Church Heritage Record 620089

2-bay chancel and north chapel. North aisle arcade and west tower.

[Approximate] chancel and chapel 8m (25ft) square

The Old Chancel has its origins in a chapel-of-ease, first mentioned in 1192 and perhaps built a few decades earlier (Rugeley is mentioned in Domesday, but no chapel). The fabric of the chancel itself, and one lancet in the south wall, date to this period.  It became a parish church in 1272 when the Dean of Lichfield granted it this status, and a major building campaign saw the addition of the north aisle and chapel.  A further campaign in the 14th century added the tower and south aisle, there was also a south porch and north vestry. This proposed sequence, detailed in a booklet by Staffordshire County Council in 1983 with phased reconstruction, might be in need of review.

After the Reformation there were attempts to increase the church’s capacity by adding galleries, but as Rugeley grew rapidly after the construction of the Trent and Mersey Canal it was decided that a new church was needed.  This new St Augustine’s was finally constructed in 1822-3 directly to the east, a big and expensive early Gothic revival job reflecting the growing prosperity of the town. 

The tower was kept as a landmark.  What became known as the Old Chancel, the chancel and north lady chapel, was used as a cemetery chapel and Sunday School. The nave was pulled down, only the north arcade left standing connecting the two elements.  There appears to have been a comprehensive Victorian renovation, which involved partly blocking the east arch of the arcade between chancel and chapel. The Old Chancel was used until the 1990s, the period of the most recent repairs to the roof, and the construction of a hall next to the new church.  The structures have deteriorated since.

The archaeological potential of the site is considerable. The site contains mature trees and is a Green lung within the town, and as such is of considerable ecological value. Its role within the Conservation Area is also of considerable value.

First of all the “ruined” parts. The 3-stage west tower is a plain structure, crenellated, with a pointed west door with hoodmould and pointed 3-light window above with Geometrical tracery, pointed tower arch to the lost nave with gable scar above (now blocked with fencing due to collapsing belfry floor).  There are 2-light pointed cusped openings to the belfry stage, small lancets in stage below. Diagonal buttresses, moulded plinth. 

The surviving north nave arcade is of three bays, the two middle bays Early English with broad rounded chamfered arches and keeled compound piers, the westernmost arch pointed, late 14th-century, the easternmost arch narrower and supported on a short column, early 13th century. The exact chronology here needs teasing out.

The chancel and Lady Chapel each have a gabled roof with plain east cross finial, and together form a roughly square block in plan. The chancel east wall is pierced by a large Victorian 3-light pointed window with Geometrical tracery, 3-light with Early English 3-light in the lady chapel.  The north wall of the chapel has a 2-light square-headed window in the east bay.

The south wall has a 3-light pointed window with Geometrical tracery, to the east of a single pointed lancet high up. To the east of this again is a shouldered doorway with lintel, now blocked.  One lean-to buttress to the south wall which looks a late addition, diagonal buttresses to the east corners. 19th-century regular blocking masonry of the western openings to nave and aisle, of which there are no visible traces. There is a blocked square-headed door into the chapel.

The interior is whitewashed plaster. An area with Post-Reformation scrolling text has been left exposed on the north side of the east window, raising then possibility that more such, or earlier, may survive.  The monuments from the old church have been collected here, forming a history of the Weston and (following marriage) Landor families from the 16th to 19th centuries, a very fine collection, with some conservation needs. There are also benefaction boards and more recent memorials.

Low sedilia in south wall of chancel with gabled canopy, and Victorian piscina under the 2-light window. Medieval piscina within pointed recess in south wall of chapel. Piscina in Victorian blocking of east arch of 13th-century pointed arcade between chancel and chapel. Stone flagged floor.  Plain Victorian roof structure.  Moveable simple altar table,  communion rails, desks, low simple benches, all probably Victorian.  There is a lot of clutter, modern chairs and tables from the use as a Sunday School.