ST. MODWEN AND HER CULT

Modwen, an Irish abbess returning from a pilgrimage to Rome, is alleged to have built a chapel dedicated to St. Andrew on an island in the Trent called Andresey, an Old English name meaning 'Andrew's isle', and to have dwelt there as an anchoress. She departed for Ireland, leaving Andresey in the care of two female companions, and died, but her body was brought back for burial on Andresey. The details of her life, which are never fixed chronologically, place Modwen variously in the 5th, 7th, or 9th centuries, and there is no evidence that Modwen ever existed. (fn. 18) She was, however, celebrated at Burton by the early 11th century when Conchubran (or Conchobhar), an itinerant Irishman searching for materials about an Irish abbess named St. Monenna (or Moninne), came to the town. His Life, the first written record of Modwen, conflated his subject with both Modwen's legend at Burton and that of Darerca, a southern Scottish saint. (fn. 1) It was probably in Conchubran's time that Burton was also known as 'Mudwennestow' (meaning 'Modwen's holy place'). (fn. 2)

Some of Modwen's alleged remains were transferred from the chapel on Andresey to Burton abbey and a shrine built there. (fn. 3) The move evidently took place between 1008, when the abbey's dedication was recorded as 'St. Benedict and All Saints' (implying that Modwen's bones were not then within the abbey church), and the abbacy of Leofric (1051-66) who despoiled the shrine. (fn. 4) Although there was an altar to Modwen 'behind the choir' of the abbey church by the time of Abbot Geoffrey Malaterra (1085-94), an undated grant by William I (1066-87) to the abbey using the formula 'to God and St. Mary in the church of Burton and Andresey (fn. 5) suggests the continued significance of Andresey as a religious site, as well as the relative unimportance of St. Modwen before the abbacy of Geoffrey (1114-50). Geoffrey actively promoted her cult, wrote a Life of the saint, recorded her recent miracles and rebuilt her shrine in the abbey. (fn. 6) His promotion of the cult probably led to an increase in the number of pilgrims; the lodging house (hospitacio), which the parish chaplain, Recelbert, then held, may have accommodated them. (fn. 7) It also meant that by the mid 12th century the dedication of the abbey, recorded as St. Mary alone in 1086, had commonly become St. Mary and St. Modwen; (fn. 8) by the late 12th century there was an altar in the abbey church known interchangeably as that of St. Mary and St. Modwen or of St. Modwen alone. (fn. 9)

The discovery of further relics of St. Modwen in 1201 prompted renewed interest in her cult. Additional miracles were attributed to her, (fn. 10) and she was depicted on the seal of Abbot Nicholas (1216-22). (fn. 11) A new shrine was built in the abbey church in the early 15th century, (fn. 12) and it was probably that shrine which by the 1530s had an image of the saint with a red cow and a staff said to be helpful to women suffering labour pains. (fn. 13)

When the chapel on Andresey was dedicated in the early 13th century by Bishop Geoffrey Muschamp, it was called St. Andrew's church, and its keeper was given 1s. a year by Abbot William Melburne. (fn. 14) There was probably an altar to St. Modwen on the island by 1280. (fn. 15) When the chapel was rebuilt by Abbot Thomas Feld in the late 15th century, it was known as St. Modwen's and contained her supposed tomb. (fn. 16) In 1535 oblations at St. Modwen's shrine there were worth £2 a year. (fn. 17)

The Cult Elsewhere

The cult in England was largely confined to the diocese of Coventry and Lichfield and to the south, and no English parish church was dedicated to her outside Burton. (fn. 18) It was probably exported in the mid 11th century by Abbot Leofric to some of the other monasteries where he was also head: Peterborough (where the cult was recorded in the late 12th century) and Coventry (where St. Modwen was venerated in the 1530s). (fn. 19) There was also a chapel dedicated to her in the parish church at Offchurch (Warws.), which was appropriated to Coventry. (fn. 20) By the early 12th century Modwen was also associated with the foundation of a nunnery at Polesworth (Warws.), (fn. 21) and her cult had spread to Chester by the late 12th century. (fn. 22) In the 1530s there was an image to Modwen in Ashbourne church (Derb.). (fn. 23) In Staffordshire a well at Canwell was recorded in the late 17th century as being named after her, and she was depicted in medieval window glass, mentioned in 1798, at Pillaton Hall, in Penkridge. (fn. 24) By the later 13th century the cult was also known in monasteries with earlier links to Burton: Winchester, where Abbot Geoffrey of Burton had been prior; Reading, where Abbot William Melburne had been a monk; and Wherwell nunnery (Hants.) near Winchester. In addition, two cathedrals had relics of the saint: Canterbury by 1316 and Salisbury by the 15th century. (fn. 1)

Later History

The cult in Burton was officially suppressed in 1538. Sir William Bassett of Meynell Langley (Derb.), possibly acting on orders from Thomas Cromwell or Archbishop Cranmer, destroyed the shrine, removed the saint's image to London, and ordered the keeper to receive no more offerings. (fn. 2) Elements of the cult, however, persisted. The personal name Modwen, which had some popularity before the Reformation, (fn. 3) continued to be given to girls in Burton until at least 1585. (fn. 4) St. Modwen's well, probably on Andresey and recorded in 1686, was said in 1738 to work great cures. (fn. 5) The name St. Modwen's Isle, however, recorded as an alternative for Andresey in the early 1550s, did not persist. (fn. 6)

When the chapel on Andresey passed to the Pagets as lords of Burton manor in 1546, it measured 60 ft. by 27 ft. (fn. 7) It was still standing in 1699 and possibly as late as 1837, but by 1857 the chapel site had become a pool. (fn. 8) The area around the chapel was known as St. Modwen's Orchard by 1760, when it was marked by a water-filled ditch; the ditch was still there in 1879. (fn. 9)

St. Modwen's Day

By the early 12th century the saint's feast day was celebrated on 5 July, (fn. 10) and was the occasion of Burton's fair, authorized by the king in 1200. (fn. 11) In the early 13th century it was known as her 'first feast' (fn. 12) to distinguish it from the feast of her translation, which was known as her 'second feast' in 1229 and her 'last feast' in 1286. (fn. 13) The latter feast was celebrated on 9 September in Burton by the early 12th century, (fn. 14) but elsewhere it may have been celebrated on 9 November through confusion over the seventh and ninth months. (fn. 15) It is presumably because the town's principal fair was transferred from 5 July to 29 October that Modwen's feast day, still celebrated in July in 1656 but apparently not in 1659, had been transferred to 29 October by the late 18th century. (fn. 16) By the early 20th century the October date was rationalized as the feast of her translation, (fn. 17) and the parish church still celebrated its patronal festival on 29 October in 1998. (fn. 18)

ANGLO-SAXON CHURCH

If, as the Life of St. Modwen implies, there was an Anglo-Saxon chapel dedicated to St. Andrew on Andresey, it is possible that it was associated with one of the foundations of the Northumbrian Bishop Wilfrid when he was exercising episcopal functions in Mercia between 666 and 669. Wilfrid founded a number of unidentified 'monasteries' in Mercia, and his devotion to St. Andrew is indicated by his churches at Hexham (Northumb.) and Oundle (Northants.). (fn. 19) The fate of such a church on Andresey during the 9th-century Danish invasions is unknown.

There is, however, stronger evidence for the existence at Burton of a pre 11th-century minster church serving an extensive parochia. In the 1120s the abbey was recorded as having the typical exemptions of an earlier minster church: it did not have to pay for 'chrism or holy oil or any other parochial matter', nor send a representative to chapter or synod. The extent of the parochia may be suggested by the abbot's spiritual jurisdiction over Abbots Bromley and Mickleover (Derb.) in the 13th century. (fn. 20)

The endowment of a monastery on the west bank of the Trent by Wulfric Spot, an Anglo-Saxon nobleman, by a will dated between 1002 and 1004 presumably followed the conversion of the minster church to a Benedictine abbey in the late 10th century. (fn. 21) That abbey is treated in an earlier volume of the History. (fn. 22)

PAROCHIAL ORGANIZATION TO 1545

In the early 12th century the parish was served by a chaplain, presumably the man named Recelbert who received half the income of the parish altar, a corn render (or thrave), and the provisions of one monk, and who had a lodging house (hospitacio); the abbey supplied him with candles for the parish altar, presumably in the abbey church. (fn. 1) He was probably assisted by a man known variously as Alwine the deacon, Alwine the priest, and, evidently in jest, Alwine 'the bishop' (bissop). (fn. 2) The abbey endowed Alwine with an annual payment of 2s., 4 bovates of land in Stapenhill worth 6s. a year, the provisions of one monk, fodder for one horse, and a house outside the abbey gate, probably the lodging house which Recelbert had previously held. (fn. 3) Alwine's son, also Alwine, later became chaplain for life with the same endowment as his father. Some time between 1160 and 1175 the younger Alwine was in turn succeeded by his son, a third Alwine, who held the post on similar terms. Vincent, son of the third Alwine, evidently followed in the office c. 1190. (fn. 4)

The abbot and convent were said to be the rector of the parish in 1319, when the clergy included two parochial chaplains and four priests. (fn. 5) There were two parochial chaplains in 1324, but probably only one in 1342 and 1383 (styled a perpetual vicar in 1391 but a parish priest in 1421), and still probably only one in 1434. (fn. 6) Guild priests may have had some parochial responsibilities from the 15th century, although it is not known precisely how the parish was served when the abbey was dissolved in 1539.

The laity used the west end of the nave of the abbey church for their services probably from the rebuilding of the church in the early 12th century. (fn. 7) The division between the upper church for the monks and the lower one for the laity was probably at the first nave pier west of the crossing, (fn. 8) and services for the laity were probably taken at the Holy Cross altar, recorded in the early 13th century. (fn. 9) In 1459 the pope granted permission for the celebration of a mass before dawn for laity who came to the abbey. (fn. 10) A divinity lecture ordered by the abbot in 1537 to be read three times a week in the church by the schoolmaster of Burton may have been intended partly for the benefit of the laity. (fn. 11)

Burton college, founded in 1541 after the abbey had been dissolved in 1539, maintained a single parish priest in 1544, whose stipend was probably £6 13s. 4d. a year. He was styled a curate in 1545, when the college was itself dissolved. (fn. 12) The college is treated in an earlier volume of the History. (fn. 13)

There was a graveyard for the laity separate from that for the monks by 1402. (fn. 14)

GUILD

There may have been a guild in Burton by the mid 13th century, when William 'de Gildhus' was recorded as holding land in Branston; he is probably the William 'atte Gyldehus' mentioned in 1270. (fn. 15) The four priests who celebrated at Burton in 1319 may have been guild priests. (fn. 16)

The first definite evidence for a guild is a bequest of 1465, when the guild evidently had more than one priest. By 1466 there were four priests, the normal complement, and the guild was often known as 'the four guilds'. (fn. 17) Each priest, who had his own clerk maintained by the guild, was assigned a part of the parish: Branston, Shobnall, and Sinai; Horninglow and Wetmore; Winshill and Stapenhill; and Stretton. (fn. 18) In the 1540s there was lay master of the guild and a steward, who was also styled 'the warden of the pyx' of the borough of Burton. (fn. 19) The guild presumably ceased to function on the dissolution of the chantries in 1547.

The guild maintained a chapel dedicated to St. Luke, presumably in its hall; the chapel was probably founded in 1468 when the Crown granted a fair on St. Luke's day. Each priest had a chest with a chalice, four suits of vestments, altar cloths, and hangings. In addition to its liturgical plate the guild had plate for guild dinners including a great standing cup of silver gilt, 25 silver spoons, 8 brass candlesticks, napkins, towels, and tablecloths. (fn. 20) The guild priests also celebrated by turns in the chapel on the bridge over the river Trent, which had its own chalice and three suits of vestments. (fn. 21)

Membership of the guild was presumably open to all parishioners, and several testators in the 1530s and 1540s left 3s. 4d. to be included in the guild book and for prayers to be said for their souls. (fn. 1) Each guild priest had £4 13s. 4d. a year intended to be raised by the profit of four 'ales' (or dinners), to which parishioners brought 'a dish of meat. . . to make merry'; any deficit was made up from income from the guild land. (fn. 2) Each priest also had a chamber (cubiculum or camera) in what was evidently a row between the church and guild hall, which in 1550 stood on the south side of the market place. (fn. 3)

In 1547 the guild held lands in Burton worth no more than £3 a year. (fn. 4) In 1564, however, it was claimed that the guild had also held lands at Morrey, in Yoxall, and elsewhere, and in the late 16th century the total value of its lands was said to have been more than £14 a year. (fn. 5) After 1547 some of the lands became part of the town lands. (fn. 6)

PECULIAR JURISDICTION

Bishop Robert Peche (1121-6) confirmed to Burton abbey as 'the mother church of Burton' various rights then said to date from the church's foundation. The church was free of payments for chrism, holy oil, and 'any other parochial matter', and it was not required to send a man or a woman to chapter or synod; moreover, it could hold its own court. (fn. 7) The grant was confirmed by archbishops of Canterbury and diocesan bishops in the 12th and 13th centuries, (fn. 8) and was acknowledged by archdeacons of Stafford in the 12th, 13th, and 14th centuries. (fn. 9) In the 1140s the diocesan confirmed that the chaplain of Burton was exempt from paying any custom or exaction to the archdeacon of Stafford, and in 1280 the archbishop determined that the chaplain should pay nothing to the diocesan or archdeacon except 3s. for Peter's pence. (fn. 10)

The powers of the abbot's court were confirmed in the 1120s by Bishop Peche 'so long as justice is not wanting', perhaps implying a right of appeal to the bishop. In a later confirmation by Archbishop Theobald (1150-61), however, the abbot's court was said to be for 'all causes'. (fn. 11) In the mid 13th century the abbot claimed matrimonial jurisdiction, but the right appears to have been stopped by the pope. (fn. 12)

In the 13th and 14th centuries the bishop's right to visit Burton parish was contested by the abbot. The bishop, however, held a visitation of the parish in 1390, (fn. 13) and by 1535 the abbey had acknowledged his visitation rights and paid procurations. (fn. 14) Bishops and archdeacons continued to visit the parish church after the Reformation. (fn. 15)

In the 18th century the peculiar jurisdiction was again contested. (fn. 16) The earl of Uxbridge resisted the bishop's claim to exercise faculty jurisdiction in Burton when the parish church was pulled down in 1718, (fn. 17) although in 1723 the churchwardens by-passed Uxbridge and appealed to the bishop to allot the pews in the new church. (fn. 18) In 1751 there was a dispute over the bishop's attempt to exercise the right of excommunication within Burton. (fn. 19) In the early 19th century it was stated that while the lord of the manor had the uncontested right to prove all wills in Burton, other matters such as licensing the perpetual curate, granting marriage licences, swearing in the churchwardens, and 'all contentious jurisdiction whatsoever' belonged to the bishop. (fn. 20)

Probate of Wills

There was an official of the abbey's spiritual jurisdiction in 1344. (fn. 21) His functions are unknown, but the survival among the abbey's muniments of a Burton will made in 1402 suggests that the abbey exercised probate jurisdiction by that date, and an official of the abbey's jurisdiction was certainly granting probate of wills by 1465. (fn. 22) After the dissolution of the abbey, probate jurisdiction passed first to Burton college and then to the Pagets as lords of the manor, and they continued to employ an official of the peculiar jurisdiction, also styled a commissary. (fn. 1) Some wills, however, were in the mid 16th century proved in the bishop's consistory court at Lichfield. (fn. 2) In 1728 the post of official of the peculiar was described as 'an office of some dignity and trust, but of very little profit and advantage'. (fn. 3) Wills were kept 'in a loose promiscuous manner' at Sinai Park House, the home of the earl of Uxbridge's bailiff; because many had been lost, the earl appointed Richard Rider, then an officer of the episcopal registry at Lichfield and later chancellor of the diocese, as registrar or assistant to the Burton official, and he kept Burton wills with those proved at Lichfield. In 1729 Rider was succeeded by John Fletcher, who acted as registrar of several peculiar jurisdictions. (fn. 4) In the late 18th century two probate courts were held each year in Burton by the official, although in the 19th century at least one will was proved at Lichfield by an attorney acting for the peculiar court of Burton. (fn. 5) There may have been some confusion between the jurisdictions of the Burton peculiar court and the Lichfield consistory court: in 1820 a will was proved first at Burton and subsequently at Lichfield. Nevertheless, the lord of the manor still exercised probate jurisdiction in Burton in 1856. (fn. 6) Under the Court of Probate Act of 1857 the Pagets' probate jurisdiction was extinguished in 1858. (fn. 7)

PAROCHIAL ORGANIZATION FROM 1545

After the dissolution of Burton college in 1545, the parishioners used the transepts and crossing of the church, in addition to the western arm, as their parish church. (fn. 8) By 1687, and possibly from the 1650s, the parish was divided between the 'town' (Burton and Burton Extra) and the 'country' (Branston, Horninglow, Stapenhill, Stretton, and Winshill), an arrangement reflected in the appointment of two churchwardens for each division. (fn. 9) In 1824 the parish was divided into two districts, a southern one for the church of St. Modwen and a northern one for the newly built Holy Trinity church; the northern area was constituted a separate parish in 1842. Thereafter both parishes were subdivided by the creation of further ecclesiastical districts and parishes: Christ Church (1845); Horninglow (1867); Winshill (1867); Branston (1870); St. Paul's (1873); Stretton (1873); All Saints' (1898); St. Chad's (1903); and Shobnall (1916). Holy Trinity and St. Modwen's were united in 1969, as the parish of Burton-on-Trent, and in 1982 Christ Church and All Saints' were united. (fn. 10)

Despite the 19th-century division of the parish, St. Modwen's vestry continued to collect a single church rate for all the town churches. Compulsory church rates were abolished by an Act of 1868, and thereafter a voluntary rate was levied by St. Modwen's vestry for St. Modwen's, Christ Church, and Holy Trinity, with the addition of St. Paul's from 1876. The system was changed in 1879 so that the churchwardens of each of those parishes collected their own rate from individuals, whilst the wardens of St. Modwen's, on behalf of all four churches, continued to collect the rate from brewers and other firms in the town. (fn. 11) Often known as the brewers' rate, it raised over £411 in 1890, (fn. 12) but thereafter income began to decline as firms withdrew from the scheme and only a little over £209 was given in 1928. (fn. 13) Bass, Ratcliff, and Gretton withdrew from the scheme that year to make individual contributions directly to each of the four churches, but St. Modwen's continued to collect donations from other firms until at least 1954, when less than £23 was given in total. (fn. 14)

ST. MODWEN'S PARISH CHURCH FROM 1545

Benefice and Advowson

After the dissolution of Burton college in 1545, Sir William Paget as the lord of the manor was charged with maintaining a curate and a preacher to serve the parish; the two offices were combined from the mid 17th century. (fn. 15) Described as a perpetual curacy in 1768, (fn. 16) the living became a vicarage under the Incumbents Act, 1868. (fn. 17) From 1957 it was held in plurality with Holy Trinity until 1969, when the two benefices were united as the benefice of Burton-on-Trent, (fn. 18) and in 1982 St. Paul's was included in the benefice. (fn. 19)

On the dissolution of the college, the Crown appointed a 'chief curate', (fn. 20) but shortly afterwards it granted the advowson to Sir William Paget and the advowson thereafter descended with the manor. (fn. 1) The patron was occasionally susceptible to popular pressure: in the 1690s Lord Paget replaced the curate on the petition of the parishioners, (fn. 2) and in 1870 the congregation was allowed to elect a vicar by secret ballot. (fn. 3) In 1884 the advowson was purchased from the marquess of Anglesey by public subscription and vested in the bishop of Lichfield. (fn. 4) Under the terms of the union of the benefices in 1982 the presentation was to be exercised jointly by the bishop of Lichfield and Lord Burton, still the patrons in 1999. (fn. 5)

Income and Property

The clergy originally received only what the lord of the manor allowed them. By the terms of the 1546 grant of Burton manor Sir William Paget received all the tithes and in return was charged with annual payments of £7 to the curate for administering the sacraments and £10 to another priest for preaching; there was no other endowment of the living. (fn. 6) Paget initially raised the curate's stipend to £10 and lowered the preacher's to £7, (fn. 7) and from 1558 he dispensed with the preacher and paid the curate £13 6s. 8d. a year. (fn. 8) By 1585 there was once more both a curate, paid £14 10s,. and a preacher, paid £14. The salaries were confirmed when the Crown restored the Paget estates in 1597, the preacher then described as being for the borough of Burton. (fn. 9) By 1639 the two offices had been combined and the minister was paid £28 10s. (fn. 10) By 1689 the minister received £35 from the manor, and that remained the stipend until it was raised to £50 in 1777. (fn. 11) Secured by the patron's endowment of a £30 rent charge in 1826, that stipend was still received from the marquess of Anglesey in 1953 and probably continued until c. 1972. (fn. 12)

The lord of the manor also received the Easter dues, worth between £7 13s. 4d. and £11 2s. 8d. in the later 16th century, (fn. 13) but by 1693 they had been granted to the minister. (fn. 14)

The first endowment assigned to the curacy was a grant of £50 a year made by parliament in 1652 out of Hanbury rectory; it evidently ceased to be paid after the Restoration. (fn. 15) In 1820 a benefaction of £200 was made by the executors of the Burton lawyer Isaac Hawkins. To meet that benefaction and the securing of the curate's stipend in 1826, Queen Anne's Bounty in 1827 made two grants of £300 each; it had already given £800 on account of population in 1825. (fn. 16) In 1838 the living was worth only £217 18s. 5d.; by 1855 it had risen to £255. (fn. 17) In 1897 the endowment was described as 'miserable'. In 1902 parishioners devised a plan to guarantee a stipend of £350 a year, and in 1924 Fred Young gave £100 to endow an Easter offering for the vicar. (fn. 18)

Incumbent's House The 'chamber of the parish priest' which adjoined the graveyard in 1550 was probably one of the former guild priests' houses. In 1585 the curate had a tenement (possibly the earlier chamber) in High Street, provided by the lord of the manor, who was also paying to clothe him. (fn. 19) By 1612 the curate occupied a room provided by Paget within the former monastic precinct, and by 1666 he had a house probably still within the precinct. (fn. 20) Nothing further is known of where the minister lived until 1808, when he again had a house in High Street. (fn. 21) The minister in 1851 still had lodgings in High Street, but by 1860 he occupied a house called Trent Bank at Bond End, described in the 1890s as 'anything but compatible with the dignity which one associates with the principal minister of the town'. (fn. 22) In 1893 a house called the Orchard in Orchard Street was purchased as a vicarage house with money raised by public subscription and a grant from Queen Anne's Bounty. That house, which had formerly belonged to Martha Thornewill, mother of the vicar, C. F. Thornewill, (fn. 23) was sold on the union of the benefices in 1982 and was demolished in 1989. (fn. 24) A new vicarage house was built in Rangemore Street in 1983. (fn. 1)

Lecture

By will proved in 1649 Thomas Boylston, a London clothier who was probably the son of John Boylston of Anslow, bequeathed to the London Company of Clothworkers £800 to establish a lecture in Burton every Thursday morning. The lecturer was to be appointed by the bailiff of Burton and between four and six of the chief inhabitants, on the advice of three local ministers, and he was to be paid £31 4s. a year. For tolling the sermon bell the parish clerk was to have 16s. (fn. 2) By the 18th century it was customary for the incumbent of St. Modwen's to be the lecturer, as a means of augmenting his stipend. (fn. 3) In 1870 the lecture was moved to Wednesday evening because 'attendance rarely reaches 20 and these are mostly old women from the almshouses'. (fn. 4) Again held on a Thursday morning from 1933, the weekly lecture was replaced in 1968 by one given four times a year and the annual payment was directed towards cleaning the church. (fn. 5) By a Scheme of 1978 the trusteeship of Boylston's charity was transferred to the vicar and churchwardens of St. Modwen's, and the lecture ceased to be delivered c. 1982. (fn. 6)

Clerical Provision

The curate appointed by the Crown after the dissolution of the college was Robert Baslowe, formerly a petty canon of the college; he was succeeded in turn by Bartholomew Francis (d. 1557) (fn. 7) and Thomas Smith, a former guild priest. (fn. 8) Another former guild priest, William Smith, officiated as 'under curate' in the 1550s. (fn. 9) Anthony Gefscocke, who succeeded on Thomas Smith's retirement in 1578, had been a scribe of wills in Burton since 1570. (fn. 10)

William Browne, minister from the 1690s, was a pluralist with independent means; although he chiefly resided at Burton, (fn. 11) he regularly employed an assistant curate from the 1720s. Thereafter there was usually an assistant curate. (fn. 12) Financial support for an assistant curate was provided by the Additional Curates' Society from 1844 until 1877, but the bulk of the assistant's income came from voluntary local contributions. (fn. 13) One or occasionally two curates were employed until 1910; thereafter the depopulation of the town centre meant that there was no curate until the later 1950s. (fn. 14) In the late 1980s and early 1990s the curate lived in the former Christ Church vicarage house in Moor Street, renamed St. Modwen's House. (fn. 15) In 1994 the minister of St. Aidan's in Shobnall Road, was appointed to serve also at St. Modwen's as a town centre chaplain. (fn. 16)

The first deaconess to work in Burton arrived in the mid 1940s and was described in 1956 as being attached to both St. Modwen's and Holy Trinity; she resigned in 1957. (fn. 17) Valerie Morris, wife of the incumbent, was appointed a deaconess in 1982 and became part-time parish deacon after her ordination in 1987. (fn. 18)

Church Life after the Reformation

Under the terms of the 1546 grant of Burton manor, Sir William Paget as lord of the manor was expected to pay £1 a year for bread, wine, and other necessaries; in fact, he usually spent considerably more. (fn. 19) Paget also paid for copies of the new Book of Common Prayer in 1549 and 1552. (fn. 20) His son Thomas, Lord Paget, was an ardent recusant, (fn. 21) and although John Tailor of Burton Extra had an English Bible in 1568 and the will of James Sutton, a Burton carpenter, made about the same time, suggests zealous godliness, (fn. 22) committed protestantism failed to get a hold in Burton until after Paget's flight in 1583. The subsequent influence in Burton of the godly Hastings family of Ashby-de-laZouch (Leics.), earls of Huntingdon, allowed evangelical protestantism to grow. (fn. 23) Peter Eccleshall, the preacher at Burton by 1585 and the curate from 1587, was indicted in 1588, probably for not using the Book of Common Prayer, (fn. 1) and it may have been the growth of puritanism in Burton which attracted Philip Stubbes, a godly pamphleteer, to settle briefly in the town in the early 1590s. (fn. 2) Eccleshall and Arthur Hildersham, a celebrated godly minister of Ashby-de-laZouch, were conducting a 'common exercise' in Burton by 1596. After 1603 the exercise included William Bradshaw, another noted puritan and preacher at Stapenhill, and it rotated between Burton, Stapenhill, Repton (Derb.), and Ashby until its suppression in 1611. (fn. 3)

Eccleshall was one of those who supported the claim made in 1596 by a 13-year-old boy, Thomas Darling of Burton, that he had been bewitched by Alice Gooderidge of Stapenhill and diabolically possessed. Known as 'the boy of Burton', he had visions of green angels and a green cat, with convulsions and temporary paralysis. Darling continued a zealous puritan after being exorcized, and when a student at Oxford in 1602 he was sentenced to be whipped and to have his ears cropped for attacking the vice-chancellor's campaign against puritans. (fn. 4)

In 1609 Edward Wightman, a Burton draper and alehouse keeper who had helped record Darling's fits and who had signed a testimonial of the boy's character, attended the Burton exercise and began voicing heterodox views about the soul. (fn. 5) After presenting James I with an heretical tract concerning the Trinity he was arrested in 1611, whereupon he claimed to be the Holy Spirit. He was executed at Lichfield in 1612, the last heretic to be burnt in England. (fn. 6) It was because of its association with Wightman that the exercise was suppressed. (fn. 7)

Music The deacon assigned £4 a year for playing the organ under the terms of the 1546 grant of Burton manor may be identifiable as John Bradshaw, a singing man of Burton college, who was recorded as the organ player in 1557. The organ had probably been removed from the church by the 1580s when Bradshaw was paid the same salary but described as a sexton. (fn. 8)

An organ was installed in 1771 and Anthony Greatorex (d. 1814) was appointed organist. His salary was met by public subscription until 1790, when, subscriptions falling off, it was met out of the church rates. (fn. 9) Anthony was succeeded as organist by his son Thomas Greatorex (d. 1831), a distinguished musician, although his conducting and playing duties in London must have restricted his ability to perform in Burton. (fn. 10) He resigned in 1828 and was succeeded by Charles Yates, (fn. 11) who resigned in 1847 after the minister of St. Modwen's had accused him of immoral conduct and professional incompetence and had employed a police constable to prevent him from playing in services. (fn. 12)

The purchase of a singing book in 1697 possibly indicates the existence of a society of psalm singers, but it is not known how they were organized nor for how long they existed. (fn. 13) A group of church singers was described in 1807 as 'a set of industrious, hard working people, some of whom have large families [and] can badly afford any expense'. Consequently, their costs, estimated at 2 guineas a year, were to be raised by subscription, the earl of Uxbridge promising 1 guinea. The singers seem by 1807, and certainly by 1833, to have been under the control of the organist, whose duties by the latter year included conducting the unaccompanied singers. (fn. 14) They were replaced in 1847 by what was described as 'a very efficient choir' who sang accompanied by the organ. (fn. 15)

Church Life from the Nineteenth Century

Services in 1829 were held on Sunday mornings and afternoons, with prayers on Wednesdays, Fridays, and saints' days and the Boylston lecture on Thursdays. Communion was celebrated eight times a year, with about 70 attending at each occasion. (fn. 16) The average Sunday attendance in 1851 was 400 at both morning and afternoon services, besides Sunday school children. (fn. 17) A Sunday evening service started in 1860 was so well attended by 1892 that there were hardly enough seats. (fn. 1) A children's Sunday service, probably held weekly, began in 1871 but had ceased by 1892; by 1896 a monthly one had been reinstated. (fn. 2) There was a harvest festival by 1877. (fn. 3) Further liturgical changes were introduced from the late 1880s, and in 1887 the choir, which then numbered 38, was robed and provided with stalls and a vestry in the upper storey of the tower. (fn. 4) Coloured stoles and a chalice veil were first used in 1889, when daily morning prayer was also begun. (fn. 5) A New Year's Eve watchnight service was held for the first time in 1892, and in 1895 or 1896 the celebration of communion was increased from two Sundays a month to weekly. (fn. 6) A communicants' guild, established in 1896, was reorganized in 1899 by the vicar, H. B. Freeman, as the Guild of the Ascension, modelled on one at Christ Church, Bath, where Freeman had been curate. It appears to have folded in 1918. (fn. 7) In 1910 St. Modwen's was described as having 'a good medium service . . . not too high, and not too low', a style still followed in the 1990s. (fn. 8)

An unlicensed mission room was opened from St. Modwen's in the mechanics' institute in Guild Street in 1871. Run by a lay deacon from Lichfield Theological College, it was closed in 1876. (fn. 9) A scripture reader was appointed in 1872, (fn. 10) and was styled a lay assistant by 1893, when his duties included running weekly cottage meetings. (fn. 11) The post was apparently abolished in 1902. (fn. 12) A monthly service in what is called Wetmore Hall, a former Primitive Methodist chapel at the north end of Wetmore Road, began in the mid 1980s, after the transfer in 1969 of that area from Stretton ecclesiastical parish to the parish of Burton-on-Trent. (fn. 13)

A parochial lending library of some 132 volumes was kept in the clergy vestry in 1829, but was little used. (fn. 14) A monthly parish magazine was probably first started in 1872 and certainly existed by 1892; it continued in 2000. (fn. 15)

A mothers' meeting, begun by 1892, and a branch of the Mothers' Union, in existence by 1899, were amalgamated in 1927. (fn. 16) By 1893 there was a team of women district visitors whose duties included relieving the poor with money and medicines and 'awaken[ing] the higher life of those they visit'; by 1924, however, they were employed mainly in distributing the parish magazine. (fn. 17) A girls' club, in existence by 1920 and known as the Guild of St. Modwen by 1937, was dissolved in 1970, when its membership included adult women. (fn. 18)

A Church of England Young Men's Association which was formed in Burton in 1846 was opened to all protestants in 1856. (fn. 19) A Burton branch of the Church of England Young Men's Society was formed c. 1878, with premises by 1889 in Friars Walk. Renamed the Parish Church Society in 1892, it was dissolved in 1913. (fn. 20)

The former premises of Burton grammar school in Friars Walk were acquired in 1876 for use as Sunday schools and church rooms. Known as the Friars Walk Schools, they were used in 2000 by a private school. (fn. 21)

Church Buildings

St. Modwen's Old Church The present church of St. Modwen, a dedication derived from that of the former abbey but commonly used for the parish church only from the mid 19th century, (fn. 22) dates from the early 18th century. Its predecessor was that part of the former abbey church which was reserved to the parish when the Crown granted the possessions of the dissolved Burton college to Sir William Paget in 1546. It comprised the aisled nave of seven bays, west tower, west porch, crossing with tower and spire, and trans epts. (fn. 1) By 1603 the eastern arm, which had been granted to Paget, was in ruins and the arch separating it from the crossing was walled up. (fn. 2) In the early 18th century the pulpit and font stood on the south side of the nave, (fn. 3) and a 'spread eagle in brass' which then stood in front of the pulpit may have been the brass lectern bought by the parishioners from Burton college in 1545. (fn. 4) There were three galleries, one each for the 'town' and the 'country' parts of the parish and a private one for the Every family of Burton and Egginton (Derb.), (fn. 5) besides seats for the poor in the south aisle. (fn. 6)

Figure 40: St. Modwen's church from the south-east in 1839

Maintenance of the fabric was a problem, especially after 1643 when an explosion of gunpowder in the church destroyed the roof and blew out the windows. (fn. 7) The church was again in disrepair in 1697 when props had to be inserted in the chancel. Further buttressing was needed in 1707 and in 1710, when all the doors on the south side had to be nailed shut 'to prevent all danger' and the dismantling of the spire was considered. (fn. 8) It was then claimed that the minister and parishioners could not meet in the church for services 'without . . . hazard of their lives', and a brief was obtained to raise money for repairs. (fn. 9) In fact, without the consent of minister or churchwardens, and contrary to a resolution of a parishioners' meeting, the church was dismantled in 1718. The earl of Uxbridge was said to have approved the demolition, which was supervised by two close associates, William Woodcock, rector of Egginton, and his relative George Hayne, lessee of the Trent navigation and a resident of the abbey precinct. (fn. 10) The costs of demolishing the old church and building the new one, however, were met by levies on the parish. (fn. 11)

St. Modwen's New Church The present church, begun in 1719, first used for services in 1723, and finally completed by 1728, (fn. 12) is built in red sandstone and comprises an aisled five-bay nave with galleries on the north, west, and south, an apse, and a western narthex with central tower, north and south gallery stairs, and internal porch. Designed in a Classical style by the brothers Richard and William Smith of Tettenhall, it is similar to the church at Whitchurch (Salop.) built by William to the designs of John Barker. William died in 1724 and Richard in 1726, and the church was completed by their younger brother Francis Smith of Warwick. (fn. 1) In the 1730s Richard Wilkes, a Staffordshire antiquary, described the church as 'elegant and beautiful', giving 'pleasure to all that behold or enter it'. (fn. 2) The west tower is of three stages and has a balustrade with urns and round windows with radial glazing bars. The apse has wide Doric pilasters at the opening and between the windows. The nave arcades have tall Doric piers without an entablature, the flat ceiling has a deep cove, and the nave galleries cut across the high, arched windows of the aisles.

The church retains its original altar rails and gated pews. An altar erected with £120 bequeathed in 1739 by Thomas Hixon, the manorial bailiff, had a reredos which in 1751 was described as 'a beautiful altar piece of Italian marble'. (fn. 3) After complaints about the symbolism, the reredos was removed in 1878, and a new communion table was installed in 1879. (fn. 4)

A combined pulpit and reading desk was provided in 1722. It may also have included a clerk's seat: in the mid 19th century a three-decker pulpit stood at the east end of the nave. Also in the mid 19th century the font was at the west end of the nave, and the centre aisle was filled with wooden benches; behind the altar were text panels and the royal arms, and the side windows of the chancel were filled with clear and coloured glass. (fn. 5) The royal arms were replaced in 1865 by coloured glass depicting the Crucifixion, given by the marquess of Anglesey; at the same date new side chancel windows depicting the Annunciation, the Transfiguration, the Last Supper, and the Resurrection were given by the brewers M. T. Bass and Henry Allsopp. (fn. 6)

The east end was remodelled at the same time as the liturgical changes introduced in the late 19th century. In 1883 the three-decker pulpit was split in two: the pulpit was moved to the north-east end of the nave and the reading desk to the south-east end. Carved panels were added to the pulpit by Lord Burton in 1890. A new lectern was acquired in 1886. (fn. 7) In 1887 stalls were made for the clergy and choir. (fn. 8) In 1889-90 William Tate of London directed the redecoration of the whole interior of the church and the re-ordering of the sanctuary, including a mosaic ceiling in the apse and fluting to the apse pilasters. (fn. 9) New furnishings included an oak altar and a brass altar cross; a reredos in alabaster and green marble, with carved panels showing Christ in glory flanked by various saints including St. Modwen, was given by the vicar, C. F. Thornewill, and his two brothers. (fn. 10)

Despite its recent improvements, St. Modwen's was described in the 1890s as 'lonely and practically lamented', lacking the patronage of the brewers that many of the newer churches in the town had attracted. (fn. 11) In 1894, however, work began on restoring the church, including the removal of the font from the centre aisle to the south-west corner of the nave; much of the cost was defrayed by the brewers of the town. (fn. 12) The architect, J. A. Chatwin of Birmingham, had proposed creating new vestries to replace the choir vestry on the first floor of the tower and the clergy vestry in the south porch, but the expense and local opposition (fn. 13) meant that it was not until 1902 that new vestries were added, under the direction of Henry Beck, wrapping around the apse, and again paid for with brewers' money. (fn. 14) By 1904 the brewing families had given £13,000 for the restorations. (fn. 15)

A memorial to the dead of the First World War, in the form of a carved oak tympanum with bronze panels made by Martyn & Co. of Cheltenham, was erected in the west porch in 1920. (fn. 16) It was extended c. 1948 to a design by R. S. Litherland of Burton, as a memorial to the dead of the Second World War. (fn. 17) A Lady Chapel was created in 1956 at the east end of the south aisle. (fn. 18) In 1961 the decoration of the sanctuary was restored by Campbell Smith & Co. of London. (fn. 1) The church was damaged by fire in 1999 and temporarily closed. (fn. 2)

The parish registers date from 1538. (fn. 3)

Font and Plate The present font, one of the few survivals from the medieval church, is a 15th-century bowl standing on a plinth bearing the date 1662 and the initials wm, th, and tw, probably for the minister, William Middleton, and two churchwardens. (fn. 4)

The plate in 1549 included two chalices and two patens, but only one of each pair remained in 1552. (fn. 5) A silver chalice and paten were acquired in 1662. Anne, wife of Sir Henry Every, Bt., gave a paten in 1705, (fn. 6) and Mary, widow of Sir Robert Burdett of Bramcote, in Polesworth (Warws.), Bt., gave a flagon in 1726 when she was living in Burton. (fn. 7) In 1727 the minister, William Browne, gave another flagon and his wife Ann gave a paten. A further chalice was acquired between 1795 and 1830. (fn. 8) William Tate designed the brass altar cross given in 1889 as well as the candlesticks and processional cross given in 1895. (fn. 9)

Organs In 1545 the commissioners for dissolving Burton college gave one pair of organs and sold another to the parish church. (fn. 10) In 1771 an organ made by John Snetzler of London was erected in the west gallery by public subscription, and set in a case made by James Wyatt with a cameo panel, perhaps made by Josiah Wedgwood. It was presumably to bear the weight of the organ that iron columns supporting the west gallery were inserted. (fn. 11) An electrically operated organ was installed in 1900, and the organ case was extended on each side. The organ was rebuilt in 1970-2 using some stops from Holy Trinity church. (fn. 12)

Royal Arms and Monuments Royal arms hung above the altar in 1829, and remained there until 1865. (fn. 13) There were apparently two sets of royal arms in the church in 1869: Charles I's in the vestry and George I's in the porch. Nothing further is known of the former, but the latter were still in the porch in 1962; in 2000 they were stored in the north gallery. (fn. 14) A hatchment, apparently connected with the Peel family, was also stored in the north gallery in 2000. (fn. 15)

A sepulchral slab inscribed with a floriated cross, and dating possibly from the 14th century, was moved in 1968 from the south wall of the churchyard into the south porch. (fn. 16) An alabaster figure of a knight, datable to either the late 15th or later 16th century, lay under the tower at the crossing in the 1590s, when it was already much mutilated. (fn. 17) It was presumably carried into the new church in the 1720s, and by 1798 stood at the west end, under the tower; in the mid 19th century it was in the market place, and by 1878 it had been moved to the garden of the Priory, a house in the south-west corner of the former monastic cloister. (fn. 18) Presented to Burton museum in 1924, it has since disappeared. (fn. 19)

Bells and Clock There were six bells 'in the college steeple' in 1545 but only two bells and a sanctus bell in the church in 1553. (fn. 20) A 'great bell' and a hand bell were mentioned in 1570. (fn. 21) The five bells which existed in the early 18th century were recast into six in 1726 by Abraham Rudhall of Gloucester. Two small bells were cast at the same time. (fn. 22)

Disturbances caused by bell ringers led to the adoption in 1727 of rules governing conduct in the belfry: no ringing was allowed after 10 p.m., only known and qualified ringers were allowed in the belfry, and only the sexton was to ring for sermons and services. (fn. 23) In the early 19th century the ringers were threatened with losing a third of their fee because they would ring only for their own pleasure and not for the church's services. (fn. 24) In 1829 they were paid £7 4s. for ringing at services, the appointments of churchwardens, and on national holidays, and between 1829 and 1838 they also received £1 for an annual feast. In 1865 their fee was raised from £10 to £15 a year. (fn. 1) In 1895 Francis Charrington gave £60 to pay for the ringing of the bells each year on Trafalgar day (21 October). (fn. 2)

There was a clock in the early 1550s. (fn. 3) It, or a later mechanism, was fitted with chimes, which needed repair in 1707. (fn. 4) In 1785 a clock with musical chimes of eight bells was installed by John Whitehurst of Derby at a cost of £203, of which half was given by the earl of Uxbridge. (fn. 5) By the early 20th century the chimes played a different tune on each day of the week. After the Second World War they chimed usually only on market days; they continued in use in 2000. (fn. 6)

Churchyard In the mid 16th century the graveyard lay to the south of the church. (fn. 7) A lychgate mentioned in 1568 may be the church stile of 1682, (fn. 8) and stone left over from the rebuilding of the church was used in 1727 to make a churchyard wall encompassing land to the south, east, and north of the church. (fn. 9) In 1829 a 'fence' was put up in front of the church. (fn. 10) The same year the vestry leased land called the Arbour on the north side of the churchyard as an additional burial ground, and in 1830 an adjoining 1 1/2 a. was leased from the marquess of Anglesey. (fn. 11) In 1835 the churchyard covered 3 a. 25 p. (fn. 12) New burials were restricted from 1856, and the churchyard was closed in 1866 when the municipal cemetery was opened. (fn. 13) That part of the churchyard north of the church was vested in Burton corporation in 1939, (fn. 14) and was converted in 1952 into a garden of remembrance for Burtonians who had died in the Second World War. (fn. 15)

There was a hearse by 1549. (fn. 16) One acquired in 1832 was kept in a 'hearse house' until at least 1860. (fn. 17)

HOLY TRINITY

In 1804 Isaac Hawkins Browne and the Revd. Thomas Gisborne, executors of the Burton lawyer Isaac Hawkins (d. 1800), considered that a suitable object for Hawkins's money would be a new church in Burton with a large proportion of free seats: according to Gisborne many poor people were unable to obtain sittings at St. Modwen's and so were 'left either to live without public worship or to seek it in some mode of Dissent'. (fn. 18) A site in Horninglow Street had been identified by 1807, (fn. 19) and later a draft parliamentary bill was prepared for the erection of a chapel to be maintained out of a rate. (fn. 20) The bishop of Lichfield opposed the bill, declaring it the most 'objectionable' he had ever seen, (fn. 21) and in 1815 the executors considered the plan to have failed and proposed instead building a school for the poor. (fn. 22) The Church Building Acts of 1818 and 1819, in dispensing with the need for an Act of Parliament, made the erection of new churches easier (fn. 23) and reinvigorated the plan for a church at Burton, which Gisborne continued after Browne's death in 1818. (fn. 24)

A church, known as Holy Trinity and paid for out of Hawkins's estate, was duly opened in 1824 on the south side of Horninglow Street, (fn. 25) and was assigned the northern half of Burton parish from Horninglow Street northwards, comprising the townships of Horninglow, Stretton, and Winshill. (fn. 26) That area was constituted a district parish in 1842, but was reduced by the creation of ecclesiastical districts for churches at Horninglow (1867), Winshill (1867), and Stretton (1873). (fn. 27) The church was closed in 1969 and the parish was united with St. Modwen's as the new parish of Burton-onTrent. The church itself was demolished in 1971. (fn. 28)

Figure 41: Holy Trinity church, Horninglow Street, from north-east. Built 1882; demolished 1971

Benefice and its Endowment

The living, originally a perpetual curacy, became a vicarage under an Act of 1868. (fn. 1) The advowson was vested in 1824 in the marquess of Anglesey, with the reservation that the living could not be held by the minister of St. Modwen's. In 1871 the right of the next presentation was bought by Henry Wardle of the brewing firm Salt & Co. (fn. 2) In 1925 the patronage was transferred to the Church Association Trust (from 1950 the Church Society Trust). (fn. 3) From 1956 the living was usually held in plurality with St. Modwen's, (fn. 4) and after Holy Trinity was closed in 1969 the two livings were united as the benefice of Burton-on-Trent, with the advowson held by the bishop of Lichfield. (fn. 5)

The living was endowed in 1826 with £1,200 from Queen Anne's Bounty, £600 from Isaac Hawkins's nephew, Joseph Muckleston of Prescott (Salop.), and £200 from Hawkins's estate. (fn. 6) In 1851 the living was valued at £275 a year, including £190 from the rent of 200 of the church's 800 seats. (fn. 7) Two further endowments, each of £50 a year, were granted by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners in 1874 to meet benefactions of a vicarage house and £2,300. (fn. 8)

No parsonage house was provided when the church was built, and the first incumbent lived instead at the Abbey in the former monastic precinct. (fn. 9) He moved in 1839 to a house, formerly the Vine inn, opposite the church, which by 1874 the Ratcliff family, Burton brewers, had given as a parsonage house. (fn. 10)

Church Life

The first incumbent, Peter French, was reckoned to be the leading Evangelical clergyman in the diocese, and served the cure for 47 years, during which time he overcame 'a great deal of hostility' for introducing 'a new order of things'. (fn. 11) By 1850 he had three curates including his son Thomas Valpy French, later the first bishop of Lahore (in modern Pakistan). (fn. 12) Peter French instituted in 1824 a monthly communion service, at which average attendance in 1829 was 60; (fn. 13) the congregation on Census Sunday 1851 numbered 398 in the morning and 663 in the evening. (fn. 14) William Drury, French's successor (1871-1903), introduced a surpliced choir by 1885; (fn. 15) he also inaugurated an early morning May day service for working men which persisted until 1919. (fn. 16)

Mission churches were opened at Stretton (1839), Winshill (1846), and Horninglow (1847). (fn. 17) An infants' school on the east side of Anderstaff Lane, opened in 1847, had been licensed for services by 1857 and continued as a mission room until the late 1870s. (fn. 18) A parish hall at the north end of Guild Street was licensed as a mission room from 1919 to 1928. (fn. 19)

Church Buildings

The first church, opened in 1824, was of cement-clad brick in a showy Commissioners' Perpendicular style, designed by Francis Goodwin of London. It was orientated north-south, with a chancel at the south end, an aisled five-bay nave with tall, slender arcades and a delicate vault over the nave alone, and a tower over the north entrance. (fn. 20) The tower contained a clock and one bell. (fn. 21) There were galleries on three sides of the nave, and a large, octagonal pulpit and reading desk. A screen behind the communion table created a vestry at the far end of the chancel. (fn. 22) The original position of the font is unknown, but in 1829 the archdeacon ordered that it should stand by the communion rail; he also ordered that the Ten Commandments board should be displayed behind the communion table. (fn. 23) A churching pew was added in 1835 and a royal coat of arms in 1837. (fn. 24) In the 1840s the window behind the communion table was filled, at the expense of the congregation, with coloured glass depicting St. Peter and the four Evangelists. (fn. 1) The original organ was replaced by a new one in 1872. (fn. 2)

In 1878 it was decided to enlarge the chancel and add a vestry, but before the work commenced a fire damaged the fabric and in 1879 it was decided instead to build a new church. (fn. 3) The old church was demolished in 1880, and the new one opened in 1882, (fn. 4) three-quarters of the total cost being met by the Allsopp family, brewers. (fn. 5) Re-aligned east-west on the same site and built in Hollington stone to the design of John Oldrid Scott in the Decorated style, the church consisted of an aisled chancel with a south vestry, a broad aisled nave with a north transept, and a tall, engaged north-west tower to which a spire was added in 1886. (fn. 6) The communion table, organ, and some glass were retained from the old building. (fn. 7) An alabaster and mosaic reredos was inserted in 1887, a clock was installed in 1888, and a new organ in 1891. (fn. 8)

In 1824 Thomas Gisborne presented a silver communion set: flagon, chalice, paten, and salver. A second chalice, also in silver, was given by the communicants in 1837. (fn. 9) Although a peal of ten bells was proposed for the 1882 church, only one bell was installed, the gift in 1887 of a committee of working men. (fn. 10)

Churchyard

The church of 1824 had a 1/2-a. burial ground attached to it. Burials were restricted from 1856, and the burial ground was closed in 1866 on the opening of the municipal cemetery. (fn. 11) On the closure of the church in 1969 the human remains were reburied in St. Modwen's churchyard, and the site was developed for commercial purposes. (fn. 12)

CHRIST CHURCH

A new church, at the corner of Moor Street and Church Street (later Uxbridge Street), was opened with an associated National school in 1844 (fn. 13) to meet criticism of the 'great destitution' of the established church in Burton, and to provide for the poor for whom there was insufficient space at St. Modwen's. (fn. 14) The moving spirits behind the erection of the church were Robert Belcher, surgeon, Robert John Peel, cotton manufacturer, and Robert Thornewill, iron and brass founder. (fn. 15) The cost was met by local subscription, aided by grants from the Commissioners for Building New Churches, the Incorporated Church Building Society, and the Lichfield Diocesan Church Extension Society. (fn. 16) A district chapelry was assigned in 1845, covering the New Street area, Burton Extra, and Branston. (fn. 17) In 1870 Branston became a separate district chapelry, and in 1898 the part of Burton Extra bounded by Queen Street and the Burton-Leicester railway line was assigned to a newly created district chapelry of All Saints'. (fn. 18) The New Street and Moor Street area was transferred in 1983 to the parish served by St. Modwen's. (fn. 19)

Benefice and its Endowment

The living, originally a perpetual curacy, became a vicarage under an Act of 1868. (fn. 20) The advowson, which was vested in the minister of St. Modwen's, was transferred in 1967 to the Church Society Trust. (fn. 21) The living was served by the vicar of St. Modwen's from 1976 until 1982, when it was united with that of All Saints' as the benefice of Burton All Saints' with Christ Church; patronage was vested jointly in the Church Society Trust and the Church Pastoral Aid Society. (fn. 22) Christ Church was declared redundant in 1983, and the building was sold to Elim Pentecostal Church. (fn. 1)

Figure 42: Christ Church, with school behind, from north-east in 1844

The perpetual curate was supported by pew rents from one-quarter of the seats (the remaining threequarters being free, so fulfilling the intentions of the founders), (fn. 2) and by an endowment of £1,000 from Queen Anne's Bounty; small additional grants were made by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners in 1849, 1859, 1864, and 1865. (fn. 3) In the mid 1850s the annual income of the living was only £130 and was described as 'small and precarious'; by 1867 it had risen to £300. (fn. 4)

In the later 1840s a parsonage house was built next to the church in Church Street with money raised by public subscription and with a grant from the Lichfield Diocesan Church Extension Society. (fn. 5) The house was badly damaged when the church was bombed by a Zeppelin airship in 1916, and six people were killed. The vicar moved first to Branston Road; in 1930 he moved to Abbey Street, and by 1960 to a house in Moor Street, next to the church. (fn. 6) After the church was made redundant in 1983 the Moor Street house was used as a clergy house for the new benefice of Burtonon-Trent. (fn. 7) The original vicarage house was made habitable in 1930 for a clerk and a verger. In 1990 it was acquired with the adjoining church hall by Burton Caribbean Association as a clubhouse. (fn. 8)

Church Life

William Morgan, perpetual curate from 1847 to 1864, was noted for his work among the poor, and for preaching temperance without losing the support of the Bass family. (fn. 9) His successor, Charles Guest (1864- 1911), was a 'staunch and faithful Evangelical' and an anti-ritualist, (fn. 10) who was succeeded first by his son and then by his grandson. (fn. 11) In 1883, fearing the withdrawal of the goodwill of the brewers, Guest obtained the removal of his curate, W. J. Spriggs-Smith, who had criticized the lack of temperance work in the parish and who had written a pamphlet attacking the breweries. (fn. 12)

On Census Sunday 1851 there were congregations of 202 in the morning, 41 in the afternoon, and 466 in the evening, besides Sunday school children. (fn. 13) In keeping with the church's strong Evangelical tradition, worship was simple with no vestments. (fn. 14) From the 1890s until at least 1913 a band of lay evangelists from Christ Church held open-air and indoor services in Burton and the surrounding villages. (fn. 15)

In 1844 a school-church was licensed in Branston. (fn. 16) A mission which was opened in Borough Road c. 1865 was given a separate ecclesiastical district in 1873, for which a new church, dedicated to St. Paul, was opened in 1874. (fn. 17) Bond End mission room, later known as St. Martin's church, was built in 1867 on the east side of Green Street. Closed in the late 1930s, the building was sold to the Air Training Corps in 1942. (fn. 18) A mission room, which later became All Saints' church, was opened in 1879, and in 1884 a further mission was opened, outside the parish in Stanton Road, Stapenhill. (fn. 1)

A parish room erected in Church Street in 1889 was destroyed in the 1916 air raid. A replacement, designed by R. S. Litherland and known as Christ Church Memorial Hall, had been built by 1924 in front of the original vicarage house. (fn. 2) The hall was acquired by Burton Caribbean Assocation and rebuilt as a clubhouse in 1990. (fn. 3)

Church Building

Built in stone in the lancet style to a design by J. Mitchell of Sheffield, Christ Church is cruciform and aligned south-west-north-east, with a chancel at the south-west end, transepts, and an unaisled nave. (fn. 4) At the north-east end there is a small three-stage tower with angle buttresses and an embattled parapet, which was surmounted by a thin, recessed spire. The nave has pairs of shafted lancet windows separated by thin buttresses, and both the transepts and the chancel have triplets of lancets in their end walls. The chancel arch is of two orders with shafts, and the windows have internal and external shafts. There was a vestry room in the external angle of the chancel and north transept, along with three galleries, one in each of the transepts and one at the north-east end. (fn. 5)

The church was damaged during the 1916 Zeppelin raid. Repairs were carried out, and coloured glass depicting the parable of the Sower, by Burlison and Grylls, was inserted in the window at the liturgical east end of the chancel in 1919. (fn. 6) Further damage to the roof was discovered in 1924 necessitating additional restoration in the mid 1920s; at the same time the transept galleries were removed. (fn. 7) The communion table and rails were replaced and the sanctuary floor relaid in 1934. (fn. 8) The spire was taken down in 1945 after being damaged by the massive explosion at Fauld in 1944. (fn. 9) New vestries were created in 1952 by curtaining off the east corner of the north-west transept and the south corner of the south-east transept. (fn. 10)

The font has trefoiled arches around the bowl and stands on a drum and eight colonettes, all of which have an elaborate painted marble effect. (fn. 11) Originally in the crossing, it was moved in 1913 to the south corner of the south-east transept, and again in 1952 to the west corner of the nave. (fn. 12) The original closely spaced pews had iron poppy heads; most of the pews remained in 1980. Royal arms of c. 1845 hung on the balcony of the west gallery in 1980. (fn. 13)

One bell was placed in the tower in 1844; a new one was hung in 1865. (fn. 14) A clock, given by the feoffees of the Burton town lands, was placed in the tower in 1865. (fn. 15)

ST. PAUL'S

A mission in Borough Road was opened c. 1865 from Christ Church at the suggestion of Michael Thomas Bass. By 1872 the mission was known as St. Paul's, and in 1873 it was assigned an ecclesiastical district created out of the parishes of Christ Church, Holy Trinity, and St. Modwen, and covering the area between the railway line on the south-east, Shobnall Road on the southwest, the canal on the north-west, and Dallow Street and Victoria Road on the north-east. (fn. 16) A new church was opened in 1874 on a site soon known as St. Paul's Square. (fn. 17)

Benefice and its Endowment

The living was a vicarage, and the patronage was vested in Bass and his heirs. (fn. 18) The living was put in the care of a priest-in-charge in 1975, and in 1982 it was united with that of St. Modwen's as the benefice of Burtonon-Trent, the patronage being shared jointly by the bishop of Lichfield and Lord Burton, still the patrons in 1999. (fn. 19)

The living was worth £400 in 1881, derived from an endowment of £3,000 given by M. T. Bass in 1873 together with £115 a year from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, making it the richest in Burton. (fn. 20) A vicarage house at the corner of St. Paul's Square and Rangemore Street was given by Bass in 1875. (fn. 21) Sold in 1954 to the local Conservative Association, (fn. 1) it was replaced by a vicarage house in Needwood Street which was in turn sold in 1982 on the union of the benefice with St. Modwen's. A new house was built in Rangemore Street for the united benefice. (fn. 2)

Church Life

Services in the late 1870s and early 1880s were moderately high church, with a surpliced choir and a cross and flower vases on the altar. (fn. 3) Under F. H. Beaven (1887-1901, and later bishop of Southern Rhodesia), (fn. 4) Anglo-Catholic ritual was introduced, provoking criticisms in the town of 'semi-popery', 'sensuous ritual', idolatry, and 'false teaching'. (fn. 5) The Anglo-Catholic tradition was maintained in the 1920s, and in the late 1990s St. Paul's remained high church. (fn. 6)

From its creation at least until the 1890s St. Paul's had an extensive programme of social outreach in its working-class parish: in 1881 there were over 100 Sunday school teachers, 27 district visitors, a penny bank, and a wide range of social activities. An appeal was made for further visitors, particularly ladies who lived outside Burton and might 'easily go in for an afternoon'. In the early 1890s the parish had 5 curates, maintained partly out of Bass's original endowment, together with 6 of the diocese's 13 catechists and 8 of its 45 lay readers. (fn. 7)

A mission church opened in 1874 was rebuilt as St. Margaret's church in 1881. (fn. 8) A mission room built by Lord Burton in Edward Street was opened in 1890. (fn. 9) Briefly used by the Salvation Army in the 1940s, it passed out of church ownership in the 1950s and was used by scouts in 2000, when known as Byrkley Hall. (fn. 10)

St. Paul's Institute, opened at the corner of Rangemore Street and St. Paul's Street East in 1882, was also provided by M. T. Bass. An important function of the building was to provide Sunday school classes, and it formed an impressive complex with the church. (fn. 11) A replacement institute in the south-west corner of St. Paul's Square, opened in 1894, also contained Sunday school classrooms. (fn. 12) That building was demolished in 1979, when the west end of the church was converted to a church hall. (fn. 13)

Church Building

St. Paul's church, designed by J. M. Teale of Doncaster with assistance from Sir Edward Beckett (later Lord Grimthorpe), is built of Coxbench and Ancaster stone in a Geometrical style and was described as being 'large and expensively done'. (fn. 14) Of cruciform shape, it consists of an aisled three-bay chancel, an aisled five-bay nave, north and south transepts, and a square central tower. The nave arcades have circular piers; the high, wide arches of the large crossing have clustered shafts, while those of the chancel arcade are quatrefoil in cross section. The capitals and label stops throughout are by S. Tinkler of Derby and show naturalistic foliage, fruit, and animals; those in the nave represent the twelve months of the year. All the windows have early Decorated-style tracery, with ballflower ornamentation in the chancel and a label carved as a naturalistic vine to the east window. The nave and transept clerestories have triple lancets, while that in the chancel has spherical triangles. The nave roof has traceried spandrels and principals supported on clustered wall shafts; those in the transepts are similar but are carried on corbels. Externally, the chancel roof is at the same height as that of the nave, but internally it has an arched boarded ceiling carried on clustered marble shafts. The embattled crossing tower has blind arcading with clustered shafts and carved capitals, large traceried openings comprising three lancets with shafts between them, and heavy pinnacles. The reredos was by Thomas Earp of London. It consisted of a blind arcade within larger super-arches, with green marble shafts, red marble backing, and a gableted cornice; representations of Christ and the Evangelists were enclosed in the arcading.

Between 1889 and 1901 the eastern arm and south transept were considerably altered by G. F. Bodley, at the expense of Lord Burton. In 1889 the south chancel aisle was converted into a chapel for daily services. (fn. 15) In 1891 an external sacristy was added on the north side of the chancel and an internal porch was added to the south transept door; an iron screen was inserted in the chancel arch, extending across the south chancel aisle; the chancel and sanctuary roof were painted; and a canopy was added to the original large circular stone pulpit. (fn. 1) In 1894-5 the original organ, by Hill and Son of London, was replaced by a new Hope-Jones organ; its case, in the south transept, was richly decorated by Bodley. At the same time the original reredos was replaced by one designed by R. Bridgeman of Lichfield which depicts the Crucifixion in a central panel of red Shawk stone surrounded by canopied saints. The chancel floor was also relaid with red and white marble. (fn. 2) In 1901 oak screens were installed in the south chancel aisle chapel, replacing the iron one of 1891. (fn. 3)

A number of other changes were made in the 20th century, paid for by parishioners and others. (fn. 4) A western narthex was added in 1910 as a memorial to Lord Burton (d. 1909); (fn. 5) a Calvary was erected in the churchyard as a war memorial in 1920; (fn. 6) and a bishop's chair of stone was built into the sanctuary wall in 1931. (fn. 7) The original font of red serpentine marble, which stood at the north-west corner of the north aisle, was replaced in 1937 by a new one in the centre of the west end of the nave; it was returned to the original position in 1946, and moved again, probably in 1979, to the southern end of the south transept. (fn. 8) The north transept was dedicated in 1952 as All Souls' chapel in memory of former vicars; the work was designed by Warwick Scott of Lichfield. (fn. 9) The two west bays of the nave and the narthex were converted into a church hall in 1979; at the same time several items were added from the former church of St. Margaret, including a wooden lectern by Morris and Co., a painting of the Crucifixion which was placed by the south door, and statues of Alpha and Omega which were added to the south chancel aisle chapel. (fn. 10) The organ was replaced in 1985. (fn. 11)

The east window is by Hardman of Birmingham; the west window and several other larger windows are by Burlison and Grylls and date from the 1880s and 1890s. (fn. 12) There are six windows in an Arts and Crafts style by Archibald and Davies of the Bromsgrove Guild, dated 1919-34, one in the south aisle and five in the narthex.

The original eight bells were recast in 1912, and two further bells were added in 1922. (fn. 13)

ST. MARGARET'S

On the opening of St. Paul's church in 1874 the original wooden mission church was moved from Borough Road to the south-east side of Shobnall Street. The building was replaced in 1881 by St. Margaret's church built on the same site and paid for by Michael Thomas Bass. He also paid for the endowment for a curate and for a Sunday-school building which was opened behind the church in 1882. (fn. 14) Services at St. Margaret's were Anglo-Catholic, provoking in 1904 a complaint from Evangelicals in the town about 'illegal and idolatrous practices' and a protest at eucharistic ritual from four 'Wycliffe' or 'Kensitite' preachers. (fn. 15) Nuns of the order of the Sisters of Bethany assisted in the parish, occupying a house next to the church from 1897 to 1927. (fn. 16) The church, which remained a chapel of ease to St. Paul's and which was never assigned its own district, was closed in 1967 and demolished in 1970. (fn. 17)

Church Building

The brick church, designed in a lancet style by Reginald Churchill of Burton, consisted of an apse, a chancel with north and south vestries for clergy and choir, a nave of five bays with clerestory, north and south aisles, a western narthex with gallery above, and a bell turret with a single bell. (fn. 18) Above the reredos there were paintings on slate illustrating the Te Deum; (fn. 19) Lord Burton added several other panel paintings illustrating

Figure 43: St. Margaret's church, Shobnall Street, interior looking east

Christ blessing children, the Crucifixion, and the chief articles of the Christian faith. (fn. 1) In 1892 he reordered and elaborated the church: the chancel was enlarged and a wooden chancel screen was inserted; carvings were added to the pulpit; and the narthex was made into a baptistery and a font was provided. (fn. 2) That year the church, which had merely been dedicated in 1881, was consecrated and the first baptism took place. (fn. 3) In 1899 the reredos was altered and a rood beam inserted, to the designs of G. F. Bodley. (fn. 4) A wooden lectern by Morris and Co. was placed in the church in 1909. On the closure of the church one of the panel paintings, some statues, and some other furnishings were taken to St. Paul's church, most of the reredos to a church at Priorslee (Salop.), and some stained glass to Norwich cathedral. (fn. 5)

ALL SAINTS'

A mission church, known as All Saints', was opened from Christ Church in 1879 on the south side of West Street (later All Saints Road). (fn. 6) A report in 1896 that Lord Burton would build a new church if he could secure the patronage aroused fears in the congregation that he would thereby introduce his favoured AngloCatholicism. (fn. 7) Nonetheless, in 1897 his brother, Hamar Bass, promised to build a new church and an endowment was accepted from Lord Burton and his brewing firm, Bass, Ratcliff, and Gretton. (fn. 8) An ecclesiastical district was assigned to the church in 1898, formed partly out of Christ Church and partly out of St. Saviour's, Branston, and comprising the area bounded by the river Trent, the Burton-Leicester railway line, and Queen Street. (fn. 9) Plans for the new church stalled, however, when Hamar Bass died in 1898, and although his son W. A. H. Bass (later Sir William Bass, Bt.) of Byrkley Lodge, in Tatenhill, agreed to honour his father's promise, further delays were caused by the need for documents to be sent to him for his signature while he was serving in the British army in southern Africa; a new church on the east side of Branston Road was eventually opened in 1905. (fn. 10)

Benefice and its Endowment

The mission was served by a curate from Christ Church, supported by the Church Pastoral Aid Society, (fn. 11) whose trustees became the patron of the living created in 1898. (fn. 12) In 1982 the benefice was united with that of Christ Church as the benefice of Burton All Saints' with Christ Church, (fn. 13) and the patronage of the united benefice was vested jointly in the Church Pastoral Aid Society Patronage Trust and the Church Society Trust; they were still the patrons in 1999. (fn. 14) In 1983 that part of the parish north of Shobnall Road, Evershed Way, and St. Peter's Bridge was transferred to St. Modwen's church. (fn. 15)

The living was endowed in 1898 with £2,000 from Lord Burton and £3,000 from Bass, Ratcliff, and Gretton, and it was augmented between 1903 and 1909 by grants made by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners to meet benefactions. By 1910 the living was worth £342 a year. (fn. 16) By 1900 the vicar lived in a house in Branston Road, which was secured as a vicarage house when the new church was built opposite it in 1905. (fn. 1) A new vicarage house behind the church in Blackpool Street was built in 1971. (fn. 2)

Church Life

From the start All Saints' has been an Evangelical church. (fn. 3) There was a weekly communion service on Sunday evenings in 1907, and the church was then noted for its open-air services. (fn. 4) Following a complaint made in 1895 'that the services were dull for want of more music', the church developed a strong musical tradition which survived until 1964, when choral communion ceased. (fn. 5) A monthly communion service designed to appeal to families with children was introduced in 1961, and from 1970, with the introduction of guitars and choruses, the main Sunday worship became increasingly informal. (fn. 6) Under James Blackett (vicar 1974-91), the church was influenced by the charismatic movement. (fn. 7)

The church developed a tradition of strong lay leadership, which sometimes caused clashes with the clergy. In 1951 the vicar resigned apparently because he opposed money-raising social gatherings such as whist drives and dances organized by the parochial church council, (fn. 8) and continuing differences between the clergy and leading members of the congregation caused the early departure of the next four vicars. (fn. 9) A lay eldership was established in 1985; it was reformed as a pastoral leadership team c. 1994. (fn. 10)

A mission church in St. Matthew's Street, off the south end of Branston Road, was opened in 1886 from St. Saviour's, Branston, (fn. 11) but was transferred to All Saints' parish in 1898. (fn. 12) Closed in 1924, the building was sold and later demolished. (fn. 13) Its font was given to All Saints' in 1942 and stands in front of the church. (fn. 14)

Church Buildings

The original church in All Saints Road was an iron building consisting of chancel, nave, and aisles, with seats for 650. (fn. 15) It had been disposed of by 1925, when it was proposed to build a church hall on the site, but the plans were abandoned and the site was sold in 1959. (fn. 16) A Sunday school building was opened next to the original church in 1882. (fn. 17) The back part of the building was sold in 1967, and since 1983 the front part has been occupied by Oddfellows. (fn. 18)

Figure 44: All Saints' church, Branston Road, from the south-west

All Saints' church in Branston Road, designed by Naylor and Sale of Derby in 1898 but not opened until 1905, is executed in an Arts and Crafts Gothic style and has a grey, rock-faced exterior of Coxbench and Weldon stone and an interior of buff sandstone with pink Hollington stone dressings. It consists of a chancel with clergy and choir vestries to the north and organ chamber to the south, a nave with north and south aisles, a north-western tower above a porch, and a second, south-west porch linked by a narthex with a baptistery apse. (fn. 19) The nave, aisles, chancel, and chancel arch are very wide, and the five-bay arcades have octagonal piers and moulded capitals. The nave and chancel windows are in Arts and Crafts Decorated style, while those in the clerestory and in the tower are in Arts and Crafts Perpendicular. Only the east window has coloured glass. The nave has a modified hammer-beam roof with tiebeams and kingposts.

The church retains virtually all its Arts and Crafts Gothic furnishings, including an ambo formed by a low serpentine marble cancelli screen with a pulpit and reading desk at either end, choir stalls, organ case, font, and some pews. The chancel floor is of inlaid white, green, and red marble.

The west end of the nave was screened off to make a parish room in 1982 by Duvall, Brownhill of Lichfield, using timber taken from the pews formerly at the west end of the nave, and the font was moved from its original position at the west end of the nave to the east end of the south aisle. (fn. 1)

A single bell was placed in the tower in 1905. The tower, however, was designed to accommodate a peal of eight bells, and in 1947 a 'victory peal' of five additional bells, donated by Sir William Bass and others, was installed as a war memorial. (fn. 2)

Footnotes