St Chad's Chapel (often referred to as Old St Chad's) is an isolated church in the scattered community of

Tushingham Tushingham is a scattered community in the civil parish of Tushingham-cum-Grindley, Macefen and Bradley (Tushingham cum Grindley until 2015), in the Cheshire West and Chester district, in the county of Cheshire, England. St Chad's Chapel, Tush ...

in the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

Tushingham-cum-Grindley, Macefen and Bradley Tushingham-cum-Grindley, Macefen and Bradley is a civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It was created in 2015, under the terms of the Local Government and Public Invo ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

, England. The only approach to the chapel is on footpaths across fields from the

A41 road The A41 is a trunk road between London and Birkenhead, England. Now in parts replaced by motorways, it passes through or near Watford, Kings Langley, Hemel Hempstead, Aylesbury, Bicester, Solihull, Birmingham, West Bromwich, Wolverhampton, New ...

. It is recorded in the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, ...

as a designated Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

History

Deeds dated 1349 refer to a chapel on this site which was a chapel of ease to

St Oswald's Church, Malpas St Oswald's Church stands on the highest point in the market town of Malpas, Cheshire, England, on or near the site of a Norman motte and bailey castle. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade ...

. A document dated 1621 refers to it as Chadwick Chapel, although by 1636 another document called it Chad Chapel. It was rebuilt in 1689–91 and has been little changed since. The principal financial donations for the chapel were from John Dod, a London

mercer Mercer may refer to: Business * Mercer (automobile), a defunct American automobile manufacturer (1909–1925) * Mercer (consulting firm), a human resources consulting firm headquartered in New York City, US * Mercer (occupation), a merchant or tra ...

who had been born in Tushingham. The chapel is now referred to as Old Chad because its functions have been replaced by St Chad's Church built in 1863 on the

Architecture

Exterior

The chapel is built in brown brick with a grey

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

roof. Its plan consists of a tower at the west end with an external staircase leading to an internal west gallery. The body of the chapel is in three

bays A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...

without

aisle An aisle is a linear space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, in buildings such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, parliaments, courtrooms, ...

s; it is furnished as a

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

and a

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

. A

vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government of a parish in England, Wales and some English colony, English colonies. At their height, the vestries were the only form of local government in many places and spen ...

projects south from the west bay of the nave. The tower is small with a pyramid-roof. It has a west door with a loophole above it, a plain band at the

belfry The belfry /ˈbɛlfri/ is a structure enclosing bells for ringing as part of a building, usually as part of a bell tower or steeple. It can also refer to the entire tower or building, particularly in continental Europe for such a tower attached ...

floor level, paired camber-headed bell-openings and a

weathercock A wind vane, weather vane, or weathercock is an instrument used for showing the direction of the wind. It is typically used as an architectural ornament to the highest point of a building. The word ''vane'' comes from the Old English word , me ...

Interior

The roof is unusual in that the sections between the principal beams are filled with carvings making a star-like pattern. All the chapel furnishings are made from Cheshire oak. The holy table dates from the 17th century, and on each side of it are panelled family

box pew A box pew is a type of church pew that is encased in panelling and was prevalent in England and other Protestant countries from the 16th to early 19th centuries. History in England Before the rise of Protestantism, seating was not customary in c ...

s. On the wall above the south pew are three

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock consisting of carbonate minerals (most commonly calcite (CaCO3) or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2) that have recrystallized under the influence of heat and pressure. It has a crystalline texture, and is ty ...

memorials to the Vernon and Murhall families, and above the north pew is a marble memorial to the Stephens family. Above the two east windows is the royal coat of arms of

George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland, Ireland from 25 October 1760 until his death in 1820. The Acts of Union 1800 unified Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and ...

. A low screen divides the chancel from the nave. The seating in the nave consists of plain seats and backs without any decoration. At the west end is a gallery which is reached by the external staircase. The

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a ''typeface'', defined as the set of fonts that share an overall design. For instance, the typeface Bauer Bodoni (shown in the figure) includes fonts " Roman" (or "regul ...

is Jacobean in style, and the

pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, accesse ...

is a three-decker.

External features

Adjacent to the church is a small building containing a horse-drawn

hearse A hearse () is a large vehicle, originally a horse carriage but later with the introduction of motor vehicles, a car, used to carry the body of a deceased person in a coffin to a funeral, wake, or graveside service. They range from deliberately ...

. It is built of brown brick with a pyramidal roof of grey slates and is dated 1822. The hearse-house is a Grade II listed building.

References