Chebsey is a small village in
Staffordshire 2.5 miles southeast of
Eccleshall on a confluence of
Eccleshall water and the
River Sow some 5 miles northwest of
Stafford
Stafford () is a market town and the county town of Staffordshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It lies about north of Wolverhampton, south of Stoke-on-Trent and northwest of Birmingham. The town had a population of 70,145 in ...
. The population of the
civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of Parish (administrative division), administrative parish used for Local government in England, local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below district ...
at the
2011 census was 566. It comprises a number of houses and cottages and a village church dedicated to
All Saints.
All Saints church
Standing above the village on a natural mound of higher ground, the church is mostly built from reddish sandstone in the
Gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
style and dates from the 12th century. The west tower dates from the 15th century, and is constructed from mostly grey with some red sandstone blocks. The external staircase
turret (on the southeast corner of the tower) at Chebsey, is quite an unusual feature. Though it is very common in the churches of the
South of England and especially those of
Devon
Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...
and
Somerset
( en, All The People of Somerset)
, locator_map =
, coordinates =
, region = South West England
, established_date = Ancient
, established_by =
, preceded_by =
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, lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset
, lor ...
, yet it is rarely seen in churches of the
English Midlands
The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the In ...
and
North of England. Parts of the south wall of the church show signs of extensive repairs, mostly in red sandstone. The churchyard contains an
Anglo-Saxon
The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...
cross shaft. Inside the church can be found
late Victorian stained glass windows by
Charles Eamer Kempe
Charles Eamer Kempe (29 June 1837 – 29 April 1907) was a British Victorian era designer and manufacturer of stained glass. His studios produced over 4,000 windows and also designs for altars and altar frontals, furniture and furnishings, lich ...
, and a 13th-century stone coffin. The church was extensively renovated in 1897 under the supervision of
Staffordshire ecclesiastical architect Andrew Capper.
The churchyard contains the
war graves of a soldier of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
and an
airman
An airman is a member of an air force or air arm of a nation's armed forces. In certain air forces, it can also refer to a specific enlisted rank. An airman can also be referred as a soldier in other definitions.
In civilian aviation usage, ...
of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
.
CWGC Cemetery Report. Breakdown obtained from casualty record.
Notable people
*
Margaret de Clare (1293–1342 in Chebsey) an English noblewoman, heiress, and the second-eldest of the three daughters of Gilbert de Clare, 6th Earl of Hertford, making her a granddaughter of King Edward I of England.
*
Sir William Stafford of Chebsey (c.1500–1556) courtier and Essex landowner and the second husband of Mary Boleyn, the sister of Anne Boleyn. They married in secret in 1534 and initially lived at Chebsey
*
Richard Garnett (1789–1850) an English philologist (historical linguist), author and librarian at the British Museum. In 1836 he was presented to the living of Chebsey which he relinquished in 1838.
Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 21, Garnett, Richard
retrieved 9 August 2018
See also
* Listed buildings in Chebsey
References
External links
''Photograph of Chebsey Church, c.1925''
{{authority control
Borough of Stafford
Villages in Staffordshire