ST CHAD’S CHURCH
LONGFORD
The history of this church can be traced to Anglo-Saxon times. There was a church in this parish in 1085 when William the Conqueror had the Domesday Survey made, and though it is noted as being at BUBEDENE, it is more likely that it stood on the present site than in the district known as Bupton.
The extract from the Domesday Book reads:-
“A priest is there and a church, and one mill of
ten shillings, and sixty acres of meadow. In the time of King Edward it was worth seven pounds, now four pounds.”
There is no trace remaining of the Saxon buildings, and the present church, dedicated to the seventh century Bishop of Litchfield, S. Chad, dates back to about 1100. It was originally built in the Norman style. The three round pillars and the respond between the nave and the north aisle, and the three round arches supported by them, the three pillars on the south side and the bowl of the font are all that remain of the Norman church.
The church was much altered and enlarged in the 14th and 15th centuries, beginning with the widening of the aisles where the early Decorated windows can be dated as about 1320. It was about this time that the capitals of the south aisle Norman pillars were roughly cut into Decorated mouldings, and the arches made pointed.
Next, the chancel was extended: the windows on each side, and the priest’s door on the south side belong to the later decorated period and the lofty arch into the tower is 1350 – 1370.
The present tower, which is Perpendicular, was built in the following century, and at the same time, the walls of the nave were raised to accommodate the clerestory windows, and the angle of the roof was lowered. A corbel stone projecting from the east wall of the nave, near the organ, suggests that there was a rood-beam across the chancel arch to support a large crucifix and the traditional figures of the Blessed Virgin and S. John. There were formerly chantry chapels at the east end of each aisle with oak screens. The one in the north aisle belonged to the Bentleys but in 1826 it was turned into a vestry, and the one in the south aisle, where the Chapel of Unity is now located, belonged to the de Longfords.
In the chancel, in an arched recess, is the effigy of a priest in Eucharistic vestments. This is believed to be John de Cressy, who was rector when the 14th century alterations were made. He resigned in 1338.
In 1843 the church was restored. A new roof was placed on the chancel, a new vestry was formed under the tower and the porch was re-opened after being used as a receptacle for coals for many years. The old Norman font was rescued, “having been used as a cattle trough for perhaps centuries” and was brought back to church and given a new pedestal.
The medieval churchyard cross suffered at the hands of the reformers and remained broken until 1897, when is was restored, with a figure of Christ Crucified on one side and our patron, S. Chad on the other side
Notes from the Reverend Samuel Frost’s HISTORIC NOTES ON LONGFORD PARISH AND CHURCH 1926
