The living is a vicarage in the gift of the Crown, and a weekly lecture is preached in the church on Wednesdays.
SAINT JULIAN’S CHURCH.
The church, dedicated to St. Juliana, occupies an elevated situation at the top of Wyle Cop, and was erected 1749–50, from a design by Mr. T. F. Prichard, of this town, on the site of an Anglo-Norman structure, which had become ruinous.
It is a plain oblong building of brick, and stone dressings, 83 feet by 48, with a small recess for the chancel.
At the west end is the tower of the old church; the basement is of red stone, and of a date far anterior to the superstructure, which is of the 16th century, and crowned by a handsome embattled parapet and eight lofty pinnacles, restored in 1818, when the masonry of the tower was chipped and repaired. The tower contains a peal of six bells, recast in 1706, and an excellent clock, the dial of which is illuminated at night.
In the south wall of the chancel is an ancient figure, probably intended to represent St. Juliana.
The interior is particularly neat, possessing an air of solemnity unusual in the generality of modern churches. Four large Roman-Doric pillars support the roof of the nave, which is coved and adorned with the fret-work of the old church. Galleries occupy three sides of the building. At the west end is an excellent organ, by Bowsher and Fleetwood, of Liverpool, erected by a subscription in 1834, the exterior of which is tasteful in design, and harmonizes with the internal architecture of the edifice.
The pulpit is handsome, and belonged to the old church. The altar-piece and furniture of the chancel are in good taste; the former is of wainscot, and presents a Roman Doric basement, supporting Ionic pilasters and entablature with modillion cornice, from which springs a rich architrave surrounding a Venetian window, in the centre light of which is a figure in stained glass of St. James bearing the Holy Scriptures. The side lights contain the royal arms, and those of the see of Lichfield, impaling Cornwallis.
In the windows of the south gallery are the armorial bearings of Queen Elizabeth, the family of Bowdler, a fine ancient shield of the town arms, and heads of St. Peter and St. Paul, surmounted by their emblems, the keys and sword. On the north side are the arms of Prince, Bennett, Astley, the Earl of Tankerville, and a figure of St. John.