Beside these institutions there are several private Reading Societies in the town.
New Church of St. Chad.
This church, situated near that beautiful promenade the Quarry, is erected in a style highly ornamental, from a design by Mr. Stuart, an architect from London. The admirable execution of the masonry, and the beauty of the stone, have an extremely elegant appearance. The first stone was laid on the 2d of March, 1790, and the building was consecrated on the 28th of August, 1792. The body of the church is a rotunda, 100 feet in diameter, having a fine steeple at its south-east end. In the steeple is an octagonal belfry, containing a melodious peal of twelve bells, surmounted by a small dome, supported on eight Corinthian pillars.
The principal entrance is through the large door under the steeple, to the lower division of which is attached a portico, elevated on a flight of steps, and supported by four Doric columns. The interior has a rich and noble appearance, especially since its recent painting, which in some measure has corrected that light and theatrical effect hitherto complained of. The gallery which encircles the whole of the church, except the chancel, is supported by a double circular range of short pillars with Ionic capitals. From its front rises a series of columns which support the roof, intended to imitate the Corinthian order. The chancel is separated from the church by two insulated Corinthian-columns, with highly enriched architraves. Beside the usual appendages of a chancel, the Creed, Commandments, and Lord’s Prayer—a fine painted window, executed by Eginton, and removed here from Lichfield cathedral, was erected in the large window, in 1807, at the expense of the parishioners.—The subject is the resurrection of our Saviour, from a design by West. In the gallery is a good organ.
Notwithstanding the objections which have been made to the architectural plan of this church, it is possessed of one advantage, which, it is presumed tends to obviate all of them, namely convenient accommodation for a congregation of 2000 persons, which should be the object principally kept in view in all similar erections. It was built at an expense of about £18,000: £15,000 of which remains as a debt, on the church at this period.
The patron of the living is the king—the present vicar, the Rev. Thomas Stedman, M.A. Organist Mr. John Wynne.
From the dome of this church there is a most beautiful panoramic view of the town, and a very extensive range of the fertile plain of Shropshire.
The Abbey of St. Peter & St. Paul.
The present church once formed part of a magnificent and richly endowed abbey, founded by Roger de Montgomery, soon after the Norman conquest. Here that powerful baron, in the decline of his life, retired, relinquishing his warlike habits for the severities of the Benedictine monks, and adopting the custom mentioned by Milton, of those