Battlefield Church has twice been restored, first about the year 1749, at
whose expense we do not know, and again in 1861 at the cost of Lady
Brinckman.
[Picture: Battlefield Church in 1792]
I fix upon 1749 as the approximate date of the first restoration for
several reasons. The Parish Register that year speaks of “the church
then down,” Mr. Leonard Hotchkiss being the minister. In 1746 “briefs”
were being collected for the church. The earliest known engraving, after
a sketch by James Bowen, of the north side of the church, which cannot
have been engraved later than 1769, as Mr. Percy (afterwards Bishop of
Dromore), had a copy that year, represents the church as then being in a
perfect state externally, and states “this church was rebuilt a few years
since.” The _Archæologia_ for 1803 states that “the church was repaired
and altered about 50 or 60 years ago.” All this points to 1749 as the
date.
[Picture: Battlefield Church, before its restoration in 1861]
Probably little had been done to the church from the time of the
dissolution of the college down to 1749, and it had been allowed to fall
into a bad state. The Puritans, too, during the commonwealth are said to
have damaged it. At all events, about 1749 some considerable reparations
were effected. The church was probably newly roofed, though still kept
all of one pace, and somewhat lowered. The buttresses were surmounted by
heads or gurgoyles. The roof, too, was plastered and whitewashed. The
stained glass was removed from the east window, and, being carelessly
kept, was much broken, and only some fragments re-inserted. The old font
was taken away, and a new one placed in the church. The tower was bound
together with iron bars, nuts, and screws. The parapets, if there were
any round the church, and most of the pinnacles and gurgoyles were taken
down. A new bell was placed in the tower, which seems to have borne the
inscription, “Ab. Rudhall of Gloucester cast me, 1755.” We must feel
thankful that the “restoration” was not carried to greater lengths and
that the walls and tower were spared.
The work done about 1749 was not of a permanent nature. In a few years’
time the roof of the nave portion of the building must have fallen in,
and no attempt was made to replace it. Fearing that the roof of the
chancel portion might also give way, four ugly circular Doric pillars on
pedestals were introduced to support it; and a brick wall was built at
the west end of the chancel, separating it from the nave. From this
time, and until 1861, the chancel only was used for divine service. The
nave was suffered to fall into complete decay. The buttresses of the
chancel were a little shortened, and the gurgoyles removed.
When the roof of the nave fell in we do not know, but certainly before
1792. In 1810, the nave and steeple were ruinous, though “the whole was
entire within the memory of persons now living.”
In November, 1855, the late Mr. S. Pountney Smith, of Shrewsbury, made a
set of plans for the restoration of the church, though the work was not
finally accomplished until the year 1861. The expense of the work,
amounting to £4,000, was borne by Lady Brinckman. It took twelve months
to carry out. The tower was completely renovated, the nave repaired, the
new columns in the chancel taken away, and the whole new-roofed, and put
into a thorough state of repair. A new parapet was placed round the nave
and chancel, that on the nave being plain, whilst the chancel parapet was
pierced with quatrefoils, and enriched with pinnacles. A new vestry, or
Corbet mortuary chapel was built on the north side of the chancel. The
church was re-opened on Friday, November 1st, All Saints’ Day, 1861, the
preacher being the Bishop of Oxford.
The new work was on the whole, when we consider the dilapidated state of
the church, thoroughly well carried out. Perhaps the chief defect is the
marked distinction made between nave and chancel, which is unusual in
Collegiate Churches, and in this church never existed. It would have
been better if both had been kept of the same pace, and had been
decorated and finished alike. It seems to have been a mistake, too, to
pull down the cemetery wall on the south side of the church, which had
existed ever since its first erection.
The Vicarage House was built about 1862, at some little distance west
from the church. The site of the old college has never yet been
ascertained; it may have stood on the east side of the church; and it is
not known when it was taken down. Nor is it known where the almshouse or
hospital for poor men stood, nor how long it lasted, nor when it was
destroyed. Both probably did not remain long after the dissolution of
the chantry.
The church is distant three miles from Shrewsbury. Proceeding down the
Hadnall Road, it comes into sight directly after passing the Old Heath
Farm (Mr. John Randles) on the left-hand side, and looks most picturesque
with its handsome tower flanked by the woods on its north side.