Church Heritage Record 620340

West tower with abutting north (now kitchen) and south (now WCs) vestries. 6-bay nave, with glazed narthex at west end beneath gallery, and shallow chancel with apsidal east end.

[Approximate] Nave 14m (46ft) x 14m (46ft), apsidal chancel 3m (10ft) x 5.5 (18ft)

A church has been on this site since the 12th century. Of the current building, the tower is the oldest part, dated c.1536, and also considered to be the oldest surviving structure in Stoke on Trent. The remainder of the church was built in 1717 to replace a timber-framed thatched nave which was destroyed by fire. By the 1780s the church was said to have become too small, so it was extended by a bay to the east, by Thomas Sherwin in 1788. The church warden at the time, who is credited for instigating the extension, was the potter Enoch Wood. At the same time the roof was raised, it is likely that galleries were also inserted to the north and south (west gallery probably also of this date), with stairs provided within vestibules at the north-east and south-east corners (now vestry and storage). The Victoria County History also records a gallery at the east end with an organ in 1792. A clergy vestry was built to the south-west in 1793 (now WCs). In 1878 the nave was restored and refitted, and a new organ positioned on the west gallery. The east gallery was probably cleared at this time. New fittings at the east end installed in 1919. A clergy vestry was added to the north of the tower c.1930s, now used as a kitchen. The area beneath the west balcony has since been glazed to form a narthex.

The churchyard was extended in 1804 and 1847. A section of the north side of the churchyard was lost when the main road was altered. The churchyard contains memorials to a number of local and nationally notable figures, including the Woods and Josiah Wedgwood and his family, and local master potters Egerton, Daniel and Adams. Another burial of local interest is that of Margaret Leigh, regarded as the witch of Burslem, whose grave is unusually aligned north-south to the south of the church.

There are many local archaeological records, with the majority relating to the pottery industry, and a number of finds recording medieval pottery providing evidence of the local pottery industry in the 16th century. The archaeological potential of the site is moderate. There are no known designations relating to the ecology of the plot.

The church is relatively simple in its external appearance, though fragmented. A short but sturdy two-stage west tower has prominence given the large open churchyard around it. The tower has a low west door with ancient studded oak doors set beneath a flat-arched hoodmould, a monument is fixed to the wall to the south side. A step into the base of the tower is inscribed ‘subscribed for by neighbours and friends’. A three-light perpendicular window is placed above it, with a three-light opening to the bell-chamber above that, repeated on each side. The tower has an embattled parapet and angled buttresses.

The nave, with its shallow, pitched, hipped roof, is attached to the tower’s east. At first sight it appears rendered, but on closer inspection the masonry is actually painted, though this was done with a cementitious paint in the 1970s. The nave has a stone plinth possibly from the older structure. The north and south nave walls are characterised by tall round-headed windows which contain Y-tracery and mark each bay. They have brick reveals with stone springers and keys. Meshing obstructs and detracts from the overall exterior appearance. Shorter versions are positioned above doors positioned at the eastern and western-most bays. Those to the east on north and south sides have pedimented door surrounds whilst that to the west on the south side has a moulded architrave. It is likely the doors at the east end pre-date the chancel extension. Following the extension they would have led to vestibules which once had stairs up to interior galleries. A doorway in the western-most bay on the south side has a moulded architrave. This is not mirrored on the north side, though there is a door into the later north-west former vestry.

This vestry is a boxy, low 1970s extension with flat roof and now contains the kitchen. It has pointed windows and abuts the tower and nave. In the south-west corner between the nave and the tower is a flat-roofed vestry with curved outer wall. It has two Y-tracery lights to the south side, and now contains WCs.

At the east end the wall bows outwards and has a Venetian window with pilasters between the three lights. Cast-iron guttering survives in place. Heavy iron straps are the result of stabilisation works in response to mining subsidence.

The main entry is through the south-west door which opens into the glazed narthex area, beneath the west gallery. It is a carpeted space used for meetings and other activities. A separate meeting room is through glazed doors to the north side, and provides access to the kitchen which was inserted with the assistance of lottery money. The kitchen abuts the tower whose masonry walls form the backs to the cupboards on the south side. Access to the WCs is through a ‘scooped-out’ Georgian doorway in the south-west corner of the narthex.

Access to the tower stair is by steps in the centre of the west wall of the narthex. A tower room is reached before getting to the gallery. There are many peal boards on the walls, and a stack of children’s toys on the floor. The gallery space is also used for storage. The floors are boarded with some of the pews still in place. Organ pipes are positioned centrally on the platform. The walls have been repainted and plastered as part of a community pay-back scheme. The gallery front, appreciated from the nave, is Georgian.

The nave is seated with numbered fixed pine pew benches (c.1878?) with holders to the ends, positioned on raised boarded platforms. The aisles are carpeted. Removed choir stalls from the chancel are stored along the north wall. The walls are boarded to dado height and painted above. Radiators are fixed to the walls. The glass in the windows is of clear, diamond leaded panes (with some coloured glass to the borders and within the uppermost lights). The south windows are covered by long textile pieces to provide colour and to reduce drafts from the broken windows. Floodlights are crudely wired onto the walls between the windows. A simply profiled cornice follows the perimeter of the flat ceiling.

Computers are set up in the north-west corner of the nave, and there is storage in the south-west corner. The north-east corner is set up with band equipment. A door in the corner beyond it leads to the vestry, historically a vestibule with access up to a gallery. The equivalent in the south-east corner once had a crypt beneath it but was filled around ten years ago as a solution to the space filling with water. Above the doorway is a projector screen.

At the east end, an inserted elevated carpeted platform projects out from the sanctuary into the easternmost bay of the nave and marks out the chancel area. It is reported that Minton tiles survive beneath but these could not be inspected. Furniture from the chancel has been cleared except the back row of choir stalls. There are two steps up at the east end to the communion rails, and the altar is raised on another step. The east wall is oak panelled. A three-light stained glass window is positioned beyond it.