Monument Type(s):

• COLLEGIATE CHURCH (Late Saxon to Medieval - 800 AD to 1540 AD)
• MINSTER (Late Saxon - 800 AD to 1066 AD)
• PARISH CHURCH (Late Saxon to Late 18th century - 800 AD to 1799 AD)

Summary

Top level record for the possible pre-Conquest minster/ collegiate church foundation which was in the medieval period the College [PRN 01516] and Parish Church of St Chads [PRN 01094], the latter remaining in use until its collapse and demolition in the late 18th century.

Related records

Associated Finds: None recorded

Associated Events

• ESA4795 - 2000-2001 WB on Shrewsbury South Central (Phase 3) Water Mains Renewal by SCCAS

Description

UAD COMMENTS: St Chad's was an episcopal college, the private property of the bishops of Lichfield, later (post-1075) the bishops of Chester. Before 1066 the college had 16 secular canons, and extensive rural estates around the town held by the church or by the bishop of Lichfield became accounted parts of its parish. 16 houses in Shrewsbury held by the bishop of Chester in 1086 had probably been canonical housing. The college was re-organised or re-founded by an early 12th-century bishop of Chester, probably Roger de Clinton, and thereafter consisted of a dean and 10 canons, though it is unlikely that more than one or two canons were resident in or after the 13th century. Prebendal houses were leased to the laity or unassociated clerics. Routine services in the church were provided by two sacristans, vicars, or curates. The vicars choral were first recorded in 1326, though probably founded in the late 12th; there were 8 in 1417 and 1524, 4 by 1548 [<3>]. ->

-> Steve Bassett has suggested that St Chad's was probably the second of the Shrewsbury minster foundations, following St Mary's. Its parish occupies the whole southern half of the river loop, and the size of its external endowments suggests an early origin, probably 'royal grants made to the see of Lichfield during the middle Saxon period [<4>]. ->

-> The final medieval church was a large cruciform structure 160 feet long, with a squat central tower over the crossing and a (surviving) chapel (PRN 62596) in the angle of the choir and south transept. For details, see PRN 01094. In 1393 a fire started by plumbers working on the roof caused extensive damage, leading to the rebuilding of the west end, the tower, and the roof [<11>]. Near-contemporary accounts of the demolition, speak of carved stones and sculpture of Anglo-Saxon date incorporated in the rubble of the wall-cores. The church was partly destroyed by a catastrophic failure of the north-west crossing pier in 1788 which, undermined by graves and weakened by bad repairs, collapsed, bringing the tower down on top of the nave; the ruined portions were demolished soon after (1789-90) [<5>]. The crypt known as the 'dimmery' was cleared/excavated in 1889-90: see PRN 62595 for further details. For the surviving chapel, see PRN 62596. For details of the churchyard and early (charcoal) burials, see PRN 62597. For the collegiate buildings, see PRN 62599. The only direct archaeological support for the hypothesised Middle Saxon foundation comes from the discovery of the cruciform pin or stylus excavated from an unknown context on the site in 1889-90 [<6>] <27>

The VCH [<3>] suggests that the precinct may originally have extended as far as Swan Hill and this is shown on the GIS mapping. The UAD comments [<27>] on PRN 62597, St Chad's churchyard, point out that the size of the medieval parish of St Chad would have required a cemetery larger than the churchyard as defined on the SMR GIS, and several references to finds of human remains and alleged cemeteries [see PRN 60334, 60335] in the area between the marked precinct and the town wall may indicate the presence of such. <28>

A sandstone wall was identified during a watching brief on the Shrewsbury South Centrral (Phase 3) water mains renewal, opposite no.12 Princess Street, Shrewsbury (NGR SJ 4919 1238; PRN 31110). The wall almost certainly represents the remains of one of the medieval outbuildings of the collegiate church of Old St Chad. The mortar suggests that the wall was probably early medieval in date, though there were no associated finds which might have helped to produce a closer estimate of its age. A building is shown in this location on Rocque's plan of 1746, on the eastern side of the 18th-century churchyard, and the wall exposed in the trench corresponds in location to the eastern wall of this building, fronting onto a Princess Street narrower than at present. This building is likely to have been demolished at the same time as or soon after the demolition of Old St Chad's church, following the collapse of its tower in 1788. The building had certainly been demolished and Princess Street widened by 1832. <29>

<01> Ordnance Survey, 1960, Ordnance Survey Record Card SJ41SE120.4 (Card index). SSA10686.

<02> Ordnance Survey, 1960, Ordnance Survey Record Card SJ41SE120.1 (Card index). SSA10687.

<03> Gaydon A T (ed), 1973, Victoria County History 2: Ecclesiastical Organisation, Religious Houses, Schools and Sports, p114-119 (Volume). SSA540.

<04> Bassett S R, 1991, Anglo-Saxon Shrewsbury and its Churches (Article in serial). SSA10604.

<05> Owen H, 1808, Some Account of the Ancient and Present State of Shrewsbury, p162-166 (Monograph). SSA5372.

<06> Carver Martin O H, 1973/ 1974, Early Shrewsbury - An Archaeological definition in 1975, Apx 2, p259-260 (Article in serial). SSA364.

<07> Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission (HBMC), 1986, Scheduled Monument Report on SAM 21043 (Field Monument Warden Report). SSA10690.

<08> Taylor H M & Taylor J, 1965, Anglo Saxon Architecture, p547 (Monograph). SSA1433.

<09> Phillips T, 1779, History and Antiquities of Shrewsbury, p89 (Monograph). SSA1219.

<10> Cranage D H S, 1912, An Architectural Account of the Churches of Shropshire Vol 10, p899-912 (Monograph). SSA5368.

<11> Nurse J, 1890, The Crypt of Old St Chad's Church: Report of the Excavations made 1889-1890 (Article in serial). SSA10394.

<12> Owen H & Blakeway J B, 1825, History of Shrewsbury, p180-2,p184-6,p190-5,p246 (Monograph). SSA4127.

<13> Cranage D H S, 1912, An Architectural Account of the Churches of Shropshire Vol 10, p904-909 (Monograph). SSA5368.

<14> Anon, 1905, Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological Society, p394 (Volume). SSA3044.

<15> Chitty Lily F, Map annotation by OS Correspondent, p108 (Map annotation). SSA8522.

<16> Pevsner Nikolaus, 1958, Buildings of England (Shropshire), p258 (Monograph). SSA110.

<17> Morris J A, 1918/ 1919, Article in the Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological and Historical Society (Article in serial). SSA10685.

<18> Forrest H E, 1911, Old Houses of Shrewsbury, p1,p40 (Monograph). SSA4134.

<19> Adnitt H W, 1891, Old Prints of Shrewsbury (Volume). SSA4138.

<20> Anon, Views (Photograph). SSA4140.

<21> Anon, Photo (Photograph). SSA10688.

<22> Burrow Ian, 1976, Old St Chads, Shrewsbury (Photograph). SSA4142.

<23> Ministry of Works, 1950, Map of Scheduled area, 1950 (Scheduled Monument notification). SSA10689.

<24> Watson Michael D, 1984/ 1985, Old St Chads, Shrewsbury (Photograph). SSA4137.

<25> Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council & Shropshire County Council, 1993, Correspondence, 1993 (Correspondence). SSA4132.

<26> Hannaford Hugh R, 1995, Archaeological excavation of a test pit at Old St Chad's Church, Shrewsbury (Excavation report). SSA4133.

<27> Baker Nigel J, UAD Analysis (SMR comment). SSA20432.

<28> Gathercole E Clare, 1999/ 2002, Comments by SMR compiler in SMR database, 13/02/2004 (SMR comment). SSA20725.

<29> Hannaford Hugh R, 2001, An Archaeological Watching Brief on the Shrewsbury South Central (Phase 3) Water Main Renewal, p.7 (Watching brief report). SSA20812.

Sources

Search results generated by the HBSMR Gateway from exeGesIS SDM Ltd.