The Church of St. Mary Magdalene, Bridgnorth, is a Parish Church

Parish church

A parish church , in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....

 in the Church of England

Church of England

The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...

.

Early history

The College of St. Mary Magdalen, Bridgnorth was founded as a royal free chapel, and its church was in the royal castle at Bridgnorth

Bridgnorth

Bridgnorth is a town in Shropshire, England, along the Severn Valley. It is split into Low Town and High Town, named on account of their elevations relative to the River Severn, which separates the upper town on the right bank from the lower on the left...

.

The nave, chancel and western tower were probably built c. 1238, and a north aisle was added, presumably after 1294, when a chantry service was founded in St. Mary's by Richard Dammas. As a Collegiate church

Collegiate church

In Christianity, a collegiate church is a church where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college of canons; a non-monastic, or "secular" community of clergy, organised as a self-governing corporate body, which may be presided over by a dean or provost...

 it was originally intended as a private chapel for the castle, but by the later 15th century it was being used as a parish church.

The college of canons was dissolved in 1548.

The Deans of Bridgnorth

• Alexander, occurs c. 1161
• Simon, occurs c. 1196.
• Hugh de Taunay, appointed 1214
• Peter of Rivaulx, appointed 1223
• Michael de Fienles, appointed 1262
• Stephen of London, appointed 1265
• Bonettus of St. Quentin, appointed 1268
• Walter Langton, appointed 1290
• Amadeus of Savoy, obtained reversion 1298
• William of Savoy, appointed 1300

• Peter of Savoy, appointed 1301
• Engelard of Warley, appointed 1308
• Thomas of Eyton alias Knockin, appointed 1318
• Thomas Talbot, appointed 1334
• Thomas Keynes, appointed 1353
• Robert Ive, appointed 1362
• Thomas of Brantingham, appointed 1369
• Roger of Otery, appointed 1370
• Nicholas Slake, appointed 1387
• Thomas of Tutbury, appointed 1391

• Columb of Dunbar, appointed 1403
• John Marshall, appointed 1410
• Henry Sever, probably appointed 1446
• William Dudley, appointed 1471
• Richard Martin, appointed 1476
• William Chantry, appointed 1482
• John Argentine, appointed 1485
• Thomas Larke, appointed 1508
• William Cooper, appointed 1515
• Thomas Magnus, appointed 1517

The current building

The church was designed by Thomas Telford

Thomas Telford

Thomas Telford FRS, FRSE was a Scottish civil engineer, architect and stonemason, and a noted road, bridge and canal builder.-Early career:...

 and built by John Rhodes and Michael Head between 1792 and 1795.

The church is aligned north–south, rather than the more usual west–east. The tower stands 120 ft high, and it has a clock, eight bells and a copper-covered roof.

Organists

• ?
• Arthur C Clarke 1939 - 1972
• Harold Cooper 1972 - 2002
• John Turnock

Bells

The church has 8 bells, the heaviest weighing just over 8 cwt. These are usually rung twice weekly: on Wednesday practice night (7:30 pm – 9:00 pm) and for the main service on a Sunday morning (10:00 am – 10:30 am). Additionally, they are sometimes rung for weddings.

Sources

• The buildings of England, Shropshire. Nikolaus Pevsner
  Nikolaus Pevsner
  Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner, CBE, FBA was a German-born British scholar of history of art and, especially, of history of architecture...
  
  .
• Civil Engineering Heritage, by Roger Cragg
• Colleges of secular canons: Bridgnorth, St Mary Magdalen, A History of the County of Shropshire: Volume 2 (1973), pp. 123–128.