Building record 793/1/1 - Church of St Chad

<1> English Heritage, 2005, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, 57396 (Digital Archive). SCH4666.

A red sandstone church of 1543 (and earlier) with additions and alterations: of 1870 by Ewan Christian and W Milford Teulon; of 1904 by John Douglas; 1926 and of 1933.

Tower: diagonal buttresses and moulded plinth, of 3 storeys. Western front: arched doorway to ground floor with hood mould and 3-light Perpendicular window. Plain stage to middle with 3-light belfry openings to top with band of quatrefoils above and string course above that with gargoyles above diagonal buttresses and at centre. Battlemented parapet: above. The north face has a 2-light nineteenth century window to the middle stage with similar belfry stage as on west front.

Nave: South face has 2-storey porch to far left with diagonal buttresses and 4-centred arch with moulded surround, hood mould and label stops. The first floor is slightly jettied and the transformation is effected by a string-course with roll moulding. There is a central window with a coat of arms immediately above encompassed by the hood mould. The remainder of the south aisle has 7 windows of 4 x 5 lights with Perpendicular tracery, the 2 windows at right being of the Lady Chapel built in 1926. All bays have buttresses between with offsets and each window has a hood mould with label stops. There is a battlemented parapet above. The north aisle has some reset Perpendicular windows dating from the widening of the aisle in 1904 by Douglas. These are of 2, 3 and 4 lights and set in the lower wall. Upper wall has 3 windows of 1904 of 3 x 4 lights with Perpendicular tracery. Straight parapet above. Choir vestry of 1933 to far left. East end has a 3-light window with reticulated tracery to the chancel end. To the left of this is a 5-light Perpendicular window reset from the eastern end of the south aisle when the Lady Chapel was added in 1926.

Interior: Nave of 6 bays, originally the total extent of the church before the chancel was added in 1870 and the Lady chapel in 1926. Tower arch has double chamfered rebate. Octagonal piers to nave arcades with moulded bases dying to octagonal bodies via broaches and with moulded caps which have slightly more concave faces to the north aisle and chamfered mouldings to arches and concave mouldings to hood moulds which have broaches at their bases. Roof trusses of arched braces springing from corbels and supporting collars. South aisle window reveals have chanels to their splayed reveals. Roof of arch braces rising to collars with king posts above and arched braces to either side. Chancel of 3 bays built c1870 by Christian and Teulon with reset 3-light Decorated window giving onto present (1930 s) vestry. The priest's room above the porch is approached by a fine late nineteenth century spiral staircase and gallery of timber. The North aisle has a memorial inscription cut into the stonework of the western wall which reads THIS AISLE WAS ADDED IN 1904 THE STONES OF THE OLD WALL WERE PLACED IN THEIR NEW POSITION THE ARCHITECT WAS JOHN DOUGLAS OF CHESTER WHO LOVED THIS CHURCH IN HIS BOYHOOD AND IN AFTER YEARS BESTOWED ON IT AS ON MANY ANOTHER CHURCH MUCH SKILL AND CARE HIS KINDNESS AND DEVOTED INTEREST ARE DESERVEDLY HELD IN REMEMBERANCE W H STABLES VICAR.

The Stanley tomb to the North Wall of the chancel is of 1543 and has a chest of red sandstone with a black marble cover inlayed with a brass effigy of a knight in armour with hands clasped in prayer. Basket arched recess above with tracery to intrados. Gabled surround with crocketed pinnacles to sides.

<2> Department for the Environment, Various, Provisional List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, /5/13 1948 (Report). SCH2744.

Church is subject of a legend. Originally church said to stand in the town, but the devil tore it up and flew away with it. The monks of Vale Royal Abbey rang the Abbey bells, causing the Devil to drop the church. The monks called upon St Chad to save it from destruction and their prayers were answered as it floated safely down to earth.

<3> Richards R, 1947, Old Cheshire Churches, p.264 (Book). SCH2309.

<4> Ordnance Survey, 1870-1982, Ordnance Survey Archaeological Record Card, SJ66NE 5 1962 (Index). SCH2487.

<5> Williams SR, 1970s-1980s, Rhys Williams' Aerial Photographs, Winsford 1 (Aerial Photograph). SCH4607.

<6> Bostock, Tony, The Church of St Chad, Over. A history and guidebook (Booklet-Leaflet). SCH7136.

The earliest written reference to a Church at Over is in a Charter of Randle III, Earl of Chester (1181-1232) dating to the early 1190's in which he grants the church to the Benedictine nunnery of St. Mary, Chester.

The Current church is built of red sandstone with three gables and a fine tower at the west end. It is basically a fifteenth and 16th century building which over the centuries has had much buuilding work so that its original form is lost.