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www.brewoodvillage.org.uk |
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Churches of Brewood village |
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THE CHURCH OF
ST MARY THE VIRGIN AND ST CHAD
Vicar: Reverend Clive Burgess.
Book of Common Prayer Communion 8.30 a.m. every Sunday.
Morning Service is 10.00 a.m. and Evening Service is at 6.00 p.m. every Sunday
Communion Service Tuesday 7.00 p.m. and Thursday 10.15 a.m.
Both our Churches (St Mary and St
The
Thorough restoration work was carried out by G. E. Street between 1878 and 1880. This included the unusual inside clerestory to the south aisle and the five gables for the aisle windows.
The oldest part of the present building is its chancel which dates from the Early English period of seven hundred years ago. The north aisle was added in the 14th century and the remainder of the church was rebuilt in the 15th century Perpendicular style.
The handsome tower, surmounted by a well proportioned spire, carries a peal of eight bells.
The modern reredos depicts Our Lord breaking bread with two of his disciples after his Resurrection, when he met them on the road to Emmaus.
The principal interest of this fine old church is its monuments and memorials, especially the four Giffard tombs which stand in the Chancel. Of alabaster, once richly painted and gilded, the first of these bears the effigy of Sir John Gifford who shot the panther and died at the ripe age of ninety years. He lies in Tudor armour, with his two ladies, both in period costume, surrounded by their eighteen children.
Upon the next tomb lies his son, Sir Thomas Giffard, who died in 1560, only four years after his father. Like him, he is in armour and with a similar pointed beard and black hair. Beside him are his two wives and their seventeen children.
John Giffard, who died in 1613, after a long imprisonment for his Roman Catholic faith, is depicted in splendid armour inlaid with steel, with his wife Jeyse (Joyce) beside him in Jacobean costume. Around the tomb are shown their fourteen children. One of these was Gilbert Giffard who became implicated in the notorious Babington Plot and disgraced his family by acting as a double agent for both Catholics and Protestants.
Also depicted with the characteristic black hair and pointed beard of the family, is the figure of Walter Giffard who died in 1632. He lies in armour and his wife Philippa in period costume. Although they are known to have had at least eight children, none are shown as on the earlier tombs. Other members of this family are commemorated by floor slabs in the chancel.
The oldest memorial in this church is an incised alabaster slab in the south aisle which portrays Richard Lane (1514) with his wife and eleven children. An interesting brass tablet to Jane Leveson (1572), one of whose three husbands was Edward Giffard, was lost from the Church and then found built into the station master’s house at Four Ashes.
Memorials on the wall of the south aisle are to 17th century members of the Moreton family. Delicately executed and coloured, they show the miniature kneeling figure of Edward Moreton and Matthew Moreton with their wives and children.
Unmarked in the churchyard is the grave of Colonel William Carless of Broom Hall, who probably saved the life of Charles II by sharing his hiding place with him in the Boscobel Oak. He was buried in the churchyard when he died in 1689. His burial is recorded in the parish registers: “Corinall William Carelesse, of Broumhall”
ST MARY’S R.C. CHURCH
Kiddemore Green Road, Brewood
Parish Priest: Father David Standen.
Mass is celebrated at 6.00 p.m. every Saturday and 10.30 a.m. every Sunday.
Overlooking
the Shropshire Union canal at the western edge of the village, St Mary’s
Catholic church was formally opened in June 1844. It was designed by Augustus
Welby Pugin in the Early English style and was built at a cost of £1,345.
It is beautifully in context for such a village as Brewood and is also a
testimony to the generosity of the Giffard family who gave the land for the
church and churchyard and also the early parish priests’ upkeep.
The high altar is very simple, its only decoration being a lamb and flag motif deeply recessed beneath the altar table. The east window by Hardmans of Birmingham was a gift of Pugin.
The statue of the blessed Virgin Mary is very ancient. It was originally sited in the chapel of Blackladies Benedictine Convent at Bishop’s Wood until the building was ransacked and set on fire by Parliamentary soldiers hunting Charles II after the battle of Worcester. During the attack, the statue is said to have been pierced by a sword above the right knee, and at the back is a hole supposedly caused by a musket ball.
The scar was said to weep continually, even though the statue is dry with age, and the moisture was seemingly used by local Catholics to effect remarkable cures.
The Methodist Chapel, School Road, Brewood.
Vicar: Reverend Colin Barratt.
Services are held at 10.30 a.m. every Sunday.
Family services as announced.