Old Saint Werburgh’s, Cheshire – under the care of The Churches Conservation Trust

It is an often quoted cliche that when you visit a historic building you feel as though you are ‘travelling back in time’. Walking through the arched doorway and up towards the chancel of Old Saint Werburgh’s in Cheshire, it felt like I was slowly being stripped of every vestige of modernity. After spending just one hour there, the entrapments of my hectic life seemed a little less than fickle, but the spatial characteristics seemed somehow familiar. The fact is that  this type of timber framed construction, with the frame held together by tension, allowed a fluidity of plan which was not to be witnessed for another 600 years.

“Inside the light is diaphanous, and the atmosphere is medieval”

The church is one of a handful of surviving timber framed parish churches in England, and the site has a history which reaches far back into the C12th when a monastery was thriving nearby.

The exterior was re-built in the early C17th, but the timber framed interior is it’s raison d’etre.

Inside the light is diaphanous, and the atmosphere is medieval. It is a space which rewards with movement. Nave and chancel are given linear definition with splayed tree like timbers (some of which have been dated to the early C14th). The spaces defined within, are characterised by the filtered light and have such a hypnotic, bibulous air that you feel yourself being drawn through towards the altar.

Looking towards the chancel, the timbers in the foreground have been dated to the early C14th

Nave and chancel

Ceiling View

“Nave and chancel are given linear definition with splayed tree like timbers”

Upon arrival at the altar, you are struck by the sharp juxtaposition of the indulgent Victorian encaustic tiles vying with the lyrical Jacobean pulpit under an angular vernacular trussed roof. It is a real liberty to see the organic evolution of structure, pattern and decoration over several hundred years within a few square yards.

The chancel

The altar

The Jacobean pulpit, 1645

Victorian encaustic tiles, 1857, by Minton

Stained glass to east window, 1857 , by Wailes

Every vista is a visual feast, with the emphasis on simplicity of line and space; but, if you look hard enough, there are wonderful details waiting to be discovered. These include scribed words hidden in the quarries of a window, and painted psalms behind the peeling limewash of the chancel wall.

“…if you look hard enough, there are wonderful details waiting to be discovered”

W. J. Shaw, 1896

“Painted psalms behind the peeling limewash of the chancel wall”

To the right of the chancel a hollow doorway reveals a sombre reminder of the funereal entrapments of another age. It leads through to an ante-room which is occupied by a coffin carrier and cart.

“Sombre entrapments of another age..”

Saint Werburgh’s is now redundant, but this little gem survives because of the care and patronage of The Churches Conservation Trust. Without it, the churches future would probably be perilous and access would be limited to the privileged few.

The Churches Conservation Trust  does a sterling job in looking after over 300 churches throughout England, and helps maintain buildings and access when it would otherwise be impossible to do so.

You can see if there is a Churches Conservation Trust church nearby by visiting their website here.

Andy Marshall is an architectural photographer and commentator – more here

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