St Mary's Church

General information

Welcome to St Mary's and St. Edith's Churches!

Priest in Charge: Reverend Jane Stephenson

Normal Sunday services times:
9.45 a.m. St. Mary's
11.15 a.m. St.Edith's

Some History about our churches:

ST. MARY'S, TILSTON

Churches with the name St Mary’s are almost always over 1,000 years old and located near to a Roman Road. We can certainly confirm such a road through Tilston.

Much of the church shows signs of a Victorian restoration by the famous architect John Douglas. However, you can see in the Chancel arch, and in parts of the north and south walls, signs of the older church, including some very old stained glass. The stained glass over the altar is 19th Century, placed there by Lord Stanley of Alderley, who owned land around Tilston, a few years after he had converted to Islam.

The Leche Chapel was built in the 17th Century during the Civil War. It has a beautifully vaulted crypt under the floor for the bones of the former owners of Stretton Hall.

The oldest part of the church is the 15th Century Tower. The gargoyles on the corners of the Tower are original. There is a niche over the door which would almost certainly have contained a statue of Mary, which was no doubt removed during the reign of Henry VIII or during Cromwell's Commonwealth.

We are so lucky to have such a beautiful church as the base for our expanding range of services, weddings and activities. We maintain the building, not as a museum, but as a very active church and village community. The aim is to balance the church's history and traditions with people's needs in the 21st Century.

ST. EDITH'S, SHOCKLACH - Church Road, Shocklach (off Worthenbury Road) SY14 7BL

Possibly built by Thomas de Shocklach, whose castle was no more than half a mile away, St Edith's has had many alterations over 800 years, although remaining much as George Haswell and Anthony Suffill saw it. It is now a Grade I listed building; the ancient cross by the Norman doorway is Grade II and the churchyard and hay meadows belonging to the church are, together, a Site of Biological Importance. The oldest part of the church, the nave, dates from about 1150, although the original foundations may be considerably older. St Edith, the patron saint, is commonly said to have been the daughter of Alfred the Great; recent research places her as Eadgyþ*, Abbess of Wilton, daughter of King Eadgar I. To dedicate a church to an Anglo-Saxon after the Norman Conquest would be unusual and suggests that the church was already in existence in 1066 (having been built shortly after Eadgyþ's death in 984) and in the charge of Wulgar the priest, owner of the manor of Caldicote.

(* The symbol þ, "thorn", an Old English letter representing "th".)

The original churchyard entirely surrounded the church, the west side reaching as far as the slope above the Reverend Mathias's family grave. It was extended in 1905 and consecrated by Dr. Jayne, Bishop of Chester. A further extension was given in 1922 by Edward Thomas Tyrwhitt Drake. Permission to use this land as a burial ground was granted in 1993.

There is a fine Norman doorway in the south wall, facing the cross. It has a typical semi-circular arch with chevron and cable decorations. The arch ends in carved heads - very worn. There are signs that some of the upper chevrons have been replaced. The arch extends downwards below the current ground level and would seem to indicate an original floor some 18" below the present level. The very low arch, the space beneath the current, wooden floor and the fact that the lower door hinge is at the very bottom of the door reinforces this suggestion.

(Church history researched and compiled by the late Margery Waddams)

For more information about the churches' histories as well as contact details, etc please visit our website:
www.tilstonandshocklachchurch.co.uk/