St. Thomas of Canterbury Church, Chester
Encyclopedia
The Church of St. Thomas of Canterbury is situated in the City of Chester
, in an area of the city informally known as "The Garden Quarter". This is a densely-populated area, close to the University
. While the church was built in 1872, the parish of St. Oswald which it serves, is much older, dating back to about 980AD.One of the earliest references to St. Oswald's can be found in Bradshaw's Life of St. Werburge (Chapter 4) The Parish Registers date back to 1580. The church has been designated by English Heritage
as a Grade II listed building. It is an active Anglican parish church
in the diocese of Chester
, the archdeaconry of Chester and the deanery of Chester. The patrons of the parish are the dean and chapter of Chester Cathedral.
" Whereas the resolution of the parishioners of the said parish of Saint Oswald at Chester which was passed on the twenty-first day of April one thousand eight hundred and eighty one as aforesaid was passed upon the understanding interalia that we should provide first, a sum of £1,500 for or towards meeting the cost of enlarging and otherwise improving to our satisfaction the said church of St. Thomas, when the same church shall have become the parish church of the said parish of Saint Oswald Chester"
The dedication of the Church was chosen to be St. Thomas, because during the Middle Ages
there was a Chapel dedicated to St. Thomas not far from the present site of the church. A chapel dedicated to St. Thomas Becket stood by 1200 in the graveyard belonging to St. Werburgh's abbey outside the Northgate, in the fork of the later Parkgate and Liverpool roads. Serving also as the meeting place for the abbot's manor court of St. Thomas, it became a private house called Green Hall after the Dissolution. The building probably survived only until the demolition of the northern suburbs during the Civil War siege, though in 1821 it was claimed that the former chapel was still in use as a barn. Today on the site is the pub The George & Dragon.
The church of St. Thomas of Canterbury as built between 1869 and 1872 by Sir George Gilbert Scott had a chancel with a south aisle and an aisled nave of three bays, all in an Early English style. On becoming the parish church in 1881, the church was enlarged to the designs of J. O. Scott (younger son of George Gilbert Scott) with a faculty being granted giving permission to enlarge the nave and aisle by adding two bays and erecting a porch on the north side; to build a tower (which was never completed) and place a clock and bells therein; to place a pulpit, reredos, and sedilia in the church; to remove and re-erect the font at the west end of the church; to construct a heating apparatus; to construct an organ chamber and two vestries for the use of the clergy and choir; to place new seats for use of the choir and seat the whole of the church with open seats; to place stained glass in all the windows (with a spire which was never completed). In 1896 permission was given to re-seat the chancel with oak seats and desks for the choir and clergy, cost of clergy seats to be defrayed by Henry John Birch and John Shenton Latham, churchwardens, cost of choir seats out of a legacy of £100 bequeathed by the late Miss Eliza Ann Ward and by voluntary contributions.
St. Thomas's opened as the parish church in 1881 with between 190 and 250 communicants. Services then included a weekly communion, held in the early morning or at midday. An experiment with a choral communion in 1889 did not meet with universal approval, and Sunday services remained unchanged for another twenty years. More successful was the establishment in 1895 of the mission church of the Good Shepherd on South View Road in the western part of the parish. A curate was required for services there, and in the early 20th century the vicar generally had two curates. In the early 1910s the congregation at the mission church usually numbered 50–80, ten or twenty of whom were communicants, but services were cut back in 1918 and discontinued in 1919. The building seems not to have been used regularly thereafter and in the mid 1960s the mission church of the Good Shepherd was finally closed. The mission church was also home to the Sealand Road C. of E. Infants' school. Sealand Road Infant School was opened in January 1883 in the Mission Church of the Good Shepherd, attached to St. Oswald's parish, in South View, off Tower Wharf. It was forced to close in December 1921 because the managers were unable to carry out structural repairs.
H. E. Burder (vicar 1909–48) introduced Anglo Catholic services at St. Thomas's, with a daily mass and a sung celebration on Sundays, a tradition which continued under his successors. From 1948 onwards the Vicar of St Oswald's Parish was priest in charge of the church of Little St John alias St John without the Northgate, and in 1967 the two benefices were officially united to become The united benefice of St Oswald with Little St John, Chester.
Notice is hereby given that Her Majesty in Council was pleased on the 28th November 1967, to make an Order in Council approving a Scheme framed by the Church Commissioners for effecting the union of the benefice of Saint Oswald, Chester, and the benefice of Little Saint John, Chester, both in the diocese of Chester.
In 1969 Little St John's church ceased to be used for church services when a faculty was granted confirming a lease by the owners, the City Municipal Charities Trustees, to Chester Corporation, for secular use. St. Oswald's Parish was incorporated in the new parish of Chester in 1972, St. Thomas of Canterbury remaining in use as one of four churches serving the parish. The Parish name of Saint Oswald
was lost at the formation of the Chester Team Parish, which grouped all the parish churches in the City of Chester into one single parish.
On March 1, 2005 Chester Team Parish was dissolved into two new parishes. The new Parish is called Saint Oswald and Saint Thomas of Canterbury, which restores the ancient Patron Saint
of the Parish and incorporates the patron of the parish church. The remaining part of the Team Parish of Chester forms the Parish of Saint Peter with Saint John the Baptist.
The former red brick vicarage
and attached parish room were built to serve the parish of St Oswald and the church of St Thomas of Canterbury in 1880 to a design by John Douglas. The building now houses the English Department of Chester University.
The Parochial Church Council
has recently released the Parish's mission statement which is:
The church also has strong links with the local school which bears its name. Low Mass is currently celebrated three times a week, with choral High Mass on Sundays. Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament takes place most Wednesdays from 2-4pm. There is a well-attended annual Eucharist
ic Festival. This is usually held in July. The Church's patron saint's day is December 29.
with a Westmoreland slate
roof. Its style is Gothic Revival
, designed by Gilbert Scott
and is still unfinished. The tower has a ringing chamber but lacks the bell chamber above and spire
. some of the tracery
around the windows and at the top of the nave
columns remains incomplete, it is also possible that the walls and ceiling were intended to be plastered. This has also been left undone. The plan of the church consists of an East Tower at the end of the south aisle, the north aisle and a five-bay nave. The chancel
is raised three steps above the nave with a further three steps at the other end of the choir into the sanctuary. There is a Lady Chapel
at the end of the north aisle, which again is raised three steps above the nave.
es by Deacon, one in the Lady Chapel and one in the sanctuary. The Lady Chapel reredos features a Madonna and Child with the inscription "Magnificat anima mea Dominum, et exsultavit spiritus meus in Deum" from the Magnificat
The Lady Chapel Altar has three carved panels featuring a pelican
feeding her chicks with her own blood, a Lamb holding a Shepherd's staff with the inscription "Ecce Agnus Dei" and another carved panel depicting an Eagle
in flight. Around the base of the Altar is carved the Inscription "I believe in the Communion of Saints" a quotation from the Nicene Creed
. Permission was given by a Faculty dated 16 June 1913 to remove the tapestry hangings behind the communion table in the Lady chapel and erect in lieu a reredos of oak with the cost to be defrayed by Helen Catherine Tidswell of Northgate House, the reredos being intended to complete the memorial to her late husband Richard Thomas Tidswell. The Faculty also provided for a canopy of carved oak for the font as a memorial of the late mother of Jane Wright of 22 Chichester Street.
The Reredos in the Sanctuary, which was installed in 1909, was by the architect Charles Deacon (1844–1927) as a memorial of Rev E C Lowndes, and is carved with the Instruments of the Passion
. Atop which are four statues of archangels Micheal
Gabriel Raphael
and Uriel
. The wooden high altar
(in the sanctuary) is decorated with three painted panels, featuring: the Annunciation
, the Nativity
and the Visitation.
The West Window is by Kempe
dating from 1885. The baptismal font
at the west end of the church used to have a magnificently-carved suspended cover which collapsed in 1980. Also at the West End there is a Sacristy
created in 1897 and a choir vestry
.
In the south aisle there is a Altar to St. Oswald & St. Thomas with a Triptych of St. Oswald and St. Thomas of Canterbury which was dedicated on All Saints Day 2005 in memory of Irene Waller. and a wooden desk in memory of Ernest Waller containing a book with the names of the faithful departed.
chester diocese
The church bell bears the following inscription 'Sanci Oswaldi C W. J W. W W.' and was originally hung in the parish of St. Oswald, Chester and afterwards at Hilbre Island, before being taken from there to St. Oswald's Bidston at the suppression of the religoius house and was hung in Bidston until 1856.
was installed in 1996 by Wyvern Organs. The first organ was built by the Chester firm of organ builders C.H. Whiteley. This organ was rebuilt in 1901 by the organ builder Young and had three manuals. In 1984 this organ was replaced by a 2 manual orgn built by Nicholson & Lord which lasted until 1996 with some of the pipework from the previous organ added to it. The Nicholson and Lord organ is still in the church in the organ case behind the current Wyvern Organ. Former church organists include John Taylor Dean and Joseph Woodcock.
Vacant from 7 March 2011, Fr. Robert Clack will be inducted as the next Vicar on 25 November 2011. The vicar is presented by the Dean and
Chapter of Chester Cathedral who are the patron of the parish. The Bishop of Chester will install Fr Robert.
By 1717 £1 a year from Thomas Green's municipal charity was being paid to the churchwardens of St. Oswald's; in 1836 it was distributed among 30 poor widows. Legacies or gifts to the poor of £10 from each of John Mather (d. 1700 or 1701), Peter Cotton (will proved 1716), and the Revd. Thomas Aubrey (will proved 1759) were used to repair the church, but the churchwardens instead distributed bread worth 30s. each year. Separate legacies amounting to at least £454 and £478 were used to buy and fit out a parish workhouse in 1729. It was later leased and the income was diverted to the church rate.
The parish also benefited from five municipal charities. The charities of Batho, Russell, and St. Oswald's portions of two of the municipal charities were united under a Scheme of 1889. Elizabeth Burkinshaw by will proved 1913 left money to benefit the most deserving poor parishioners, it produced c. £3 a year.
Changes in the boundaries of the ancient city-centre parishes in the 20th century made the administration of parochial charities difficult, and under a Scheme of 1988 the eleemosynary charities of St. Bridget's, St. John's, St. Martin's, St. Michael's (except William Jones's almshouses and the Robert Oldfield foundation), St. Oswald's, and St. Peter's were united as the Chester Parochial Relief in Need Charity, for the benefit of those living within the area served by the united benefice of Chester. The charities in St. Olave's were added in 1990, and in 1994.
St. Oswald's Parish first Workhouse was opened in 1730. In a Deed dated 11 Dec. 1757, the nine Chester parishes combined to create a new workhouse. This new workhouse was built by the Corporation on waste ground belonging to them on the north west side of the Roodee, building started in March 1758 on a three-storeyed, four-square rectangular brick building round a courtyard, 200 poor were admitted immediately. In 1762, Chester formed an incorporation of parishes (Holy Trinity, St Bridget, St John the Baptist, St Martin, St Mary on the Hill, St Michael, St Olave, St Oswald, and St Peter) under a local Act of Parliament which gave it greater freedom in the management of the city's poor relief. The incorporation was governed by the mayor, recorder, justices of the peace, and seventy-four other guardians. The Act also gave control of the Roodee workhouse for a period of 99 years.
Chester's Incorporation status exempted it from most of the provisions of the 1834 Act. The Roodee workhouse continued in use, with offices and a boys' school located at 34 Bridge Street. In 1869, Chester was reconstituted as a Poor Law Union which formally came into being on 30 September 1869. Its operation was overseen by an elected Board of Guardians, 19 in number, representing its 9 constituent parishes: Holy and Undivided Trinity (2 guardians), St Bridget, St John the Baptist (5), St Martin, St Mary-on-the-Hill (3), St Michael, St Olave, St Oswald (4), and St Peter. A new workhouse was built Hoole in 1873 at a cost of about £30,000. The design for the buildings was opened to competition and the winning plans were submitted by W Perkin and Sons. The new workhouse had a large T-shaped main building facing to the east, with a separate infirmary to its west and a school to the south.
The new workhouse was opened in 1877. The old Roodee workhouse site was used as a confectinary works by the Cheshire Preserving Company. The old workhouse building was demolished between 1902 and 1909.
When the school was opened it was for girls and boys of infant age. During the Second World War local children shared the premises with evacuees from Liverpool, and in more recent years it was middle school and since 1984 it has been a junior school.
Chester Blue Coat Trustees are responsible for part of the financing of the school, particularly with regards to the building. The school closed in July 2011 to be replaced by a new church school Chester Blue Coat CE Primary School which opened in September 2011.
City of Chester
Chester was a non-metropolitan local government district of Cheshire, England, with the status of a city and a borough.Apart from Chester itself, which was the principal settlement, the district covered a large rural area...
, in an area of the city informally known as "The Garden Quarter". This is a densely-populated area, close to the University
University of Chester
The University of Chester is a public research university located in Chester, United Kingdom. The University, based on a main campus in Chester and a smaller campus in Warrington, offers a range of foundation, undergraduate and postgraduate courses, as well as undertaking academic research.Chester...
. While the church was built in 1872, the parish of St. Oswald which it serves, is much older, dating back to about 980AD.One of the earliest references to St. Oswald's can be found in Bradshaw's Life of St. Werburge (Chapter 4) The Parish Registers date back to 1580. The church has been designated by English Heritage
English Heritage
English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
as a Grade II listed building. It is an active Anglican 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 diocese of Chester
Diocese of Chester
The Diocese of Chester is a Church of England diocese in the Province of York based in Chester, covering the county of Cheshire in its pre-1974 boundaries...
, the archdeaconry of Chester and the deanery of Chester. The patrons of the parish are the dean and chapter of Chester Cathedral.
History
In 1868 the growing population of the parish led to the decision to build a chapel of ease, and land was obtained from the Dean & Chapter in Parkgate Road. The cornerstone was laid on 6 April 1869 by H.C. Raikes (MP for Chester) with the west end of the building bricked up to facilitate extension when circumstances permitted. The new chapel, dedicated to St. Thomas of Canterbury, was consecrated on 4 April 1872 by William Jacobson, Bishop of Chester. Licence for the solemnization of marriages in St Thomas' church was granted on 3 March 1877. Services there included holy communion at least once a month on Sundays and on saints' days, as well as morning and evening prayer. In 1880 the parishioners responded to the suggestion of the Dean and Chapter, first made in 1868, and agreed to surrender their rights in the south transept of the cathedral and make St. Thomas's the parish church." Whereas the resolution of the parishioners of the said parish of Saint Oswald at Chester which was passed on the twenty-first day of April one thousand eight hundred and eighty one as aforesaid was passed upon the understanding interalia that we should provide first, a sum of £1,500 for or towards meeting the cost of enlarging and otherwise improving to our satisfaction the said church of St. Thomas, when the same church shall have become the parish church of the said parish of Saint Oswald Chester"
The dedication of the Church was chosen to be St. Thomas, because during the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
there was a Chapel dedicated to St. Thomas not far from the present site of the church. A chapel dedicated to St. Thomas Becket stood by 1200 in the graveyard belonging to St. Werburgh's abbey outside the Northgate, in the fork of the later Parkgate and Liverpool roads. Serving also as the meeting place for the abbot's manor court of St. Thomas, it became a private house called Green Hall after the Dissolution. The building probably survived only until the demolition of the northern suburbs during the Civil War siege, though in 1821 it was claimed that the former chapel was still in use as a barn. Today on the site is the pub The George & Dragon.
The church of St. Thomas of Canterbury as built between 1869 and 1872 by Sir George Gilbert Scott had a chancel with a south aisle and an aisled nave of three bays, all in an Early English style. On becoming the parish church in 1881, the church was enlarged to the designs of J. O. Scott (younger son of George Gilbert Scott) with a faculty being granted giving permission to enlarge the nave and aisle by adding two bays and erecting a porch on the north side; to build a tower (which was never completed) and place a clock and bells therein; to place a pulpit, reredos, and sedilia in the church; to remove and re-erect the font at the west end of the church; to construct a heating apparatus; to construct an organ chamber and two vestries for the use of the clergy and choir; to place new seats for use of the choir and seat the whole of the church with open seats; to place stained glass in all the windows (with a spire which was never completed). In 1896 permission was given to re-seat the chancel with oak seats and desks for the choir and clergy, cost of clergy seats to be defrayed by Henry John Birch and John Shenton Latham, churchwardens, cost of choir seats out of a legacy of £100 bequeathed by the late Miss Eliza Ann Ward and by voluntary contributions.
St. Thomas's opened as the parish church in 1881 with between 190 and 250 communicants. Services then included a weekly communion, held in the early morning or at midday. An experiment with a choral communion in 1889 did not meet with universal approval, and Sunday services remained unchanged for another twenty years. More successful was the establishment in 1895 of the mission church of the Good Shepherd on South View Road in the western part of the parish. A curate was required for services there, and in the early 20th century the vicar generally had two curates. In the early 1910s the congregation at the mission church usually numbered 50–80, ten or twenty of whom were communicants, but services were cut back in 1918 and discontinued in 1919. The building seems not to have been used regularly thereafter and in the mid 1960s the mission church of the Good Shepherd was finally closed. The mission church was also home to the Sealand Road C. of E. Infants' school. Sealand Road Infant School was opened in January 1883 in the Mission Church of the Good Shepherd, attached to St. Oswald's parish, in South View, off Tower Wharf. It was forced to close in December 1921 because the managers were unable to carry out structural repairs.
H. E. Burder (vicar 1909–48) introduced Anglo Catholic services at St. Thomas's, with a daily mass and a sung celebration on Sundays, a tradition which continued under his successors. From 1948 onwards the Vicar of St Oswald's Parish was priest in charge of the church of Little St John alias St John without the Northgate, and in 1967 the two benefices were officially united to become The united benefice of St Oswald with Little St John, Chester.
Notice is hereby given that Her Majesty in Council was pleased on the 28th November 1967, to make an Order in Council approving a Scheme framed by the Church Commissioners for effecting the union of the benefice of Saint Oswald, Chester, and the benefice of Little Saint John, Chester, both in the diocese of Chester.
In 1969 Little St John's church ceased to be used for church services when a faculty was granted confirming a lease by the owners, the City Municipal Charities Trustees, to Chester Corporation, for secular use. St. Oswald's Parish was incorporated in the new parish of Chester in 1972, St. Thomas of Canterbury remaining in use as one of four churches serving the parish. The Parish name of Saint Oswald
Saint Oswald
Saint Oswald may refer to:*Oswald of Northumbria , King of Northumbria*Oswald of Worcester , Archbishop of York...
was lost at the formation of the Chester Team Parish, which grouped all the parish churches in the City of Chester into one single parish.
On March 1, 2005 Chester Team Parish was dissolved into two new parishes. The new Parish is called Saint Oswald and Saint Thomas of Canterbury, which restores the ancient Patron Saint
Patron saint
A patron saint is a saint who is regarded as the intercessor and advocate in heaven of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or person...
of the Parish and incorporates the patron of the parish church. The remaining part of the Team Parish of Chester forms the Parish of Saint Peter with Saint John the Baptist.
The former red brick vicarage
St Oswald's Vicarage, Chester
St Oswald's Vicarage, Chester is on Parkgate Road, Chester, Cheshire, England. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II listed building.-History:...
and attached parish room were built to serve the parish of St Oswald and the church of St Thomas of Canterbury in 1880 to a design by John Douglas. The building now houses the English Department of Chester University.
The Church Today
The church is still firmly rooted in the Anglo-Catholic tradition on which it was founded.The Parochial Church Council
Parochial Church Council
The parochial church council , is the executive body of a Church of England parish.-Powers and duties:Two Acts of Parliament define the powers and duties of PCCs...
has recently released the Parish's mission statement which is:
- Welcome all people
- Proclaim God’s love
- Teach, Baptise and nurture
- Respond to human need with loving service
- Rejoice through the beauty of Word, Sacrament and music.
The church also has strong links with the local school which bears its name. Low Mass is currently celebrated three times a week, with choral High Mass on Sundays. Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament takes place most Wednesdays from 2-4pm. There is a well-attended annual Eucharist
Eucharist
The Eucharist , also called Holy Communion, the Sacrament of the Altar, the Blessed Sacrament, the Lord's Supper, and other names, is a Christian sacrament or ordinance...
ic Festival. This is usually held in July. The Church's patron saint's day is December 29.
Organisations
St. Thomas' benefits from a number of groups which help support the ministry of the church and provide fellowship among the members. Members of the congregation may join one or more or none of these groups if they wish.- Sunday School
- Youth Group
- Young Adults Group
- Choir
- Mothers Union
- Association of Christian Fellowship
- Social Group
- Devotional Society
- Servers Guild
Structure
The church is built in red sandstoneSandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
with a Westmoreland slate
Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. The result is a foliated rock in which the foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering...
roof. Its style is Gothic Revival
Gothic Revival architecture
The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...
, designed by Gilbert Scott
Giles Gilbert Scott
Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, OM, FRIBA was an English architect known for his work on such buildings as Liverpool Cathedral and Battersea Power Station and designing the iconic red telephone box....
and is still unfinished. The tower has a ringing chamber but lacks the bell chamber above and spire
Spire
A spire is a tapering conical or pyramidal structure on the top of a building, particularly a church tower. Etymologically, the word is derived from the Old English word spir, meaning a sprout, shoot, or stalk of grass....
. some of the tracery
Tracery
In architecture, Tracery is the stonework elements that support the glass in a Gothic window. The term probably derives from the 'tracing floors' on which the complex patterns of late Gothic windows were laid out.-Plate tracery:...
around the windows and at the top of the nave
Nave
In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...
columns remains incomplete, it is also possible that the walls and ceiling were intended to be plastered. This has also been left undone. The plan of the church consists of an East Tower at the end of the south aisle, the north aisle and a five-bay nave. The chancel
Chancel
In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar in the sanctuary at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building...
is raised three steps above the nave with a further three steps at the other end of the choir into the sanctuary. There is a Lady Chapel
Lady chapel
A Lady chapel, also called Mary chapel or Marian chapel, is a traditional English term for a chapel inside a cathedral, basilica, or large church dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary...
at the end of the north aisle, which again is raised three steps above the nave.
Architectural features
There are two magnificently-carved reredosReredos
thumb|300px|right|An altar and reredos from [[St. Josaphat's Roman Catholic Church|St. Josaphat Catholic Church]] in [[Detroit]], [[Michigan]]. This would be called a [[retable]] in many other languages and countries....
es by Deacon, one in the Lady Chapel and one in the sanctuary. The Lady Chapel reredos features a Madonna and Child with the inscription "Magnificat anima mea Dominum, et exsultavit spiritus meus in Deum" from the Magnificat
Magnificat
The Magnificat — also known as the Song of Mary or the Canticle of Mary — is a canticle frequently sung liturgically in Christian church services. It is one of the eight most ancient Christian hymns and perhaps the earliest Marian hymn...
The Lady Chapel Altar has three carved panels featuring a pelican
Pelican
A pelican, derived from the Greek word πελεκυς pelekys is a large water bird with a large throat pouch, belonging to the bird family Pelecanidae....
feeding her chicks with her own blood, a Lamb holding a Shepherd's staff with the inscription "Ecce Agnus Dei" and another carved panel depicting an Eagle
Eagle
Eagles are members of the bird family Accipitridae, and belong to several genera which are not necessarily closely related to each other. Most of the more than 60 species occur in Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just two species can be found in the United States and Canada, nine more in...
in flight. Around the base of the Altar is carved the Inscription "I believe in the Communion of Saints" a quotation from the Nicene Creed
Nicene Creed
The Nicene Creed is the creed or profession of faith that is most widely used in Christian liturgy. It is called Nicene because, in its original form, it was adopted in the city of Nicaea by the first ecumenical council, which met there in the year 325.The Nicene Creed has been normative to the...
. Permission was given by a Faculty dated 16 June 1913 to remove the tapestry hangings behind the communion table in the Lady chapel and erect in lieu a reredos of oak with the cost to be defrayed by Helen Catherine Tidswell of Northgate House, the reredos being intended to complete the memorial to her late husband Richard Thomas Tidswell. The Faculty also provided for a canopy of carved oak for the font as a memorial of the late mother of Jane Wright of 22 Chichester Street.
The Reredos in the Sanctuary, which was installed in 1909, was by the architect Charles Deacon (1844–1927) as a memorial of Rev E C Lowndes, and is carved with the Instruments of the Passion
Arma Christi
Arma Christi , or the Instruments of the Passion, are the objects associated with Jesus' Passion in Christian symbolism and art....
. Atop which are four statues of archangels Micheal
Michael (archangel)
Michael , Micha'el or Mîkhā'ēl; , Mikhaḗl; or Míchaël; , Mīkhā'īl) is an archangel in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic teachings. Roman Catholics, Anglicans, and Lutherans refer to him as Saint Michael the Archangel and also simply as Saint Michael...
Gabriel Raphael
Raphael (archangel)
Raphael is an archangel of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, who in the Judeo-Christian tradition performs all manners of healing....
and Uriel
Uriel
Uriel is one of the archangels of post-Exilic Rabbinic tradition, and also of certain Christian traditions...
. The wooden high altar
Altar
An altar is any structure upon which offerings such as sacrifices are made for religious purposes. Altars are usually found at shrines, and they can be located in temples, churches and other places of worship...
(in the sanctuary) is decorated with three painted panels, featuring: the Annunciation
Annunciation
The Annunciation, also referred to as the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary or Annunciation of the Lord, is the Christian celebration of the announcement by the angel Gabriel to Virgin Mary, that she would conceive and become the mother of Jesus the Son of God. Gabriel told Mary to name her...
, the Nativity
Nativity of Jesus
The Nativity of Jesus, or simply The Nativity, refers to the accounts of the birth of Jesus in two of the Canonical gospels and in various apocryphal texts....
and the Visitation.
The West Window is by Kempe
Charles Eamer Kempe
Charles Eamer Kempe was a well-known Victorian stained glass designer. After attending Twyford School, he studied for the priesthood at Pembroke College, Oxford, but it became clear that his severe stammer would be an impediment to preaching...
dating from 1885. The baptismal font
Baptismal font
A baptismal font is an article of church furniture or a fixture used for the baptism of children and adults.-Aspersion and affusion fonts:...
at the west end of the church used to have a magnificently-carved suspended cover which collapsed in 1980. Also at the West End there is a Sacristy
Sacristy
A sacristy is a room for keeping vestments and other church furnishings, sacred vessels, and parish records.The sacristy is usually located inside the church, but in some cases it is an annex or separate building...
created in 1897 and a choir vestry
Vestry
A vestry is a room in or attached to a church or synagogue in which the vestments, vessels, records, etc., are kept , and in which the clergy and choir robe or don their vestments for divine service....
.
In the south aisle there is a Altar to St. Oswald & St. Thomas with a Triptych of St. Oswald and St. Thomas of Canterbury which was dedicated on All Saints Day 2005 in memory of Irene Waller. and a wooden desk in memory of Ernest Waller containing a book with the names of the faithful departed.
chester diocese
The church bell bears the following inscription 'Sanci Oswaldi C W. J W. W W.' and was originally hung in the parish of St. Oswald, Chester and afterwards at Hilbre Island, before being taken from there to St. Oswald's Bidston at the suppression of the religoius house and was hung in Bidston until 1856.
Organ
The current three-manual digital organElectronic organ
An electronic organ is an electronic keyboard instrument which was derived from the harmonium, pipe organ and theatre organ. Originally, it was designed to imitate the sound of pipe organs, theatre organs, band sounds, or orchestral sounds....
was installed in 1996 by Wyvern Organs. The first organ was built by the Chester firm of organ builders C.H. Whiteley. This organ was rebuilt in 1901 by the organ builder Young and had three manuals. In 1984 this organ was replaced by a 2 manual orgn built by Nicholson & Lord which lasted until 1996 with some of the pipework from the previous organ added to it. The Nicholson and Lord organ is still in the church in the organ case behind the current Wyvern Organ. Former church organists include John Taylor Dean and Joseph Woodcock.
Vicars of the Parish of St. Oswald
| 1210. Mag'r Hugo de SVo Oswaldo | 1310. D'nus Johannes de Faches | 1364. HughdeCoton | 1404. D'nus Willielmus Hickekyn & Robertus Drakelow |
| 1411. Johannes Torbock & Johannes Barrow | 1469. Johannes Tomlinson | 1473. Johannes Rochbottom | 1492. Henricus Reynford |
| 1540. Richard Davys & Richard Burgess | 1574. William Cowper | 1580. Martin Rawney | 1581. John Whitope |
| 1599. Rowland Thicknesse | 1626. William Case | 1642. John Glendole | 1672. Lawrence Fogge |
| 1699. Arthur Fogge | 1739. Richard Jackson | 1761. Charles Henchman | 1783. Thomas Broadhurst |
| 1803. Thomas Mawdesley | 1819. Joseph Eaton | 1827. William Harrison | 1879. William Cogswell |
| 1890. Ernest Lowndes | 1909. Harold Burder | 1948. John Beddow | 1963. John Taylor (1967 United Parish with Little St. John's Chester) |
| 1974. Tom Virtue (Team Vicar, part of the Chester Team Parish) | 1983. Douglas Gale (Team Vicar) | 1987. Colin Potter (Team Vicar) | 1999. Brian Statham (Team Vicar) |
| 2003. Peter Walsh (appointed to the new Parish of St. Oswald and St. Thomas of Canterbury, 12 February 2005) |
Vacant from 7 March 2011, Fr. Robert Clack will be inducted as the next Vicar on 25 November 2011. The vicar is presented by the Dean and
Chapter of Chester Cathedral who are the patron of the parish. The Bishop of Chester will install Fr Robert.
Parish charities and workhouse
Alderman Edward Batho by will 1629 left rentcharges of 30s a year for bread; by 1862 10s. had been lost and the remaining £1 was given in cash. Edward Russell in 1666 left a rent-charge of £2 10s. to provide bread to 12 poor parishioners on Sundays; no record of payments was found in 1836 but the charity was later revived.By 1717 £1 a year from Thomas Green's municipal charity was being paid to the churchwardens of St. Oswald's; in 1836 it was distributed among 30 poor widows. Legacies or gifts to the poor of £10 from each of John Mather (d. 1700 or 1701), Peter Cotton (will proved 1716), and the Revd. Thomas Aubrey (will proved 1759) were used to repair the church, but the churchwardens instead distributed bread worth 30s. each year. Separate legacies amounting to at least £454 and £478 were used to buy and fit out a parish workhouse in 1729. It was later leased and the income was diverted to the church rate.
The parish also benefited from five municipal charities. The charities of Batho, Russell, and St. Oswald's portions of two of the municipal charities were united under a Scheme of 1889. Elizabeth Burkinshaw by will proved 1913 left money to benefit the most deserving poor parishioners, it produced c. £3 a year.
Changes in the boundaries of the ancient city-centre parishes in the 20th century made the administration of parochial charities difficult, and under a Scheme of 1988 the eleemosynary charities of St. Bridget's, St. John's, St. Martin's, St. Michael's (except William Jones's almshouses and the Robert Oldfield foundation), St. Oswald's, and St. Peter's were united as the Chester Parochial Relief in Need Charity, for the benefit of those living within the area served by the united benefice of Chester. The charities in St. Olave's were added in 1990, and in 1994.
St. Oswald's Parish first Workhouse was opened in 1730. In a Deed dated 11 Dec. 1757, the nine Chester parishes combined to create a new workhouse. This new workhouse was built by the Corporation on waste ground belonging to them on the north west side of the Roodee, building started in March 1758 on a three-storeyed, four-square rectangular brick building round a courtyard, 200 poor were admitted immediately. In 1762, Chester formed an incorporation of parishes (Holy Trinity, St Bridget, St John the Baptist, St Martin, St Mary on the Hill, St Michael, St Olave, St Oswald, and St Peter) under a local Act of Parliament which gave it greater freedom in the management of the city's poor relief. The incorporation was governed by the mayor, recorder, justices of the peace, and seventy-four other guardians. The Act also gave control of the Roodee workhouse for a period of 99 years.
Chester's Incorporation status exempted it from most of the provisions of the 1834 Act. The Roodee workhouse continued in use, with offices and a boys' school located at 34 Bridge Street. In 1869, Chester was reconstituted as a Poor Law Union which formally came into being on 30 September 1869. Its operation was overseen by an elected Board of Guardians, 19 in number, representing its 9 constituent parishes: Holy and Undivided Trinity (2 guardians), St Bridget, St John the Baptist (5), St Martin, St Mary-on-the-Hill (3), St Michael, St Olave, St Oswald (4), and St Peter. A new workhouse was built Hoole in 1873 at a cost of about £30,000. The design for the buildings was opened to competition and the winning plans were submitted by W Perkin and Sons. The new workhouse had a large T-shaped main building facing to the east, with a separate infirmary to its west and a school to the south.
The new workhouse was opened in 1877. The old Roodee workhouse site was used as a confectinary works by the Cheshire Preserving Company. The old workhouse building was demolished between 1902 and 1909.
Church School
The building of a National School in Parkgate Road, in St. Oswald's parish, was commenced in 1871. This followed the building in Parkgate Road, in 1871, of a church dedicated to St. Thomas, which in 1881 became the parish church of St. Oswald's parish. In February 1871 an appeal was made to the National Society for funds towards the building of the school. This appeal gave two reasons for building the school, one being `to supply a want for a new district which has sprung up', and the other `to obviate the necessity which might otherwise arise for building a rate-aided school in this district'. The National Society voted £55 towards the cost of building St. Thomas' school. Land was donated by the church and a grant of £55 was given by the National Society allowing for the first part of the school to be built. The school doors opened on 25th March 1873. An extension was added in 1887 and further additions being built in the 1970's and 1980's.When the school was opened it was for girls and boys of infant age. During the Second World War local children shared the premises with evacuees from Liverpool, and in more recent years it was middle school and since 1984 it has been a junior school.
Chester Blue Coat Trustees are responsible for part of the financing of the school, particularly with regards to the building. The school closed in July 2011 to be replaced by a new church school Chester Blue Coat CE Primary School which opened in September 2011.
The Roll of Honour, 1914-1918 and 1939-1945
| Eric Aderne | Henry William Benbow | Robert Brennand |
| Dennis Brown | Dennis Cooper | Harold Cecil Cotter |
| John Ellis | Gordon Fields | William Edward Gartlan |
| Alfred Greenwood | Arthur Hughes | Dewi Erfil Jones |
| Albert George Luke | Alfred Martin | George Roberts |
| Peter Rahil | Albert Robinson | Harold Rowe |
| Kenneth Sidwell | Patrick Crawford Simpson | Leslie Brain Tinkler |
| Owen Thomas | Sydney Trout | Frank Williams |
| Herbert Williams | Jack Williams | Robert Williams |
| Ronald Williams | Cecil Wright | James Yates |
External links
- Church website
- Map of the Parish Boundaries
- You Tube
- Church Location Map
- Online parish tithe maps
- The Register of Bruera Church, formerly of the Parish of St. Oswald, Chester
- http://www.chesterchronicle.co.uk/chester-news/local-chester-news/2011/03/03/st-thomas-of-canterbury-junior-school-in-chester-says-goodbye-to-long-serving-school-members-59067-28268052/