 |
|
Saint Peter’s Church, also commonly known locally as Stapenhill Church, is featured because it has special significance, firstly because it occupies one of the earlier sites of worship in Burton, secondly, because I got married there!
Select page to view:
EARLY HISTORY
The fact that Stapenhill church is dedicated to Saint Peter suggests that it may have foundation that preceeded the conquest since this dedication was most common in the Anglo-Saxon period. The church could well have had minister status in the late 11th century when it is known that there were chapels at Stanton (then Heathcote), Newhall and Drakelow as well as one in Caldwell, recorded in 1280. It is recorded that a plot of land once belonging to a chaplain in Brizlincote was assigned to the chamberlain of Burton abbey in 1326 which suggests a chapel there too. All came under the Stapenhill parish and were to be served by Saint Peter’s.
According to an early 16th-century history of the abbots of Burton, Stapenhill church was given to the abbey by Abbot Beohtric. After the dissolution of the abbey by Henry VIII, the patronage, like most of Burton, was passed to William Paget, his close advisor.
Not all holdings of Burton abbey in Stapenhill were not fully integrated into Stapenhill parish. Some houses near Stapenhill church and the hall at Brizlincote Farm were in Burton parish for ecclesiastical purposes, although residents there were often buried at Stapenhill.
In 1650 parliament advocated that these outlying parishes should also come under the Stapenhill parish. The transer did eventually happen, but not until 1864 – 214 years after the suggestion was made!
In 1884, the river Trent was the dividing line between Staffordshire and Derbyshire so Stapenhill was in Derbyshire; it was therefore transferred from the Lichfield diocese, which was in Staffordshire, to the newly-established diocese of Southwell, where it remained until 1927 when it was taken into the Derby diocese.
In 1925, Saint Peter’s was transferred to the Church Association Trust which later became the Church Society Trust.
INCOME AND PROPERTY
In the 1150s the priest at Stapenhill was assigned some tithes by the abbey. When Bishop William Cornhill (1214-23) confirmed the abbey’s ownership of the church there, he stipulated the institution of a vicar. The order was repeated by Bishop Alexander Stavensby in 1230, and following the resignation of the church by John de Caen, presumably the rector, in the same year a vicarage was ordained; the abbey was inducted as rector in 1231.
There appear to have been later disputes about the endowment of the vicarage, and in 1268 the bishop confirmed that the abbey as rector was entitled to the tithe of corn throughout the parish, including its chapelries of Caldwell, Drakelowe, and Newhall, and also the tithe of hay and the small tithes from its demesne land. The vicar was to have the tithe of hay and the small tithes from other land, together with a house in Stapenhill and parcels of glebe land in various parts of the parish.
The church income was valued at £15 13s 4d a year in 1291.
In 1535 the abbey received £10 a year, probably representing the great tithes, and the vicar received only £2 10s (13 shillings from glebe, 16 shillings from small tithes, and 21 shillings from offerings), the vicar however, also received an annual payment of £3 6s 8d from the lords of Newhall (presumably in lieu of tithes).
By 1650 the church income had grown to £43 6s 8d a year, together with £5 for Caldwell. In 1665 the vicar still claimed all the small tithes, but by 1668 Caldwell paid a modus of £6, as did Stanton and Newhall by 1693. The Caldwell modus was evidently disputed, but was confirmed in 1676 by an agreement which required the vicar to preach once a month at Caldwell.
In 1707 the vicar received £31 from glebe and tithes and £12 3s from moduses, together with Easter offerings, fees, and small rents. Owen Lloyd, vicar from 1768 to 1813, disputed the Caldwell modus in 1773, and by decision of the House of Lords in 1777 he was restored the small tithes there, worth c. £40 a year. The Stanton and Newhall payment was disputed by his successor in 1815, but the defendants argued that it was not in fact a modus but rather a pension derived from there once having been a chapel at Newhall. The vicar’s claim was evidently dismissed, and he still received the payment in 1841.
At inclosure in 1773 the vicar was assigned 24 acres on Stapenhill heath in lieu of small tithes from ancient inclosures, and in 1841 the total glebe was 86 acres. It was probably as a result of the renting of glebe to brickmakers that the vicar’s net income had risen by 1831 to £373, out of which he paid £93 to the curate of Caldwell.
There was a vicarage house of two bays in 1665, enlarged to four bays by 1698. Owen Lloyd left it in a ruinous condition, and it was still uninhabitable in 1831. A new house, east of the church on what was probably the same site, was built in the late 1830s by John Clay who was vicar from 1837 to 1877, even though Clay lived in a family house near the church. The 19th century vicarage house was sold in the late 1960s and the present vicarage built to the west on the main road.
CHURCH LIFE
William Bradshaw, a noted puritan divine, was suspended from his lectureship at Chatham, Kent, in 1602. Following this, he was supported by Alexander Redich of Newhall and began to preach in a private chapel in Redich’s grounds. As the congregation grew larger, Bradshaw moved into Stapenhill church, and he continued to preach there, as well helping to conduct a ‘common exercise’ in the Burton area. He died on a visit to London in 1618. Another puritan, John Lucas, was appointed as vicar in 1647, and in 1650 he was described as being ‘of good conversation’.
The registers, now held at Matlock, date back to 1679.
Soon after Owen Lloyd became vicar in 1768, he began to celebrate holy communion at Michaelmas, in addition to Christmas, Easter, and Whitsun, and in the earlier 1770s there were between 30 and 40 communicants. A sermon was preached every Sunday morning. A stipendiary curate, Hugh Jones, served Stapenhill for the absentee vicar Henry Des Voeux in 1824; Jones was also the curate at St. Modwen’s in Burton, where he lived. In 1829 the curate was Joseph Clay, the son of the Burton banker Joseph Clay (d. 1824). The younger Joseph retired because of ill health, and his brother John was curate in 1834, becoming vicar in 1837. He died in office in 1877. In 1851 there were two Sunday services, with average attendances of 140 in the morning and 180 in the evening; there was also a Sunday school.
The growing number of brickyard workers caused the vicar to engage a scripture reader in the early 1850s, and in 1869 a mission room was opened in Short Street, doubling up as a board school from 1874. Another mission room opened at the southeast end of Stanton Road in 1884 was served from Christ Church, in Burton. The parish church itself was completely rebuilt on a much larger scale in 1881 to accommodate the increased population.
The services were formerly mainstream Church of England, but the church now has an evangelical ethos and there is a strong supporting lay ministry.
In 1874 the vicar proposed to convert the boys’ day school at the north end of Stanton Road into a parish reading room and library. The present building there was erected by subscription in 1891 and was vested in diocesan trustees in 1900. Later known as the Glebe School, the building was restored in 1988 and was used in 1999 mainly as a church hall.
CHURCH BUILDING
Nothing survives of the medieval church of St. Peter, but an 18th-century drawing shows a building whose exterior was mainly of 13th-century date with a chancel, nave, and two-stage west tower with crenellated parapet.
The nave and possibly the chancel were probably aisled on the north side. Internally, however, that building included earlier features such as a roundheaded chancel arch, possibly of pre-Conquest date, and the nave was probably of a length found in many Anglo-Saxon churches. The nave and tower were demolished in or shortly after 1780 and were replaced with an aisleless nave with a bell-turret at the west end. The cost was probably met by local subscription, the chancel being left untouched presumably because Lord Paget as the rector was not prepared to pay for its rebuilding. A north gallery was erected in the nave in 1821. It was retained when the nave was rebuilt in the late 1830s under the direction of Henry Stevens of Derby and entirely at the expense of the new vicar, John Clay. The pulpit and reading desk were sited on the south side of the chancel arch, and the new work included the addition of a south porch and a west tower with tall lancet windows and pinnacles. The chancel was demolished in 1860 or 1861, again with Stevens as architect, and the nave was extended eastwards to form a new chancel with only a shallow projection. The pulpit and reading desk were separated, the former (or possibly a new one) being moved to the north side of the chancel arch.
The increase in population in the 1860s and 1870s necessitated a larger building, and money was raised to rebuild the church in its present form in 1881. The main benefactors were members of the Clay family and Burton brewing firms.
Above is the original Architects drawing by Evans and Jolly of Nottingham. The indicated date of 1880 AD was the original anticipated date and should not be taken as an historic record because it was not actually completed until some years later.
The church comprises a short chancel, short north and south transepts with north vestry, an aisled nave of four bays lit by clerestory windows, a small south porch, and an engaged south-west tower with pinnacles; there is also a door and internal porch under the tower. Derbyshire stone was used for the walls, with dressings of Bath and Ancaster stone. Internally, the organ was resited in a gallery at the west end of the nave and the pulpit placed in the centre of the chancel, flanked by prayer and lesson desks.
The upper stages of the present tower with its pinnacles were not yet completed in 1881 but were added soon afterwards in limestone. The west gallery was removed and the organ placed on the north side of the chancel in the early 20th century, when the chancel and south Lady chapel were refitted in an Art Nouveau style: a memorial east window in the Lady chapel is dated 1908.
A map prepared in the year that the new church was built shows that things were quite different at the time. There was not yet a Ferry Bridge and persons with business on the other side of the river had the options of paying the penny toll for the ferry and walking across the meadow, catching the house-drawn omibus from Stapenhill Green, close to Saint Peter’s for fourpence, or walking to the old trent bridge.
Stapenhill House dominates the area adjacent to the church with what was to become Stapenhill Gardens forming part of their private garden with a boathouse near the present day white swan monument.
Burial Graveyard
The burial graveyard around the church was no longer in use in the late nineteenth century. It was closed when Burton municipal cemetery was opened nearby in 1866. To compensate the church for the loss of income due to burials, the council maintain the grounds of what used to be the graveyard.
A photograph taken in 1900 shows a plain east window behind the alter. When an elderly Miss Eleanor Meynell attended the church, she is reputed to have remarked as much to her father, Canon Francis Meynell. Francis as a result became involved in the installation of the existing, much more impressive, stained glass window within the next few years, before the First World War.
It has many layers of symbolism. The main theme is a great early hymn sometimes called ‘A Creed in the form of the Adoration’ – Te Deum Laudamas.
It was very nicely deciphered in an article in the Saint Peter’s Parish Magazine in 1992 by Ray Earp.
At the top is the blue of the firmament with its heavenly bodies. The cinquefoil (five leaved plant) element in the centre depicts the Spirit in the form of the Heavenly Dove bringing down the Host and guarded by five angels. On either side are representations of the Archangels supported by Cherubim and Seraphim with musical instruments.
In the position of ascendancy, in the main body of the window, is the figure of Christ as Priest and King – Christus Pantocrator – Christ all powerful. He wears priestly robes of crimson and gives the blessing with two fingers folded, as was the custom in the early church. In his left hand he holds the whole world surmounted by the Cross as his orb. Round his head there are three shafts of light representing the Trinity, together with the crown of the Godhead. Notice that, unlike an earthly King, he has no sword of state or sceptre.
Below Him stands a guardian angel wearing the ‘whole armour’ with the ‘Sword of the Spirit’. His shield bears the emblem of St. George.
The remaining eight figures are paired.
Top left are the Apostles; St. Paul with his book and St. Peter with his key, a reminder that when Modwen returned from Rome to found her church at the foot of Mount Calvus (later to become Scalpcliffe Hill), she dedicated it to the glory of God and in honour of St. Peter & St. Paul – and part of this dedication we retain today.
Top right are the Prophets, Isaiah from the Old Testament and John the Baptist from the New Testament.
Below the Apostles comes the martyrs. Lower left are Saint Stephen, the first Christian martyr and Saint Alban, the first British martyr.
Lower right represents the ‘Holy Catholic’ church throughout all the world’, in the form of Saint Modwen, holding a model of the church she founded here, together with Saint Chad, the first Saxon Bishop of Mercia who established himself at Lichfield, even before the kings of the day had settled residences.
At the foot of the window are three bishops mitres and arms which trace the history of our parish. In the centre we see Canterbury, in which province we are flanked, by Lichfield to the right and Southwell to the left since the window was completed before Derby Diocese was separated from Southwell.
To complete the window are two roundels with Christian symbolism. These are the triumphant Pascal Lamb and the Pelican in her Piety who plucked her breast to draw blood on which to feed her young, and so represents the demands made upon the church.
Other Stained Windows that can be enjoyed within Saint Peter’s Church…
Perhaps the most treasurered monument within the church is the engraved alabaster slab from the tomb recorded as that of Rev. William Dethick of Newhall and his wife, Margaret. This is though, slightly anomalous since priests could not marry before the Reformation and he died in 1497.
Newhall was one of numerous churches under the control of Saint Peter’s in Stapenhill. Despite having six sons and two daughters, as confirmed by the alabaster, he bequeathed an enormous £100 to Newhall parish and a further £100 to Hartshorne which was used to build a new church there.
Records show that the slab once stood in the chancel, next to the alter in the old church in an area usually reserved for Lords of the Manor. By 1822 it had been let into the floor and the altar rails partly covered it.
In 1876 it was moved to form part of the floor in the south porch of the old church, where it was often covered by the parish bier and the sexton’s implements, which accounts for much of the damage and making it very lucky to have survived in one piece.
It was thankfully, embedded upright into the wall near the main entrance, behind the bell-ringer, when the tower was added in 1884 where it now survives in relative safety.
The monument shows William Dethick in plate armour with his wife, Margaret, at his side. At their feet, as was common, are figures which represent his children showing that he had six sons and two daughters. William’s head rests on a tilting helmet with a nag’s head for a crest and at his feet is a ‘talbot’ guard dog.
William Dethick, who died in 1497, and his wife formed part of the long chain connecting the important Meynell and Dethick local families dating right back back to the 14th century.
The original design was thankfully preserved and the impression below can show how it would have looked over 600 years ago.
The monument was made from local material quarried at Fauld and worked in workshops at Burton where it would most likely have been delivered by river boat.
The alabaster trade flourished from the 14th – 17th centuries and two local names Royle and Arblaster are connected. Figures were incised into flat slabs and the incisions filled with intense black and bright red pigments. Almost all the local examples have been broken when moved leaving this one of the most intact examples.
The old circular stone font, which dates back to at least medieval times, was still in the old church in the early eighteen hundreds but was removed and remained ‘lost’ for several decades. It eventually turned up in a local farmyard in 1973 and identified as Saint Peters Font. Following its discovery, it was reinstated in the new church and is still situated at the east end of the north aisle. It can be seen below, but only the font bowl is original, the new pedestal was specially commissioned to support it but is in keeping with what it is expected the original pedestal would have been like.
A new font was installed in the old church in the 1830s but a new one was made for the new church when it was rebuilt in 1881.
The 1881 font itself replaced around 1930 by a marble one of Art Nouveau style. This still stands at the west end of the nave, close to the main entrance and can be seen below; the old font is however, still favoured for present day christenings.
Saint Peter’s Clock was not fitted when the church was built in 1881. It was fitted seventeen years later in 1898.
The clock was to be known as ‘The Warbeck Memorial Clock’ in memory of Rev. Edmund Warbeck B.A.who was vicar of Stapenhill from 1875 to 1897. There is a memorial tablet in the church in memory of his great contribution to the parish which reads:
THE CLOCK ON THE TOWER WAS ERECTED
BY PAST AND PRESENT PARISHIONERS
TO COMMEMORATE THE
FAITHFUL LABOURS, FOR 28 YEARS,
OF REV. EDMUND WARBECK B.A.
IN THE PARISH OF STAPENHILL
DIED MAY 9TH, 1897
The Clock itself was made It was made in Queen Victoria’s 60th Anniversary year (1897 – 1898) by John Smith & Sons Limited Of Derby, who were still in business in 2000.
The clock and bell cost £186 which, to put things in perspective, would buy a reasonable house at the time. This was a very large amount of money to raise but there were several generous contributions which is testament to how revered and respected Edmund Warbeck was.
The type of clock is a ‘Double three legged gravity escapement’, which probably won’t mean much more to you than it did to me, but significantly, it is exactly the same mechanism as employed in the Big Ben tower!
There are four dials, each 6 feet in diameter; the yearly inspection fee in 1900 was £3.10s.0d (£3.50p). Around 1920 the clock faces were painted and gilded at a total cost of £34 0s 0d. An estimate for the same work in 1995 was £2,150 (plus VAT)
The clock mechanism is enclosed in a wooden case to protect it from its dusty environment.
To the left of the cabinet are two large weights; the smaller one is used for the actual clock mechanism, the larger one is used for the chiming mechanism. Below, is an escape hatch and on the floor below, is a large container of fine sand to catch them should they fall to prevent them from crashing through a series of floors and into the main foyer.
The cables actually failed in around 1991 whilst the clock was being wound to put this safety measure to the test!
The mechanism itself has two separate winders. The left hand half is the clock mechanism and below it is the pendulum used to keep the time. Its swing takes one and a quarter seconds which means that it has 48 ‘ticks’ per minute. The right hand half controls the chime which strikes once for each hour, on the hour.
Winding the clock itself comprises fitting a handle in turn to each half and winding the weights to the top. It takes approximately seven days for the weights to lower back to the floor. A small weight within the cabinet provides energy whilst the clock is being wound so that it doesn’t lose time during the actual winding.
A simple gearing mechanism drives a vertical shaft rod to the clock chamber above where a very simple gearbox drives four horizontal shafts, one to each face.
The bell chamber was actually built to accommodate eight bells but, due to some shift in the tower, an architect inspection recommended that a single bell should be installed. This is not too surprising when you consider that the bell that is there weight over eight and a half hundred weight.
The bell is just under three feet diameter and strikes a note of B sharp. The bell may be struck in three ways; by a hand striker, by the clockm mechanism or by the bell-chord (or by swinging the large wheel to which it is attached.
The bell was cast in 1898 by Charles Carr of Smethwick, one of the premier bell manufacturers.
Passers by have for well over a hundred years, checked their watches against the very familar tower without a thought for the mechanism that makes it possible.
The top of Saint Peter’s tower offers some spectacular views of Burton. Some clearer photos by Ian Gilliver (responsible for among other things, making sure that the tower clock is wound up every week) are also included.
The absence of Drakelow Powerstation makes for a quite different view since its demolition (Ian Gilliver).
Saint Peters Bridge in the foreground, the Ferry Bridge in the mid-background and you may beable to make out Leicester Line bridge in the background with this view south down the river.
The once majestic Ferry Bridge next to the site of the old Stapenhill Ferry, now looking a little more forlorn.
A zoom in on the Leicester Line bridge; beyond, if you look carefully, you might beable to pick out the spires of Lichfield Cathedral just right of centre (Ian Gilliver).
A view south over Stapenhill most significantly shows the site once occupied by Stapenhill House.
A great vantage point for watching the goings on, such as this Stapenhill Fete (Ian Gilliver).
Looking north up the river with a few well known landscapes punctuating the landscape.
My personal favourite – once again, north up the river focusing on the Bass Tower and Burton Library; unfortunately, not the clearest of conditions.
South-west, a view over the washlands with the Stapenhill Viaduct forming a large X as it passes under the modern Saint Peters Bridge.
A clearer view looking north (Ian Gilliver).
One final look north to pick out the Trent Bridge.
And finally, a look east over Clay Street and up to the Waterloo Tower.
You may not be familiar with Stapenhill House but you will most likely be familiar with what used to be its private garden. The house, belonging to the Goodger family was gifted to the town in 1933 to become what is now Stapenhill Pleasure Gardens.
The house, shown above, used to occupy that top terrace with the gardens descending down to the river at the rear.
Select page to view:
Stapenhill House was owned by the Spender family until 1820, when the owner, John Spender died, and it is thought that the house then was inherited by his children, including his daughter Sarah, whose husband, Joseph Clay, bought out the other heirs in 1824.
When Joseph Clay made his Will in January 1824, he stated that he had lately contracted to purchase “a messuage, dwelling house or tenement with all the outbuildings, yards, gardens, orchards and other appurtenances thereto belonging, situate and being in Stapenhill in the County of Derby, containing in the whole one acre, one rood and 26 perches … together with a seat in the north gallery of the parish church of Stapenhill” … and he left it all to his wife Sarah for her lifetime (she died at Stapenhill in 1831) and then equally to his surviving five children Two of the three sons had gone into the Church, the other son, Henry, became the owner of Stapenhill House, which he passed to his third son, Charles John, the elder two having become considerably wealthy, and having their own houses elsewhere.
Joseph’s third son, Charles John Clay, eventually inherited Stapenhill House. The above photograph taken in 1878 shows Ernest Clay (rear), Arthur Clay (left), Gerard Clay (right), the elder three sons of Charles John, enjoying the house in its heyday.
This OS map extract from around the same time reminds that Stapenhill House knew very different times. Most obviously, the Ferry Bridge had not yet been built; a ferry boat was still in operation followed by a walk across the meadows to Burton. In wet weather, or if you could not afford the penny crossing, the only alternative was a walk to the Trent Bridge.
Also very interesting to note, the main course of the river (and Staffordshire/Derbyshire county line) did NOT run alongside Stapenhill Gardens as it does now bu rather, turned left and cut across Andressey Island with a river bank close to the current footpath adjacent to the playing fields. The old course can just be seen on the North side of Saint Peter’s bridge up what is now known as the Silverway (bearly negotiable in a canoe).
Stapenhill House neighboured with Saint Peter’s Church and vicarage. The old vicarage garden gateway can still be seen as an isolated folly as you drive onto Saint Peter’s Bridge.
The original Stapenhill House gardens ran to Jerrams Lane where they were surrounded by a high brick wall. This rare view from that direction reminds that the gardens once boasted among other things, extensive greenhousing, heated vinery, peach house and a large kitchen vegetable garden.
Looking down the garden from Stapenhill House, it is slightly deceptive that the garden suddenly falls away down to another terrace next to the river.
The position of the main steps up from the river terrace (where Burton’s White Swan now stands) can still be clearly seen, although the actual steps have long since disappeared. Rather than the well known ornate gardens, the original Stapenhill House garden was simply a series of terraces with a hedge on the front of each.
Shown above is Charles John Clay in 1908. Another Stapenhill House resident.
Gerard Clay, Charles John’s second son, of four, all of whom were born at Stapenhill House, and lived there until their marriage, after which Gerard and his bride lived at what is now Needwood Manor Hotel. Much more on Gerard Clay can be found on the website by descendent, Robin Clay.
Taken in 1915 from across the river, the above photo gives a marvellous view of Stapenhill House with the Ferry Bridge in the foreground providing a very good feel of how imposing the house would have been to people walking across the bridge.
The last residents of Stapenhill House were the Goodger family who were well established Burton solicitors. They purchased the land and estate from the Clay family in 1911. Mrs Mary Goodger J.P made her mark on Burton’s history by being installed as the towns first (and as far as I am aware, only) Lady Mayor for 1931/32. She died shortly afterwards.
In 1933 crippled by inheritance tax, the house was demolished and her son, Henry Goodger, passed the land to Burton Corporation in memory of his mother and Stapenhill Pleasure Gardens was established providing free public access.
The original re-structuring of the garden incorporated a windmill design, probably influenced by the fact that Burton at one time sported a windmill of its own close to the present day railway station.
Stapenhill Gardens remains a popular and distinctive feature of Burton in the guise of Stapenhill Gardens. A modern sign informs of its Stapenhill House heritage.
The gates still stand pround but it is as though the house in invisible allowing passers-by to look straight through to the rear gardens.
THIS PLEASURE GROUND WAS PRESENTED TO THE CORPORATION OF BURTON UPON TRENT
BY HENRY WILLIAM GOODGER IN MEMORY OF HIS MOTHER MARY GOODGER LATE OF
STAPENHILL HOUSE AND WAS OPENED FOR THE USE OF THE PUBLIC ON MAY 1ST 1933
Many of the original garden features are still in evidence, including the circle where my own children first learned to ride a bike without stabilizers!
And looking back to the steps that once led up to the main lawn. It is hard now to image a splendid house blocking the view to the road.
To the left on the above photo, you can just about make our the original Windmill design. Just to the right of it is the location of the original main steps that ascended to the main house. The White Swan stands on what was once a tennis court and close to where Saint Peter’s bridge now crosses was the boathouse.
The final view shows the Stapenhouse and Gardens site after its latest make-over.
Slightly confusingly, and rather cheekily, a significantly smaller house near the original site has recently adopted the name ‘Stapenhill House’ but there is no relationship between the two properties.
Brizlincote Hall, completed in 1712 on the site of an original stone medieval manor house is one of Burton’s most interesting houses that manages to just about survive today. Who knows, one day it may get restored to its original spendour.
Select page to view: