Patrick Comerford
When I was in Rugeley this week and last week, I visited a number of churches in the 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.
The remains of the original Saint Augustine’s Church in Rugeley, now known as the Old Chancel, date from the 12th century, when the church had just a nave and a chancel. A lady chapel was added in the 13th century, and a tower in the 14th century. A north aisle was also.
There was a church in Rugeley by 1189, when Richard I granted it with the manor to the Bishop of Lichfield but the church may have may have been built earlier ca 1150, possibly under the direction of the De Puys family who were then local landowners.
By 1192, the Bishop of Lichfield had given the church to the Dean and Chapter of Lichfield Cathedral, although the bishop reserved his episcopal rights. In 1255, the bishop exempted the church from the jurisdiction of the archdeacon, and so the dean and chapter acquired a peculiar jurisdiction.
A vicar was appointed from 1276, but the dean and chapter retained their rights. The vicarage was endowed that year with a house, lands and some of the tithes. Richard de Rugeley later granted the vicar adjoining lands and further lands were given on behalf of the Precentor of Lichfield.
An assistant priest was appointed in 1325 because the first vicar, Henry de Barton alias de Passelewe, was helpless and blind.
By 1338, the dean and chapter delegated many of their rights in the parish to the Vicar of Rugeley. In 1356 and 1357, the dean and chapter rebuked the vicar for being non-resident despite the stipulation that he must fulfil his duties personally.
The church had a number of private oratories, chantry chapels and side chapels, with their own chaplains, trustees and keepers of lights, including those endowed by William de Thomenhorn, Henry Puys, and the Chantry of Our Lady. Many of the parish endowments were provided by the Weston and Chetwynd families.
The parish registers date from 1569. From 1639 to 1646 the vicar, the Revd Richard Chapman, was non-resident and the church was served by a curate.
After a new parish church was built in 1822-1823, the old building was partly demolished. The chancel and the adjacent north chapel were left standing and walled up, and the west tower was left in position, but the nave and aisle were demolished apart from the arches of the arcade.
The oldest remaining part of the old church is the chancel, dating from the late 12th century. The south wall, which has a contemporary string course and a single-light window dates from this time. The window’s pointed head may be a later replacement.
The 12th century nave was probably without aisles; the eastern respond and the most easterly pier of the arcade are circular on plan and represent an early13th-century reconstruction of the nave.
The north chapel or Lady Chapel is the same length as the chancel but slightly narrower and was added in the late 13th century. The east window has three graded lancets under a single head, and there is a flat contemporary buttress at the north-east angle. The chapel is divided from the chancel by an arcade which originally consisted of two bays.
The remains of a single-light window, part of the earlier north wall of the chancel, can be seen in the spandrel between the arches. The west respond and single pier of the arcade have engaged semicircular shafts with wide fillets.
The bell capitals, undercut abaci, and double-roll bases are probably from 1250-1300. Alterations made to the chancel about this time include a trefoil-headed piscina and a two-light window with original geometrical tracery. To the west of the piscina is a large niche with a trefoil head, presumably a single sedile or seat for the priest.
The walling thar partially blocks the east arch of the arcade appears to date from the 14th century and was probably inserted to form a screen between the two altars.
The side of the chapel has a double piscina and an ogee-headed recess. The floor level of the sanctuary may originally have been higher and that this recess represents another single sedile. An oblique shaft at the back of the recess is cut through the masonry and links with a small ogee-headed opening on the west face of the wall. The wall and openings have been much restored, but if this feature is original it suggests a squint enabling a server at Mass to keep both chancel and chapel altars in view.
The priest’s door in the south wall of the chancel has a shouldered arch and may date from after the Reformation. Near it is a roughly built pyramidal buttress.
The head of a 15th or 16th century two-light window has been built into the 19th century west wall of the chancel. This window was once immediately west of the priest’s door.
There are two post-Reformation windows in the north wall of the chapel, and the east window of the chancel was formerly of the ‘churchwarden Gothic’ type, having simple interlacing tracery.
Except at its east end, the nave arcade dates from the late 13th century and is similar to the arcade dividing chancel and chapel. It has a pointed arch at each end with two wide semicircular arches between them. The central arches are twice the width of the others, suggesting that two piers have been removed and that the arcade originally consisted of six equal bays.
The tower dates from the 14th century with boldly projecting angle buttresses and a later castellated parapet. The west face has a pointed doorway of two orders, and above it is a two-light 14th century window. Above the tower arch are the weather marks of the former nave roof, and other weather marks show that the aisle had a gabled roof.
Drawings of the church before its partial demolition show that the south nave wall continued in the same line as the chancel wall.
A large porch east of the tower had a pointed arch and angle buttresses. There may have been a short projecting aisle on the south side, with a four-bay arcade having four bays, but it was but demolished in the 17th century.
The north chapel, which was almost certainly the site of the altar dedicated to Our Lady before the dissolution of the chantries, was still known as ‘Westons’ Chancel’ in the 18th century.
Under the terms of the lease of the rectory in 1637, Walter Littleton was obliged to repair the chancel. By the 19th century the church was in a poor state of repair, it was in danger of collapse and had become too small for the growing population of Rugeley. A decision was taken in 1818 to build a new parish and a site across the street, large enough for a new burial ground, was given in 1819 by Viscount Anson, later Earl of Lichfield.
The new Saint Augustine’s Church which was built across the street in 1822-1823, and the nave, north aisle, porch and vestry of the original church were demolished in 1823, and the materials were sold to help pay for building the new church.
What was left of the church was restored in 1869-1872, and stained glass was inserted in one of the chancel windows in 1883 in memory of Louisa Frances and Francis Mary Levett. Two more stained glass windows were added in 1891, one in memory of Ralph Armishaw and the other, the east chancel window by Charles Eamer Kempe, in memory of the Revd Robert Litler.
Several monuments were moved to the Lady Chapel before the nave was demolished. The monuments from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries included many to members of the Weston family and the Landor family. They included monuments to John Weston, (1566), Ralph Weston (1605), and Richard Weston (1613), a monument to Thomas Landor (1670), and the original charity boards. Two 17th century tablets to members of the Chetwynd family (1653-1691) were moved to Grendon, Warwickshire.
Other monuments in the north chapel included an incised alabaster floor slab with part of a female figure and an incomplete inscription dated 1400. A second figure had been obliterated by wear.
The carved stone font has a 15th century design but probably dates from the late 19th century. Six bells cast in 1706 by the Rudhall family of Gloucester were later moved to the new church, where they can still be heard.
The chancel and Lady Chapel was used for many years as a Sunday school, and the surviving tower, chancel, lady chapel and four-bay nave arcade were grade II listed in 1972. But it seems they are no longer accessible to visitors.
The original Grammar School (1567-1968) stood in the grounds of what is now the Chancel Primary School.
The graveyard was landscaped in 1974 and the displaced gravestones now pave the area where the nave and north aisle once stood.
Part of a late 14th-century cross is still in place in the churchyard. Before the Reformation, it served as a single memorial to everyone buried here. Much of the stepped base is now below ground level but there is a deep recess at its top where penitents would have knelt in prayer.
One of the remaining graves in the old churchyard, east of the chancel, is the joint table tomb of sisters Elizabeth Cuting and Emma Hollinhurst who died four years apart at the end of the 17th century, Elizabeth in 1695 and Emma in 1696.
Local lore says the sisters were buried alive in sacks by Oliver Cromwell – although Cromwell died 40 years previously. But more about the sisters and their supposed burial alive in the days to come, hopefully, when I recall the tales of some grisly murders in Rugeley.
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