Battlefield Church, Salop: an historical and descriptive sketch / Together with some account of the battle of Shrewsbury, and foundation of the college or chantry

by W. G. D. Fletcher

The Restorations of 1749 and 1861.

Battlefield Church has twice been restored, first about the year 1749, at whose expense we do not know, and again in 1861 at the cost of Lady Brinckman.

I fix upon 1749 as the approximate date of the first restoration for several reasons. The Parish Register that year speaks of “the church then down,” Mr. Leonard Hotchkiss being the minister. In 1746 “briefs” were being collected for the church. The earliest known engraving, after a sketch by James Bowen, of the north side of the church, which cannot have been engraved later than 1769, as Mr. Percy (afterwards Bishop of Dromore), had a copy that year, represents the church as then being in a perfect state externally, and states “this church was rebuilt a few years since.” The Archæologia for 1803 states that “the church was repaired and altered about 50 or 60 years ago.” All this points to 1749 as the date.

Probably little had been done to the church from the time of the dissolution of the college down to 1749, and it had been allowed to fall into a bad state. The Puritans, too, during the commonwealth are said to have damaged it. At all events, about 1749 some considerable reparations were effected. The church was probably newly roofed, though still kept all of one pace, and somewhat lowered. The buttresses were surmounted by heads or gurgoyles. The roof, too, was plastered and whitewashed. The stained glass was removed from the east window, and, being carelessly kept, was much broken, and only some fragments re-inserted. The old font was taken away, and a new one placed in the church. The tower was bound together with iron bars, nuts, and screws. The parapets, if there were any round the church, and most of the pinnacles and gurgoyles were taken down. A new bell was placed in the tower, which seems to have borne the inscription, “Ab. Rudhall of Gloucester cast me, 1755.” We must feel thankful that the “restoration” was not carried to greater lengths and that the walls and tower were spared.

The work done about 1749 was not of a permanent nature. In a few years’ time the roof of the nave portion of the building must have fallen in, and no attempt was made to replace it. Fearing that the roof of the chancel portion might also give way, four ugly circular Doric pillars on pedestals were introduced to support it; and a brick wall was built at the west end of the chancel, separating it from the nave. From this time, and until 1861, the chancel only was used for divine service. The nave was suffered to fall into complete decay. The buttresses of the chancel were a little shortened, and the gurgoyles removed.

When the roof of the nave fell in we do not know, but certainly before 1792. In 1810, the nave and steeple were ruinous, though “the whole was entire within the memory of persons now living.”

In November, 1855, the late Mr. S. Pountney Smith, of Shrewsbury, made a set of plans for the restoration of the church, though the work was not finally accomplished until the year 1861. The expense of the work, amounting to £4,000, was borne by Lady Brinckman. It took twelve months to carry out. The tower was completely renovated, the nave repaired, the new columns in the chancel taken away, and the whole new-roofed, and put into a thorough state of repair. A new parapet was placed round the nave and chancel, that on the nave being plain, whilst the chancel parapet was pierced with quatrefoils, and enriched with pinnacles. A new vestry, or Corbet mortuary chapel was built on the north side of the chancel. The church was re-opened on Friday, November 1st, All Saints’ Day, 1861, the preacher being the Bishop of Oxford.

The new work was on the whole, when we consider the dilapidated state of the church, thoroughly well carried out. Perhaps the chief defect is the marked distinction made between nave and chancel, which is unusual in Collegiate Churches, and in this church never existed. It would have been better if both had been kept of the same pace, and had been decorated and finished alike. It seems to have been a mistake, too, to pull down the cemetery wall on the south side of the church, which had existed ever since its first erection.

The Vicarage House was built about 1862, at some little distance west from the church. The site of the old college has never yet been ascertained; it may have stood on the east side of the church; and it is not known when it was taken down. Nor is it known where the almshouse or hospital for poor men stood, nor how long it lasted, nor when it was destroyed. Both probably did not remain long after the dissolution of the chantry.

The church is distant three miles from Shrewsbury. Proceeding down the Hadnall Road, it comes into sight directly after passing the Old Heath Farm (Mr. John Randles) on the left-hand side, and looks most picturesque with its handsome tower flanked by the woods on its north side.