Building record 353/1/1 - Church of St Margaret

<1> Ordnance Survey, 1870-1982, Ordnance Survey Archaeological Record Card, SJ54 NE 5 (Index). SCH2487.

<2> Richards R, 1947, Old Cheshire Churches, p.369-72 (Book). SCH2309.

Wrenbury was confirmed in 1130 by Randle Gernons to Combermere Abbey, and the tithes after the dissolution were granted to Robert Needham, ancestor to Lord Kilmorey. The chapel was subordinate to Acton church, which was in the possession of the abbey of Combermere.

The tower of Wrenbury church dates from the early sixeenth century and stands at the western end of the church. It is massively built with embattled parapet and pinnacles. The buttresses to the lower part are of typical Cheshire design, and the string courses of horizontal mouldings mark the divisions of the building. The west door, now converted into a window, has good carved shields in the spandrels, and the moulding is very typical of the period. Immediately above is the west window, of three lights, and recently fitted with new tracery, the head resting on good corbels. The upper belfry windows are of two lights. At the south-east angle and protruding from the tower walls, is a stair turret, which climbs to the tower roof. It is square to the level of the clerestory battlements, and then octagonal to the tower summit, terminating in a stone. The nave is divided from the side aisles by arcades of five pointed arches springing from octagonal piers with simple capitals, over which are the clerestory windows, all square-headed of three lights, without foils. The tower arch leading into the nave rests on grooved octagonal piers. The body of the church all conforms to the early sixteenth century plan, when the original twelfth century chapel was remodelled on a larger scale. The walls are built of large squared stones closely fitted. Great gargoyles are a feature of the exterior.

The chancel and south porch are of poorer design and later date, the latter being a poor Gothic effort of 1795. Within, the whitened walls formerly gave the church a very bright and airy appearance, revealing to good effect the painted hatchments and memorial tablets. Unfortunately, as recently as 1938, the plaster was removed.

The nave roof is original and belongs to the late sixteenth century. It is of the tie-beam order, and divided into five bays. The tie-beams are cambered on both edges and have good central bosses, the timbers resting on wall posts carried on wooden corbels. All the bays are subdivided into panels with bosses in the centre with plastered sections in between the woodwork. Some of the box pews retain the arms on the doors connected with the families of Combermere, Kilmorey, Cholmondeley, Starkey, Dysart, Wickstead, Chetwode and Tomkinson. The oak pew by the great porch door was provided for a “dog whipper” charged with the duty of keeping awake those who fell asleep during the sermon.

There is an early Georgian pulpit, now minus its sounding board, and a large west gallery dating from the late eighteenth century. In the tower is an ironbound parish chest, six feet long, and secured by fourteen iron straps fashioned to encompass entirely the old wooden frame. There are two old chairs-one Jacobean and the other elaborately carved, dating from the close of the seventeenth century. The font is of sandstone, and is post Reformation; it consists of a small bowl on a pedestal, covered by a lid shaped in the form of a pyramid with a small lifting knob.

The Cotton and Starkey monuments are conspicuous features of the church, the former family having their seat at Combermere Abbey, and the latter at Wrenbury Hall. The most important is the one in the chancel to Sir Stapleton Cotton, the first Viscount Combermere.

<3> Hartwell C, Hyde M, Hubbard E & Pevsner N, 2011, The Buildings of England: Cheshire (2011 revision), p.690-1 (Book). SCH7059.

St Margaret’s is built in the perpendicular style. Richard Cholmondeley gave money in 1488 for remodelling. The chancel was rebuilt in 1806 and Gothicised in 1865. Further restorations are recorded in the nave’s rainwater head (1791) and the porch (1795). The clerestory has the date 1794 and may have been wholly rebuilt then, with later nineteenth century Gothic additions. The tower is located at the western end and has an octagonal stair-turret topped by a shallow domed cap. The round-headed uncusped mullioned windows are in the late perpendicular style which is consistent with Cholmondeley's gift.

Five-bay nave, arcades of octagonal piers differing slightly in detail; the northern side is slightly taller and seems earlier. There are crenelated aisles and a clerestory with crude, threatening grotesques and gargoyles. The roof has sturdy arch-braced tie-beams, with slender posts support a panelled ceiling above (associated with the addition of the clerestory). The line of the old roof appears above the tower arch. The west gallery has Gothic panelling and dates from the early nineteenth century. The pulpit dates from the late eighteenth century. The box pews, late eighteenth or early nineteenth century, with painted coats of arms on the doors, were preserved during the alterations of 1909-10 by C. Russell Hall.
Monuments include:
*Lawrance Starkey 1611: a painted board of the Randle Holme type.
*Stephen Cotton 1727: cartouche with scrolls.
*Lady Elizabeth Cotton 1745· cartouche with scrolls similar to that of Stephen Cotton.
*Sir Lynch Salusbury Cotton 1777: an urn before an obelisk, by Turner of Chester.
*Thomas Starkey 1802: Faith stands by the dying man's couch, by Bacon Jun.
*John Jennings 1809: an obelisk and pair of figures, by Bacon Jun.
*Elinor Starkey 1815: a female figure against an obelisk with an urn, by Bacon Jun.
*Thomas Hewitt 1827: a draped urn, by JJ Sanders.
*First Viscount Combermere 1865: a Grecian urn, three figures and a segmental top with a portrait medallion, by Theed.

<4> English Heritage, 2005, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, 422447 (Digital Archive). SCH4666.

Church. Early sixteenth century with eighteenth and nineteenth century alterations and additions, the nave and porch having been restored in 1794 and the chancel rebuilt in 1806 and re-Gothicised in 1865. Red sandstone ashlar with a plain tile roof. Aisled nave, chancel and western tower.

Tower: western face: diagonal buttresses with offsets, doorway to the ground floor centre now blocked to its lower body and having a window with interlacing tracery above. Shields to the spandrels and a Tudor hood mould. Above this is a pointed arched window with deep chamfered surround which has nineteenth century panel tracery inserted and a hood mould with figurehead label stops. String course above on which rests a central lancet with a belfry opening of 2 cusped lights with a quatrefoil above. Louvres to the openings and a hood mould over. Gargoyle to left of centre and battlemented parapet above with crocketed pinnacles to the corners. The northern side is plain to the lower body with a similar arrangement of lancet and belfry openings above the string course as appears on the western front. The southern face is essentially similar save that there is an octagonal staircase turret at right rising above the level of the tower parapet and finishing in an ogee lead cap with a weather cock. Above the string course is a circular iron clock face.

Nave: of 4 bays with angle buttresses and chamfered window surrounds each containing 3 lights with hood moulds. Buttresses between with offsets and a battlemented parapet above set with large robustly carved gargoyles. The gabled porch to the left has diagonal buttresses, a battlemented parapet and a central double doorway with moulded surround. The clerestory of 5 bays is a later addition and has 3-light windows with square tops and two lead rainwater heads bearing the date of the restoration, 1794. Battlemented parapet above. The north side has a blank bay to the right to which a low twentieth century brick outshut has been added. To the left of this are 4 windows, each of 3 lights with hood moulds and figurehead label stops and having buttresses between with offsets. Battlemented parapet above. Clerestory similar to that on the southern side with two similar dated lead rainwater heads.

Chancel: north side: blank save that there is a lead downpipe with moulded brackets and rainwater head dated 1806 to the re-entrant angle. The south side is similar save that it has a priests doorway with pointed arch and double chamfered surround and a similar downpipe and rainwater head to the re-entrant angle. The eastern end has a 3-light window of vaguely Perpendicular plate tracery. Blind quatrefoil to the apex dated AD 1806. Battlemented parapet above.

Interior: Octagonal piers to the nave arcades, that to the northern side having slightly taller arches and capitals with different and apparently earlier moulding to the capitals in comparison with those of the southern arcade. Marks on the western wall of the tower show the original roof level before the clerestory was added. The box pews to the nave and aisles are all of early nineteenth century date as is the western gallery which has oval panels to this front with trefoils to the spandrels and a diamond lattice pattern below with cusping forming quatrefoils. Square pulpit with chamfered corners and fluted pilasters similar to that at the Church of St. Peter , Little Budworth C.P., Vale Royal R.D.C.

Fine series of wall memorial tablets in the chancel to the Cotton and Starkey families including three by John Bacon junior to Thomas Starkey of 1805 to J Jennings of London brother of Elinor Starkey of 1809 and to Elinor Starkey of 1815 all showing figures in relief against an obelisk above rectangular tablets with an apron. Memorial by Turner, architect of Chester, to Sir Lynch Salusbury Cotton Bart. of Combermere Abbey of 1775 showing urns in relief against an obelisk, also a memorial by Theed to Stapleton Cotton, Viscount Combermere, showing classical figures, of 1865 with a portrait medallion to the surmount.

<5> Earthworks Archaeological Services, 1994, Churchyardside Cottage, Wrenbury, Cheshire: An Archaeological Assessment, p.3 (Client Report). SCH4131.

In origin, as a site of Christian Worship, the church site may be older than the twelfth century. The failure of the Domesday Book to mention a church in Wrenbury does not necessarily mean that there was not one there in the eleventh century. The curvilinear churchyard, particularly evident on the tithe map (see (6) and CHER 353/1/3) before the later graveyard extensions and straightening of boundaries occurred, is perhaps indicative of an ancient enclosed religious site.

<6> See map for surveyor, c.1837-51, Cheshire Tithe Maps and Awards, EDT 445/2, c.1843 (Maps and Plans). SCH3266.