Church Heritage Record 620449

W tower, unaisled nave (4 bays), S porch, chancel (3 bays).

The site has high archaeological potential. There are considerable burials from the late C17 to the early C21 throughout the churchyard.

The oldest historical monument in the parish is the Roman Road, Icknield Street, or Ryknield Street, and archaeological finds from this period have been made locally. In Anglo-Saxon times Staffordshire was the heart of the Mercian kingdom and after the Norman Conquest the most important castles in the neighbourhood were Tamworth and Tutbury, while the Benedictine monastery of Burton-on-Trent, founded in 1002, was the most important local house.

The earliest records of the parish are the two entries in Domesday Book relating to Barton and Wichnor. There is no mention of Dunstall or Tatenhill. The Manor belonged to the Honour of Tutbury and was held by the Pipe and Somerville families.

Local landowners included Charles Arkwright, who was lord of the manor and owned most of Tatenhill, and lived in Dunstall Hall. Sir Oswald Mosley owned most of Callingwood, a large district partly in Rollaston parish and Rangemoor Hall was the seat of Henry Barton. The nearby village of Rangemore was built by Michael Thomas Bass, who patronised the church, to house workers on his estate.

The oldest fabric in the church is the nave of the C13, with later, Tudor fenestration. The tower and chancel are largely or wholly of the C15. A brass plate states that the chancel was restored in 1872 by William Weldon Champneys, Dean of Lichfield and Rector of Tatenhill. The monuments and wall tablets were then removed to the belfry.  In 1890, under the direction of Bodley, the church was again restored. A new chancel pavement of black and white marble, oak choir stalls, a marble reredos and organ were given by Lord Burton; and other furnishings by Mrs. Bass and Sir Reginald and Lady Hardy.

One famous chaplain at the church was Adrian Sarravia, born at Hedlin, in Artois, who came to England in 1587 and was Master of Southampton Grammar School, Canon of Worcester 1591, of Canterbury 1596, of Westminster 1601, Vicar of Lewisham 1596-1610, and one of the Translators of the Bible. He was an intimate friend of Richard Hooker and is buried in Canterbury Cathedral.

There are several mature trees and bushes within the churchyard. No known preservation orders.

The tower is of two stories, separated by a string course. It has angle buttresses to the west with three set offs and a tall base and plinth. The large west window is of four round-headed lights with a transom. The splay appears to be medieval, with a double chamfer, but the tracery is probably Victorian. There is a narrow square-headed window on the south face.

The upper storey has two-light Perpendicular-traceried bell openings in each face with labels. The tracery has nearly triangular heads, suggesting a mid-century date. The west face has a clock face. The tower is battlemented with a string course below.

The nave has four buttresses with three set offs, a base, plinth and cornice, all well moulded. It has three square-headed windows to N and S each of four round-headed lights with transoms and unpierced spandrels.

The south porch is of the late C19, timber built on stone plinth. It is in a stylised version of the Perpendicular style.

The chancel has three buttresses each of three set offs with a plinth and a gable end. A large string course follows the line of the window sills. It has three fine windows to N and S, each of four lights with transoms. The tracery includes a complex figure with five lobes – three small ones above and two large below. The lower row of lights have typical trefoil heads but those above are positioned under a highly depressed ogee. The windows are barely pointed and have a label. The east window is a large but conventional Perpendicular design.

The interior of the tower is of two storeys with a crowed office in the lower part and a bell ringing floor in the upper.

The nave is unaisled, with a king post roof. The squares created by the intersection of purlins and principles has been filled with decorative timber work. The tie-beams and king posts are slender and moulded. The nave has large four-light windows, described above, one with Victorian stained glass. The flooring consists of tiles and timber pew platforms, with marble to the east end.

The chancel has a roof of a similar form to that in the nave but without king posts and with battlemented tiebeams, echoing the battlements on the interior of the window transoms. The windows are as described above but with battlements on the transoms. The chancel has a marble floor.