Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England, UK - November 09, 2022
St Chad's Church occupies a prominent position in Shrewsbury, the county town of Shropshire. The current church building was built in 1792, and with its distinctive round shape and high tower it is a well-known landmark in the town. It faces The Quarry area of parkland, which slopes down to the River Severn. The church is a Grade I listed building.
Charles Darwin was baptised in St Chad's church in 1809, and as a young boy attended the church with his mother Susannah.
The present building replaced an earlier church, dedicated to St Chad, situated near College Hill; this was a 13th-century building which was largely destroyed when the central tower collapsed in 1788. All that remains of the earlier building is a side chapel surrounded by a disused churchyard which also contains an exposed crypt.
Scottish architect George Steuart was commissioned to build a new church, and he submitted several preliminary designs. Due to a misunderstanding, Steuart went on to complete a circular plan which was not the Parish Church committee's preferred design; however, time was limited, and this was the design which was built.
The foundation stone was laid on St Chad's day, 2 March 1790. The church was built of white Grinshill stone. The building work was supervised by John Simpson (who later worked on several projects with Thomas Telford, including the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct). Internally, the gallery was supported by slender cast iron pillars, an early example of cast iron used for this purpose; they were made by William Hazledine, a pioneering ironmaster who had a foundry in Shrewsbury.
The church was opened on 19 August 1792.
The sanctuary window is a copy in stained glass of a triptych by Rubens in Antwerp Cathedral; it was made in the 1840s by David Evans, a local stained glass artist. The original pulpit, which obscured the altar, was removed in 1888; it was replaced by a copper and brass pulpit in Arts and Crafts style, placed to one side and giving a clearer view of the Sanctuary.
The entrance hall has many memorials relating to the 53rd Regiment of Foot, and its successor regiment the King's Shropshire Light Infantry (KSLI) including:
• alabaster tablet memorial to officers and men of the 53rd who died at the Battle of Sobraon (1846);
• large tablet to those of that regiment who died in the Indian Mutiny campaign (1857–59);
• tablet to those of the 1st Battalion KSLI who died in the Egyptian campaign of 1882;
• tablet to those of the 1st KSLI who died in the occupation of Suakim, Sudan, 1885–86;
• tablet above vestibule entrance to KSLI dead (4,700 all ranks) of the First World War, unveiled 1930 in presence of Poet Laureate John Masefield; and
• books of remembrance of KSLI war dead of both World Wars, in separate cases, in addition to separate county books of remembrance to all war dead from the county of Shropshire.
(Notes from Wikipedia)
