Needwood: Christ Church
Overview
Grid reference: SK 148 234
The church is an unassuming essay of little pretension in the gothic style.
Visiting and facilities
Building is closed for worship
Building
Ground Plan Description and Dimensions
Ground plan:
West tower with north vestry and south heating chamber; rectangular aisleless nave, shallow chancel.
Description of Archaeology and History
An Act was passed in 1805 to grant a part of His Majesty's allotment of the disafforested Forest of Needwood for building a church. Trustees were appointed and the church was finished in 1808. The architect is not known. A new roof was provided in 1840, and in 1880 the church was refloored, reseated and provided with new windows. In 1895 it was assigned a consolidated chapelry district and in 1899 the small vestry was added at the north-west, together with a new heating system serviced from a chamber at the south west and a new tower clock was installed.
Exterior Description
The church is an unassuming essay of little pretension in the gothic style. The west tower is divided externally by moulded stone stringcourses into three stages, the lowest of which is provided with a two-leaved doorway and a two-light window both within one frame. The middle stege is entirely plain except for a clock face in the west side and circular windows in the north and south wells. Diagonal buttresses of slender profile die into the wall at this level. The uppermost stage has a broad pointed opening in each face with timber Y tracery and louvres and the embattled parapet has crocketted pinnacles of stone at each corner. On the north side is the vestry and on the south the derelict heating chamber, entered by a doorway in the south wall. The nave is broad, with a shallowly pitched slated roof and three bays in the north and south walls divided by small buttresses and each pierced by a tall and wide lancet window. These probably orginally had timber Y tracery like the belfry openings but now have more "correct " stone tracery with cusping, inserted in 1880. The four angles have thin diagonal buttresses and the shallow chancel at the east end is hardly more than a recess with buttresses at the angles and a window of the same proportions as those in the side walls. It has a hipped roof. The brick walls stand on a stone plinth.
Building Fabric and Features
Stained Glass
c.1900
The east window shows The Resurrection, by Clayton and Bell
Stained Glass
c.1920
North nave I : two lights showing The Sermon on The Mount, c.1920 by Powell of Whitefriars.
Stained Glass
1909
South nave I : Cornelius Gives Alms and Jesus Learns to Read, by Clayton and Bell.
Interior
Interior Description
The interior is approached through a lobby in the ground floor of the tower with a ladder for access to the upper stages and a doorway to the vestry on the left. The room has a panelled dado which is greinod and evidently original. A double door under a four-centred head leads into the church and the doors are covered with green baize. Inside the body of the church, this doorway is set within a taller pointed arch which reflects the shape of the plain chancel arch at the far end of the nave. The walls are plastered and the open timber roof is spanned by tie beams with coarsely cusped struts and braces above. The thin walls allow only for very shallow reveals to the windows and the floor laid in 1880 consists of red tiles in the nave alleys, boards under the pews and red and buff tiles in the sanctuary. A large organ stands in the north-east corner and there are several monuments on the walls and three hatchments on the east wall, together with a tiny Royal Arms. The eastern bay of the nave has choirstalls placed on the south, facing the organ. One step distinguishes this area from the rest of the nave and there are two further steps at the communion rails across the chancel arch.
Fixtures and fittings
Altar
1921
The altar is of oak, panelled.
Reredos
1921
The reredos, of oak, in a perpendicular style.
Pulpit
c.1805
The pulpit is perhaps the best piece in the church, hexagonal in plan and evidently original to the building, of c.1805. It is of pale oak inlaid with even paler mahogany which simply forms a frame within each panel.
Lectern
1905
The lectern is a small brass eagle.
Font (object)
c.1900
The font has a bowl with four lobes set on a group of four colonettes.
Organ (object)
c.1900
The organ is a two-manual instrument by Conacher with an uncompleted specification; c.1900, repaired in 1949.
Rail
The communion rails are of oak.
Churchyard
Grid reference: SK 148 234
Burial and War Grave Information
It is unknown whether the building is consecrated.
It is unknown whether the churchyard has been used for burial.
It is unknown whether the churchyard is used for burial.
It is unknown whether the churchyard has war graves.
National Heritage record for England designations
There are no records of National Heritage assets within the curtilage of this site.
Environment
Ancient, Veteran & Notable Trees
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
There are no records of Ancient, Veteran or Notable Trees within the curtilage of this site.
Renewables
| Renewable | Installed |
|---|---|
| Solar PV Panels | N/A |
| Solar Thermal Panels | N/A |
| Biomass | N/A |
| Wind Turbine | N/A |
| Air Source Heat Pump | N/A |
| Ground Source Heat Pump | N/A |
| Ev Charging | N/A |
Species summary
There are no records of species within the curtilage of this site.
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
'Seek advice' Species
More information on species and action to be taken upon discovery.
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
Further information
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