Sainthood for some

Monday, 09 March 2009 09:23

On Sunday John walked up to the church here in Hopwas for the morning service. St Chad's is a very unusual church and is Grade 2 listed.

St Chad's has the look of a mock Tudor house

The church of St Chad in Hopwas was designed by John Douglas of Chester. It was built between 1879 and 1881 and charms most visitors. Even the often reserved art historian Nikolaus Pevsner described it as an "ingenious and entertaining building".

Side view of St Chad's

John Douglas was a prolific architect and seemed to specialise in churches, some reflecting the style of St Chad's and the half-timbered style of some of his buildings in Chester.

St  Werburg Mount, Chester

Sadly I was unable to find out much about the church on the internet and John did not pick up a leaflet, if there was one!  There are a number of St Chads in Cheshire (John Douglas' work again).

St Chad

Nearly everything we know about Chad comes from Bede’s Ecclesiastical History, written in 731. He was born in the early 620s in Northumbria. As a boy he became a student at Lindisfarne and later went as a monk to Ireland. Chad was made a priest in Ireland.

One of his brothers went to Mercia in 653 when the province of the Middle Ages was converted to Christianity. It is possible that Chad worked with his brother, instructing and baptising the people.

Chad was consecrated Bishop of Northumbria in 665, later to become the first Bishop of Lichfield in 669. He built his Oratory on the site of St Chad's, Lichfield. St Chad travelled widely in the huge kingdom of Mercia - mainly on foot. He died in 672 at the time of the plague in Mercia.

We hope to visit Lichfield Cathedral before we leave the area, so may be able to find out more!

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