St Chads - Bodley content

To students of Victorian and Edwardian architecture, the name of G.F. Bodley, R.A. will be familiar. He was much celebrated in his time and his work remains so today.

He was commissioned to design and create a church in the then new parish of St Chad.

St Chad’s was Bodley’s last parish church. The benefactor was the first Lord Burton, Michael Bass who, through inheritance and series of marriage and other ties, found himself at the head of what was to be the most powerful of the brewing conglomerates based in Burton, a town world-famous for its beer.

The first impression of the church must be of its grand scale. When John Betjemen referred to it as a ‘cathedral in a mean street’ he was certainly doing justice to the church whilst a little harsh on the street! For a parish church — even by Edwardian standards — it is very large.

Three features, visible from the exterior, were not on the original drawings - the small lead spire capping the tower, the memorial cross in the front church garden and the octagonal vestry. It is also alleged that the original tower was intended to be lower but its height was increased at the insistence of Lord Burton.

Nevertheless, despite these alterations, the church is very much a Bodley church.

Amongst the ‘Brewery Churches’ or Burton, St Chad’s is undoubtedly the most splendid and its quality extends through its design, its craftsmanship and its materials throughout, down to the details.

The church took about five years to build and it was completed in 1910, consecrated on July 6^th of that year. The builders were Messrs Willcock of Wolverhampton who also built Truro Cathedral. The chief material of its construction is red sandstone quarried from Hollington in North Staffordshire. All of the new woodwork was English oak.

Neither Bodley nor Michael Bass lived to see the completion of the church by Cecil G Hare, Bodley’s partner.

The tall, decorated tower abuts on to the pavement so that it can be seen from both street ends. In order to appreciate the proportions of the main building, it is set back from the street, connected to the tower by a short, vaulted cloister. This arrangement adds to its unique charm.

The exterior is decorated with several statues. St Chad sits over the entrance under the tower. St Aidan, Bishop George Augustus Selwyn and St Boniface (all vested as bishops) stand side by side on the outer eastern face of the side chapel. St George and St Michael can be found on the west wall. Bishop Thomas Valpy French of Lahore, a native of Burton, sits over the south porch.

The stone carving throughout the church was done by Messrs Bridgeman of Lichfield. Although several bishops were included in the statuary, sadly none of the crosiers have survived the ravages of nearly a century due to the softness of the stone.

The double-hinged entrance gates to the tower are quite remarkable. The ornate ironwork has recently been painstakingly restored to its original condition by Alvingham Forge near Louth. This work, together with the replacement of the entire front railings by Butler & Hall’s of Burton, was undertaken in 1994.

The impressive, vaulted entrance heightens the sense of architectural anticipation as it leads to the wide and spacious interior that makes St Chad’s a memorable experience.

The ground plans illustrate both the original intention of the architect to house great numbers of people and the present layout of the building. Indeed there was a time when seats down the aisles were needed to augment the generous seating arrangements! Today we have removed the great number of seats in the side aisles (which were pine/seagrass and which came from the next-door Mission Church). This has exploited the wonderful sense of uncluttered spaciousness for which St Chad’s is noted.

From the centre of the Church, the high Altar and its reredos dominate the eastern view, surmounted by the splendid stain glass of the east window. The reredos was added, in accordance with the architect’s plan, in 1960, to celebrate the church’s Golden Jubilee. The east window is by Birlison and Grylls of London.

Looking up, the barrel vaulted ceiling is constructed of oak, running the entire length of the church without interruption of height. The arms of the Bass family are found where the ceiling passes over the chancel screen.

The barrel shape of the ceiling helps to give St Chad’s its excellent acoustic qualities for worship as well as for concerts.

In the side chapel there is a tall stone reredos which may have been originally destined for the high altar. In the chapel, it covers almost all of the east wall and is covered with a series of fine carvings.

All the fine screening, the altars, pews, credence tables, lecterns, sedilia and prayer desks as well as the vestry cupboards, chests and furniture are all by Rattee and Kett of Cambridge — all fashioned from oak. The steps in the sanctuaries of the main church and chapel are of green Connemara and white Greek marble, together with three circles of Sodalite from Ontario.

The organ screen is ornamented with a series of carvings of musical angels whilst the carvings around the stone pulpit depict some of the Latin Early Fathers.

The organ itself is a fine, three-manual Connacher organ. Amongst the 41 stops, the Bourdon and 32ft Bass were added at some time after it was installed. Due to the nature of its construction, the instrument is capable of a fine, sweet tone and is thrilling when in the right hands.

St Chad’s was a church where the electricity supply for the lighting was actually planned into the overall scheme. All the wiring ascends from underground passages, through the centres of the pillars to reach the fittings. The original lamps form _ circles around each pillar and are bare bulbs contained within brass semi-crowns. This leaves much to be desired, with little light to illuminate the grand ceiling and not much more to enable the reading of service books. It is hoped to leave the brass lamp decorations in place and replace the bare bulbs with efficient, directional down-lighters and up-lighters in the near future.

The interior of the church retains the integrity of the architect’s vision completely. The proportions and overall ‘fit’ of the church’s main component areas are extremely pleasing. Viewed from the west end, the entire building holds together well. In the main it is quiet-toned, leading the eye to the more ornate splendour of the east end.

Especially when enhanced by sunlight streaming through the windows, the interior provides an arresting and magnificent experience, both spiritual and architectural, the two working together.

In respect of the windows, most of the glass is plain or rough cast. The two main stained windows are at the east (already mentioned) and at the west. The west window, given by the Dowager Lady Burton in memory of her husband, depicts the twelve apostles. She was also responsible for removing a double window (St Peter and St Paul) from her other church at Rangemore and having it installed on the south side of the sanctuary.

For more pictures of St Chad’s, past and present, check out St Chad’s Archive Page. A more detailed description of St Chad’s is available. Check out Gifts from St Chad’s or the Contacts page.

Could a glorious part of our heritage be under threat?

When a magnificent building like St Chad's Church had been around for as long as people can remember, it seems logical to assume that it will be around for ever. This is particularly true when, to the casual observer, the fabric seems to be in good order. Sadly, this can no longer be taken for granted as the rising costs of maintaining this grand structure are on the increase, whilst the local community are less able than ever to meet this financial burden.

At the time when the building was completed in 1910, to serve the parish created in 1903, no-one could have foreseen that by the turn of the millennium, circumstances would have altered to the point where there would be increasing anxiety as the future of such a magnificent edifice. But that is certainly the case. Due to the 'youth' of the building and good housekeeping to date, the overall condition of St Chad's is pretty fair but the immense amount of 'non-urgent' repairs will soon be transferred to the 'urgent and necessary' list as hundreds of yards of pointing need to addressed, amongst other accumulating needs.

The cost in scaffolding alone well exceeds the budget and reserves of those who constantly work hard to maintain this architectural gem as well as they are able.

But is it so special?

In a word — "Yes!"

As the last parish church reflecting the skill and inspiration of Bodley, it is a priceless gem in the richness of English architectural heritage.

Although St Chad’s is committed to the present and to the future, we are highly conscious of the responsibility we have to conserve this treasure with its full integrity. Every addition and change that seems necessary to enhance or improve the worshipping environment of the building is undertaken with the greatest of care. We believe that ‘even Bodley would not notice the differences!!’ Whilst this demands a great deal of patience and resistance to compromise at times, we believe that the end result is well worth it.

What we have inherited and what we will leave behind is a place of worship which enables us to express ourselves fully in modern liturgy within a space that completely retains the full flavour of its Edwardian grandeur and beauty.

We are convinced that the celebrated architect would be pleased with the way things are going.

In an attempt to ensure that St Chad’s continues to function as a living Body of Christ within the community and yet cherishes the irreplaceable heritage of the building we are proud to use, we have set up a Trust. The sole function of the trust is to finance the future needs of the church fabric. If future generations are to enjoy the aesthetic completeness of St Chad’s, it will need help — both from inside the parish and from far afield. We have started to gather a capital sum from which funds can be drawn as needed to make essential repairs as they become apparent.

The work of the Trustees will be to achieve this, so relieving some of the pressure on the members of the church, releasing them to concentrate more actively on ministry.

If you feel you would like to help in this, the Trust would love to hear from you. The co-ordinating figure in this venture is a local businessman and member of St Chad’s, Richard Hodgkins. You can contact him at the address below.

St Chad's Church(Burton upon Trent )Preservation Trust,
153, Thornley Street
Burton upon Trent
DE14 2QP

Tel: 01283 564457