A guide to St Margaret’s Church

About the guide:

This guide takes the form of a walk around the Church, drawing particular attention to those features which illuminate the church and village life in previous centuries.

St Margaret’s: The church has always been the heart of English village life. This medieval church in , situated opposite the village green, retains a number of features which give the visitor an insight into parochial life in past centuries. Customs and attitudes change with time, but the church remains – a worshipping congregation, a fine building and a focal point in the life of the village. The building here today was erected in about 1500 from red sandstone, brought by trollies and ponies from the Bickerton hills, eight miles to the north-west. It was not the first church on the site. A chapel, probably black and white half timbered, existed here from the 12th century as a daughter chapel to Acton church, under a curate appointed by the priest of Acton. In about 1180, Acton and its chapels were given to the Cistercian monks of the local abbey at Combermere. The church is dedicated to St Margaret of Antioch, a popular figure in the , who was a 3rd century martyr and the patron saint of expectant mothers. It dates from the early 16th century and is a Grade II* listed building built of red sandstone ashlar1 with a slate roof. Its plan consists of a west tower, a five-bay clerestoried nave with narrow aisles, a chancel, and a south porch.

1 Ashlar is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared or the structure built of it.

Our tour starts with the view from the gallery. Take the narrow staircase on the left, in the middle of the back (west) wall, which leads up to the gallery.

The West Gallery

Home to our impressive organ which was built by Charles Whitely of and installed in 1884.

From this elevated position you can see many aspects of the early 16th century style of architecture, called late Perpendicular, in which the main part of the church was built. Five pointed arches with slender octagonal pillars, separate the nave from the two side aisles and extra light brightens from the clerestory window above. The original 12th century chapel would have been much lower and darker. The oak tie-beam roof is also 15th century. The unusually vivid pink of the sandstone walls is the result of their being covered in plaster and whitewash for four and a half centuries. This was finally scraped of in 1938.

This gallery, probably a replacement, was built in 1791 at a cost of fifteen guineas. It accommodated the band and a group of singers. The villagers played such instruments as bass viol, flute, trumpet, oboe and fiddle, but were supplanted by the organ in 1884. The singers continued to use the gallery for some years after that until Rev Norwood was informed that they were in the habit of playing cards during the sermon. He promptly brought them down into the chancel.

The memorial tablet to Samuel Sproston, 1858, is placed where it is, on the wall to your left, because of church seating arrangements in previous centuries. As the owner of Sproston Wood House, he and his family always occupied a pew on that side of the gallery. The right to certain pews traditionally accompanied the ownership of a property.

The Baptistery The sandstone font dates from the end of the 16th century. At that time, the water blessed for baptism was left in the font for many weeks, so the heavy wooden lid was provided to keep it clean. On the pillar behind the font you can see a number of masons’ marks scratched onto the stone (rather like the marks on a dressmaker’s pattern). Each mason had his own mark which he carved on the finished block of stone to identify his work, both to enable the master mason to maintain high standards, and to make sure that the wages clerk knew who to recompense. The photographs show how the church looked early in the 20th century; the walls covered in plaster, all the pews nearly a foot higher than at present, and a very large pew, owned by the Starkeys, one of the important local families, taking up all the space on the other end of this aisle. When this dominant feature was taken down in 1938, the sturdy oak panels were used to line the walls around the font. It was originally 5ft 7in high, so you can imagine how secluded the Starkeys were inside their box, which was also carpeted and furnished with comfortable seats and a table. To the right of the photographs is a list of the clergy who have ministered here. Their status has changed over the years. Before the reformation, the priests’ names were not recorded. Since Wrenbury Chapel belonged to and was not a parish in its own right, it was the responsibility of the monks to ensure that the Mass was said here regularly, probably by one of their own number. After the dissolution of the abbey in 1542, it remained the chapelry in the charge of the vicar of Acton who appointed the “curate” (he was not allowed to be called “vicar”). This gentleman also received a large part of the money and goods paid as “tithe” (one tenth of all produce) by the people of Wrenbury, who were not very pleased to see their money going out of the parish. Imagine the resulting disputes. Nowadays, the custom of tithes has ceased, and the clergy are known as “Vicar”. They are also responsible for the neighbouring churches of , built in 1769, and – an attractive little church, with half-timbered chancel, in a rural setting, three miles to the north. The Stained glass window behind the font, showing Jesus blessing the little children, is inscribed to the memory of John Webster, Vicar here for 20 years earlier this century; and the one at the opposite end of this side aisle, depicting the ascension of Jesus to heaven, is to Charles Aldis, a much loved 19th Century Vicar. Behind the list of incumbents you will notice a blocked up doorway2, originally one of four doors to the church. This one in the north wall was traditionally opened during baptism to allow the devil to escape from the infant. Now only the porch door is felt to be necessary in a building of this size.

2 At the time of writing, the PCC have submitted plans and are fundraising to re-open this door and build an accessible toilet and boiler house beyond it.

Go back towards the door and turn left towards the Nave The Nave

This is one of only nine churches in Cheshire which retain their box pews. The pews were installed in 1608 in the usual style of the time. At four feet high they kept out drafts in an unheated church, and enabled occupants to concentrate on prayer (or nod off to sleep), unobserved by their neighbours. Although lowered and altered for comfort earlier this century, they still create an impression of what it was like to worship in the 17th and 18th centuries.

When new doors were added in the late 17th Century they were decorated with the coat of arms of the local gentry who owned them, so that the families, servants and tenants knew which pews they were entitled to occupy during services: the well to do near the front, poorer tenants further back. Perhaps a number of long running disputes between local families over the rights to seats in certain pews led to this system of labelling. Notice that the greatest number belonged to the Cottons, an important wealthy family who bought Combermere Abbey at the dissolution and who became Lords of Combermere in 1814. Seventeenth century Wrenbury Hall was the new home of the Starkey family, prominent local landowners, until 1920. It is reputed to have sheltered the Parliamentary forces in 1643 when was besieged during the Civil War. Since 1410 the Starkeys had lived in the mediaeval manor house now called Tudor Rose Farm on the Nantwich Road. The family crest of a black crane can be seen on the north side nave pews, the opposing pews being rented to the Cotton family. The beautifully made kneelers, a recent contribution by the ladies of the parish, depict symbols of the Christian faith. Reverend Gilbert Vaudrey presented the elaborate two tier brass chandelier to the church in 1839. It was made in Birmingham early in the century. The details are inscribed on the base. Still looking up, you can see two diamond shaped, painted wooden panels, called “Hatchments”, which belonged to the Cotton family. Such influential families hung these armorial boards on their gates for a year following the death of the Master or Mistress of the house, before placing them in the local church. The one on your left is to the first , who died in 1865. For a description of his life, see the section on “memorials” below. The one on your right is that of his son, the second viscount, who died in 1891.

Continue up the nave towards the chancel.

The following statement appears in the Churchwarden’s accounts for 1778; “John Wilkinson, joiner of Aston, agreed with parishioners to erect a new pulpit of good English oak, for the sum of 18 guineas”. From the top deck of this fine three decker3 Georgian pulpit the preacher towered over the congregation, both because the sermon was felt at that time to be the most important aspect of worship, and because, with box pews four feet high, he needed to see and be seen. His voice was deflected down to the congregation by a wooden canopy, or sounding board, above his head. The lowest part, on the right, was occupied by the parish clerk, who led the congregation in the psalms and responses. This important character in the parish was a general factotum, whose duties included reading the lesson, assisting the clergy, witnessing marriages, and completing the register, cleaning and maintaining the church building, ringing the bell for services, and sometimes acting as clock winder and grave digger. In 1761, for example, he was paid a total of 8 shillings (40p) for these duties. In previous centuries, at the local fair, called the “Wrenbury Wakes”, which began on the first Sunday in August, a performing bear was a popular attraction. The story goes that on one occasion a particularly enthusiastic vicar was mounting the steps when the excited parish clerk hurried behind him and announced in a loud voice, to the delight of the congregation, “mesther, ye mun stop now, her’s com’n, and her’s a brain (brown) un!” The Chancel This part of the church was rebuilt later than the rest, in 1606, and again 1806. It was further restored in 1865. Unfortunately, early 19th century restorers installed fewer windows and used a different sandstone so that now, the rather small, dark chancel compares unfavourably with the lofty knave. Mention has been made of the Cottons of Combermere Abbey and the Starkeys of Wrenbury Hall – Wrenbury’s “rival dynasties”. For 400 years these two influential land owning families vigorously opposed each other. In life they were involved in disputes over areas of land and over their rights to the chancel and church pews. In death their memorials face each other across the church, vying with each other in grandeur and dominating the chancel. Disputes over rights to the chancel between these rival land owners were so troublesome that in 1748 an arbitrator was brought in to settle the squabbles. He allotted the south (right hand) side to the Cottons, and the north (left hand) side to the Starkeys; the walls for their memorials and the vaults underneath for burials. Each family was responsible thereafter for maintaining their own half of the chancel.

3 Now only two levels

The Memorials

On your left the three early 19th century Grecian style memorials, to Thomas and Eleanor Starkey, and Eleanor’s brother, John Jennings, were sculpted in London by John Bacon junior,4 no expense spared. It is hardly surprising that space in the chancel was a bone of contention; the wooden tablet lists 15 Starkeys buried in the vaults underneath between 1611 and 1711. Thankfully, the vaults were finally sealed up towards the end of the 19th century. The Latin motto means “Let virtue transcend indolence”. On the middle memorial, Thomas Starkey, who died in 1802, is styled “Lord of the Manor”. The Cottons were incensed by this claim, since they were convinced that Wrenbury had not legally been a “manor” since the middle ages.

4 John Bacon Junior (1777-1859) was born into a London family of sculptors. At 16 he was awarded a silver medal of the Royal Academy and at 17 the gold. He managed the family business after the death of his father and specialised in memorials such as we have at Wrenbury.

Most of his work is in London in Westminster Abbey and St Paul’s Cathedral, often depicting grieving women and angels wearing clinging classical drapery and with a casual pose.

In Wrenbury we have some of his best work when he was at the height of his career. After 1818 he collaborated with one of his pupils, who took on much of the day to day work and in 1830 he retired from the business.

The most impressive of the Cotton memorials on the right hand wall, is the one, in Grecian style, by Theed 5 of London, to Sir Stapleton Cotton, who was made 1st Baron Combermere in 1814, in recognition of his brilliant generalship in battle, and elevated to Viscount Combermere in 1830. He died in 1865, at the age of 92. The memorial lists his many important offices and victories. Viscount Combermere was a very dashing figure, splendidly dressed (the Spaniards called him the “Golden Lion”), adventurous and energetic, a fine horseman and well-liked and respected both by the nobility and by those under his command. He celebrated his two greatest victories, Salamanca in Spain and Bhurtpore in India, in fine style by building Public Houses named after each one, the Bhurtpore in Aston and The Salamanca6 here in Wrenbury Village. The Cotton family commissioned the stained glass for the window above the altar in 1866 as a further memorial to the 1st Viscount. Jesus is pictured as the Good Shepherd, with Moses on his right holding the Ten Commandments and Aaron on his left in the vestments of Chief Priest. This echoes an earlier tradition of placing pictures of these two Old Testament figures on the wall behind the altar. In 1884 the 2nd Viscount Combermere purchased six oak seats with carved bench ends from Tewkesbury Abbey, which was undergoing restoration and gave them to Wrenbury Chancel. In what appears to be a culminating stroke of one-upmanship, in 1915 the Starkey family had the previous altar removed, and the present one, with its cross and candlesticks, set up in memory of Arthur Starkey.

5 William Theed was born in Trentham, , in 1804. Initially trained by his father he was admitted to the Royal Academy Schools aged 15, moving to Rome seven years later.

After nearly 20 years in Rome sculpting marble statues and busts for Italian nobility he was commissioned by Prince Albert to create statues for Osborne House on the Isle of Wight.

He had three pieces included in the Great Exhibition of 1851 and fulfilled many further commissions for Buckingham Palace, Balmoral and Windsor. Now famous, he was sought after for works which can be seen in London, Manchester and even Australia.

He sculpted many memorials for St Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, and….. Wrenbury Church!

6 The Salamanca is next to the railway station and is now a private house

The Chest

Made from English Oak and surrounded by 14 iron bands, the parish chest secured the parish records, silver plate and vestments. Notice there are three separate locks: only in the presence of the Minister and both Churchwardens, each with their individual keys, could the chest be opened – an early security system!

The Bier

The bier was renovated by Jack Parker from Salesbrook and had been rebuilt on its original iron frame by his father.

Go past the bier and turn left at the pulpit

The Prayer and Remembrance Corner

If you have come into church for a quiet moment of reflection, you will find some prayers, words of inspiration and scripture quotations in front of this altar.

This is also where our remembrance book is situated, and amongst many others, we honour the Dale brothers 40773 Private ALBERT DALE 22nd Bn. Manchester Regiment died of wounds January 16, 1917. 250811 Lance Corporal FRANK DALE 2/6 Bn. Manchester Regiment, killed in action July 30, 1917 and 202095 Private WALTER DALE 2/5th Manchester Regiment killed in action July 22, 1917

Turn right and head back towards the door

The Dog-Whipper’s Pew

The unusual pew next to the door was occupied by a very colourful character, in parish life – the dog whipper. His duties were twofold; to control dogs, not necessarily keeping all dogs out of church but evicting unruly dogs (the Squire’s dog, for example, was an accepted member of the congregation); and to supervise the worshippers, by prodding any who dozed off during the lengthy and sometimes tedious sermons.

For this office he wore a uniform of blue coat and yellow tippet, and held a long white rod. In 1735, one Thomas Blimley was paid 4d (20p) for his services. Churchwarden’s accounts in 1780 also tell us that 19s 8d (98p) was spent on a coat for the dog-whipper. In 1792 his new shoes cost 3/3d (16p), but by 1824 had gone up to 9s (45p). Thomas Vaughan, the last holder of the post, died in 1879, and is buried near the church door.

The large board above the Dog-Whipper’s pew gives an account of the gifts and endowments made by local people to the church and poor of the parish. The variety of beneficiaries can be seen in the third column. In 1869, when this board was put up, a country cottage cost £200, so an idea can be gained as to the value of these endowments.

Our tour continues outside the church – pass through the porch (rebuilt in 1798 – see the date on the drainpipe, and turn right).

Iron gravestones, opposite the door, are an unusual feature, dating from the middle of the 19th century. Similar ones can be found at Marbury7*. There is no indication of where they were made, but possibly it was in the iron foundries of nearby Staffordshire.

Turn right to look at the tower, built at the end of the 15th century, then continue around to the end of the church to study the tower window.

7 Marbury is another medieval church in a beautiful setting 5km to the west of Wrenbury

The Tower

The tower windows show evidence of change in the church’s design. The lower window, with its carved spandrels, (the decoration in the panel between the arch and moulding), was originally the main door, but was partly blocked off in the 18th century when the gallery was built. Before then, the area under the tower was open, and light poured in through the window above. The lighter stone on that window shows where some of the old worn tracery had to be replaced at the end of the 19th century.

The tower houses six bells, four of them belonging to the 17th century, rung for national celebrations and local joys and sorrows. A legend maintains that a large bell was stolen from Wrenbury church and traced to Combermere Abbey. The thieves, in panic, threw the bell into the mere, and as it sank, someone suggested that it could only be salvaged by men that were pure in speech. Such men were obviously scarce, as it remained under water until one final attempt was made to rescue it, using divers and heavy chains. As it was being drawn towards the bank one man shouted in excitement “We’ve got it, despite God or the Devil!” at this point the bell slipped from its chains and sank for ever into the deep water. On your way back to the wrought iron gates, you will see a small brick and timbered cottage on your left where the schoolmaster lived. The school, which stood adjacent to it, founded in 1605, was one of the first parish schools in Cheshire. Before leaving the village, you may wish to turn right out of the church gates and walk as far as the lift bridge (adjacent to our two village pubs should you require refreshment), and if you want to walk along the Union canal in either direction, you will find one of the counterbalanced bridges half a mile away.

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