&Submit=++Go++&DoveID=WYBUNBURY, retrieved 12 August 2008 
7. ^ Thornber, Craig (5 April 2005), A Scrapbook of Cheshire Antiquities: Wybunbury, http://www.thornber.net/cheshire/htmlfiles/wybunbury.html, retrieved 22 October 2007