A tour of St Benedict's

All our visitors enter St Benedict's by the South Porch and as they enter our church the impression is of a large light church whose central features are the altar at the eastern end of the chancel and the pulpit. The Oxford Movement wanted to make sure that as many people as possible could hear the word of God preached and see the sacraments celebrated and this double focus is very clear at St Benedict's with the font by the door with its wonderful oak spire shaped canopy, the pulpit by the chancel arch and the altar by the east wall.

St Bendict Biscop our patron is also the patron saint of stain glass makers and visitors to our Church cannot but marvel at the number and variety of stained glass windows
in the Church. They add colour and light to our worship. Nearly all the glass is Victorian, the earliest by Clayton and Bell who used their skills to illustrate different events in the life of Jesus. Our great east window shows Christ reigning in glory whilst the chancel windows show the Resurrection and the Ascension and the window in the south aisle the events of Jesus' Passion. Some of these windows have lost a little of their glory with age, the Victorians were trying to rediscover the skills of the medieval craftsmen that were lost at the reformation and didn't perfect their techniques until a little later in the century. Seven windows in the nave are by the renown Victorian stain glass window maker C E Kempe or by C E Kempe and W Tower. These windows show a wide variety of saints all clothed in splendid fabrics,
a contrast to our earthly lives as they show the life of heaven where only the best is good enough. In some of the windows Kempe's monogram, a wheatsheaf is there for the those with time to search. An eighth window also by Kempe, this time of the Annunciation is hidden from view in the choir vestry.

The Lady chapel contains the latest addition to our collection of stain glass installed to celebrate the Millennium to the designs of Graham Chaplin of Hednesford Stain Glass it shows the activity of the Holy Spirit firstly in the Annunciation and secondly on the day of Pentecost.

On the south aisle wall by the south porch is a late medieval alabaster tablet showing
Jesus parable of the Good Samaritan. The workmanship is excellent and it reminds us of the age when only a few people could read and most people found out about the Christian faith by sculpture and pictures. The tablet was given to the church in the late 19th century by Thomas Shaw Hellier who probably acquired it on one of his continental holidays.

The early 19th century font with its oak spire is sited by the door, a reminder that Baptism is the way we enter the Church, the body of Christ. Made of sandstone in a gothic revival style the font is probably the only fitting left from when the church was rebuilt in 1840.

The pulpit, by Street, is an altogether more elaborate design. Circular it is built of sandstone supported on marble shafts, the stiff leaf carving around the top edge is a masterpiece of Victorian art.

When Street rebuilt the church in the 1867 he was determined that the Chancel,
the setting for the holy table or altar should be suitably splendid to remind worshipers that when they received communion they touched a little of heaven. An important part of his scheme was both the Minton wall tiles and the triptych. The triptych was made to the designs of Street by Clayton and Bell in the 1870's. Very expensive when
it was commissioned it shows tells the story of the Church with its two great doctrines of the crucifixion and the incarnation. In the centre of the triptych is the crucifixion
whilst the annunciation, the archangel Gabriel visiting Mary and Mary being over shadowed by the Holy Spirit is on the extremes. We know that the triptych was designed specially for St Benedict's because our St Benedict Biscop has the smartest halo amongst the saints portrayed in the other panels !

Other furnishings of note in the church include the massive brass eagle lecturn for holding the Bible at services which was given to the church in memory of the Revd William Heale Vicar from 1848 to 1897 who masterminded the rebuilding of the Church, Vicarage and School and was instrumental in the creation of a new parishes of Trysull and Swindon, the later with a new church and school.

A silver mounted copy of the Bible was given to our Church by Sir Samuel Hellier. In 1895 Thomas Shaw Hellier gave the Church a wonderful pair of churchwardens wands symbolising the crown and mitre and at Christmas 1897 he gave a fine processional cross.

Hidden away in the tower is a very fine ring of eight bells which were rehung in a new steel frame in 1996. The eight bells include a peal of six bells by Henry Bagely of Chacombe in Northamptonshire and two cast in 1890. Sir Samuel Hellier and Thomas Shaw Hellier being our benefactors once again

St Benedict's also possesses an interesting collection of silver plate which includes
an Elizabethan chalice, which is mentioned in the 1552 inventory of the Church, a large chalice given by Sir John Wollaston who was Charles the 1st's Lord Mayor of London in 1643, and a wonderful 18th set of plate including a flagon and a baptismal bowl given to the Church by Sir Samuel Hellier

None of this plate is kept in the church

On the north wall of the church is a large marble memorial to Richard Bayley Marsh
Of Lloyd House. This classical memorial by the famous Victorian sculptor Francis Chantrey includes a portrait miniature of Richard and expresses the grief that his widow felt at his death.

Our Church registers start in 1570 and are a fascinating record of life in our village over four centuries. Only the most recent records are kept in the Church, all the rest are in the custodianship of Staffordshire County Record Office where they can be consulted by prior arrangement.