Patrick Comerford
In recent days, I have been visiting a number of churches in the Rugeley area that I first got to know when I was about 19 or 20, including the old and new Saint Augustine’s Church, the ruins of the early mediaeval parish church, now known as the ‘Old Chancel’, and the early 19th century church across the street that replaced it in the 1820s; Saint Joseph and Saint Etheldreda Church; Saint Michael’s Church in Brereton; and Hawkesyard Hall and Spode House in Armitage, where the Dominicans once had a priory.
Saint Augustine’s Church, the parish church of Rugeley, is dedicated to Saint Augustine of Canterbury, first Archbishop of Canterbury, and is a Grade II* listed building. It was built in 1822-1823 to replace the mediaeval parish church and what remains of the former church – the tower and chancel – is now a Grade II listed building known as the Old Chancel.
The parish decided about 1818 that a new parish church was needed because the population of Rugeley was growing rapidly and because the chancel of the old parish church seemed to be beyond repair. A site across the street from the old church, large enough for a new burial ground, was given in 1819 by Thomas William Anson (1795-1854), 2nd Viscount Anson, later 1st Earl of Lichfield (1831).
The architectural historian Sir Niklaus Pevsner describes the church as ‘remarkable for its date’. The church was built in stone in 1822-1823 and is an early example of the simplified perpendicular Gothic Revival style of the builder and architect Charles Underwood (1791-1883).
Underwood designed the church in Rugeley early in his career after he had moved to Oxford, where ‘Survivalist Gothic’ had lingered on in the grounds of some of the colleges and institutions.
The church originally consisted of a rectangular nave of five bays with aisles and clerestory, a shallow chancel, and a tall west tower. It was consecrated on 21 January 1823.
The building cost £6,501 17s 2d, which was partly met through the sale of materials from the original church. The new church was consecrated on 1 January 1823 by George Henry Law (1761–1845), Bishop of Chester (1812-1824).
Internally the nave arcades have lofty shafted piers and four-centred arches, and the aisles are occupied by the north and south galleries. The base of the tower forms an entrance lobby, and there is a large gallery across the west end of the church. Below this gallery are tables of parish charities.
The fittings were altered In 1867-1868 and the box pews were cut down to form open seats. The marble font dates from 1874.
By 1894, great dissatisfaction was being expressed with the building. It was said to be in bad structural repair and to be ‘inconveniently arranged and unsuited for purposes of public worship’. Some parishioners complained that it was impossible to preserve due order in the galleries and ‘to prevent the young people who crowd into them at an evening service from behaving in an irreverent and unseemly manner’.
Sarah Hopkins had left a bequest in her will in 1844 for the improvement of the church and over half a century this had accumulated to about £3,000.
After various schemes were discussed, it was agreed to enlarge the existing church and a new chancel with north and south aisles, including a Lady Chapel, were built in 1905-1906 and dedicated on 29 June 1906. The stone was given by Thomas Francis Anson (1856-1918), 3rd Earl of Lichfield.
The design is a scholarly example of Perpendicular architecture by Frank Loughborough Pearson (1864-1947), son of the Gothic Revival architect John Loughborough Pearson (1817-1897), renowned for his work on churches and cathedrals.
The reredos was carved in an Alpine village in Northern Italy, with the gilding and colour added in London.in North Italy. The reredos and the panelling in the sanctuary were presented in 1930 by WJ Stanton in memory of his wife.The central panel depicts the the Risen Christ appearing to Mary Magdalene on Easter morning. On either side of this panel are three angels who recall the Preface and the Sanctus at the Eucharist. On either side are figures of the Blessed Virgin, Saint Ann, Saint Peter and Saint Paul, together with smaller figures on either side of Saint Stephen, Saint Matthew, Saint George and Saint Mark; these saints all represent stages in the life of Mrs Stanton who was, for example, baptised in Saint Stephen’s Church, South Kensington.
The reredos is incribed with the words, ‘In thy presence is fullness of joy’.
The East Window above the high altar and reredos is by Charles Eamer Kempe (1837-1907). It depicts the crucifixion and as well as the Virgin Mary and Saint John the Divine, the saints depicted include Saint Augustine of Canterbury and Saint Chad of Lichfield.
The north aisle forms a Lady Chapel, where the East Window is also by Kempe. The south aisle has a vestry and organ loft. The west end of the church remains as it was built in 1822, but the start of a proposed new nave arcade is visible near the chancel arch. The east window of the Lady Chapel was given in 1906 in memory of Fanny Louise Slade by her sister.
Other stained glass windows in the chapel date from 1907 and commemorate Gilbert Woolland and Thomas and Mary Ann James. The carved organ screen was given in memory of Emma O Litler (d 1908).
The pulpit was made in 1907 in memory ofthe parish benefactor Sarah Hopkins who died in 1844 and has a simple but expressive oak carving of Saint Augustine. The font at the west end of the church is made of the finest alabaster and was given in 1874 by Ralph Armishaw.
The wall tablets in the church commemorate Rebecca Simpson (1849), Mary and William Landor (1860), Robert W Nuttall (1904), John AB Burrough (1918), and Robert Landor and members of his family (1914-1951).
The church plate includes a silver chalice and paten, a copper cross, two pewter candlesticks, a silver viaticum and a latten censer dating from 16th century, a silver cup and flagon given by Mary Chetwynd in 1704, and two silver-gilt chalices, two silver-gilt patens and a silver-gilt flagon given by William Bamford in 1855.
The peal of bells includes six from the old church dating from 1706-1708. They were renovated for the millennium. A special peal was rung out over the town in 2007 to mark the bells’ 300th anniversary.
The octagonal chuurch hall was added in 1972.
Saint Augustine’s initiated a number of missions and chapels in the Rugeley and Brereton area, including Saint John the Baptist, Slitting Mill), which closed in 2025; Saint Michael’s Church, Brereton; the Church of the Holy Spirit, Etching Hill (1881); the Church of the Good Shepherd, Pear Street Estate; and missions in Horse Fair (ca 1875-1881), Saint Mary’s mission in Rugeley (ca 1880-1916), and a misson chapel at Fairoak (ca 1882-1894).
Saint Augustine’s churchyard has been reconfigured due to the risk of subsidence and many of the grave stones now lie around the edge.
The graves and monuments in the churchyard include the headstone to Christina Collins who was murdered on a canal boat in 1839 and the grave of John Parsons Cook, the final victim of Dr William Palmer, the ‘Rugeley Poisoner’, who was convicted of murder at the Old Bailey and hanged at Stafford in 1856. But more about these stories in the days to come, perhaps, when I recall some grisly murders in Rugeley.
• The Revd Cath Leighton is the Team Rector of the Benefice of Brereton and Rugeley and Armitage with Handsacre, with five churches serving 25,000 people. The Sunday services at 10:30 am in Saint Augustine’s Church alternate between Sung Worship (first and third Sundays) and Holy Communion (second and fourth Sundays), and there is Holy Communion on Thursdays at 10 am. Saint Augustine’s Day is celebrated on 26 May.
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