St Chad's Church is an Anglican

Church of England

The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...

 church on Hunter Street in Burton upon Trent

Burton upon Trent

Burton upon Trent, also known as Burton-on-Trent or simply Burton, is a town straddling the River Trent in the east of Staffordshire, England. Its associated adjective is "Burtonian"....

, Staffordshire

Staffordshire

Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...

 England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It is in the diocese of Lichfield

Diocese of Lichfield

The Diocese of Lichfield is a Church of England diocese in the Province of Canterbury, England. The bishop's seat is located in the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Chad in the city of Lichfield. The diocese covers 4,516 km² The Diocese of Lichfield is a Church of England...

 and the advowson

Advowson

Advowson is the right in English law of a patron to present or appoint a nominee to a vacant ecclesiastical benefice or church living, a process known as presentation. In effect this means the right to nominate a person to hold a church office in a parish...

 is vested in the bishop

Bishop of Lichfield

The Bishop of Lichfield is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Lichfield in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers 4,516 km² of the counties of Staffordshire, Shropshire, Warwickshire and West Midlands. The bishop's seat is located in the Cathedral Church of the Blessed...

.

History

It was a gift to the town by Michael Bass, 1st Baron Burton

Michael Bass, 1st Baron Burton

Michael Arthur Bass, 1st Baron Burton KCVO , known as Sir Michael Bass, 1st Baronet, from 1882 to 1886, was a British brewer, Liberal politician and philanthropist...

 at a cost of £38,000. The architect was George Frederick Bodley

George Frederick Bodley

George Frederick Bodley was an English architect working in the Gothic revival style.-Personal life:Bodley was the youngest son of William Hulme Bodley, M.D. of Edinburgh, physician at Hull Royal Infirmary, Kingston upon Hull, who in 1838 retired to his wife's home town, Brighton, Sussex, England....

 but he died before the church was completed and it was finished by his partner Cecil Greenwood Hare. Work started in 1903 and the church dedication to Saint Chad of Mercia

Chad of Mercia

Chad was a prominent 7th century Anglo-Saxon churchman, who became abbot of several monasteries, Bishop of the Northumbrians and subsequently Bishop of the Mercians and Lindsey People. He was later canonized as a saint. He was the brother of Cedd, also a saint...

 took place in 1910.

The building

The church was designed in the Decorated style and built of red Hollington

Hollington, Staffordshire

Hollington is a village in the English county of Staffordshire.The nearest town to Hollington is Uttoxeter to its south-east.The quarries at Hollington produce the notable red and white 'Hollington stone' which has been used for centuries in the construction of churches and stately homes...

 stone.

It has been described by Nikolaus Pevsner

Nikolaus Pevsner

Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner, CBE, FBA was a German-born British scholar of history of art and, especially, of history of architecture...

 as "the finest building by far in Burton-on-Trent."

The organ

The organ inside the church is a three manual organ built by Peter Conacher and Co of Huddersfield (installed by 1909). The organ has 43 stops and consists of a swell, great, choir and pedal organ. The organ has a stop key system and has pure tin pipes which gives it a sweet sound.

Timeline

• 1903 Initial designs completed by Bodley
• 1907 Death of Bodley
• 1909 Church completed
• 1910 Church consecrated by the Bishop of Lichfield
  Augustus Legge
  The Right Reverend The Honourable Augustus Legge DD , was Bishop of Lichfield from 1891 until 1913.-Biography:...
  
   on 6 July
• 1960 Reredos executed by Bridgeman of Lichfield.

External links

• http://www.stchadsburton.org.uk/
• St Chad's Church (Burton upon Trent) Preservation Trust

Sources

• Church guidebook. C. Mansfield. 2006.
• The Buildings of England, Staffordshire. Pevsner.
• British History Online 'Horninglow: Established church', A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 9: Burton-upon-Trent (2003), pp. 185-187.