The

Hilderstone Website

A note as to its construction and other matters

Christ Church, Hilderstone, was dedicated on 31 July 1833, the first stone having been laid in 1829. The church is constructed in Hollington (a local) stone in a  gothic style. The architect was Thomas Trubshaw. Trubshaw was a son of a Staffordshire family of masons and church builders who had been involved in church building for generations.

The church has a low tower with a spire 40 feet tall. The tower has one bell, which is still tolled each Sunday. The interior of the church is 72 feet long and 32  feet wide. Christ Church has a central aisle and two side aisles. The gargoyles on the outside of the building are said to depict the workmen involved in the construction of the church and, generally speaking, are  in excellent condition.

Christ Church, Hilderstone was built with the aid of funds made available under the Church Building Acts the first of which was in 1818. Churches built with the  assistance of those funds are known as "Commissioners churches", or "Waterloo churches", since the Church Building Act 1818 was passed in part to commemorate the success in the Battle of Waterloo. Other reasons for the Acts were said to be an attempt to stem the tide of Dissent and bringing the established church to those who were not served by Church of England churches, often those affected by  industrialization or living in small poorer villages.

 The Lords Commissioner of the Treasury, administered the monies used to assist the building of Commissioners' churches. The churches built using their funds had to represent good value for money. They were to be built "with a view to accommodating the greatest number of persons at the smallest expense within the compass of an ordinary voice, one half of the number to be free seats for the poor".

The Commissioners laid down specific stipulations as to design and personally approved the pans of all churches funded by them. Examples of requirements are "the windows ought not to resemble modern sashes; but whether Grecian or Gothic, should be in small panes and not costly" and "The pulpit should not intercept a view of the altar, but all seats should  be placed so as to face the preacher". The application of these requirements can be clearly seen in Christ Church, Hilderstone. Commissioner's churches (and others built at the same time) have characteristic features. They have lean proportions. A large rectangle with the altar at the end set in a short chancel. There is often a pulpit on one side of the chancel with a reading desk at a lower level on the other. The organ is in a West gallery. Beneath the West gallery is the font. Windows were long and pointed. Often they have lancet windows with shallow buttresses between. Each of these features appears in Christ Church.

The Victorians did not favour Commissioners churches. They regarded them as cheap and unworthy. The design and structure of Commissioners churches did not lie  easily with developments in the Anglican liturgy and theology in Victorian England. The vast majority were despoiled by Victorian architects. Betjeman says (in the Collins Guide to Parish Churches of England and Wales,  London 1980, p 61) that he is aware of only one Commissioners' church which has survived exactly as its architect designed it. He refers to Christ Church, Acton Square, Salford. Christ Church, Hilderstone, is  another. Good fortune, and a lack of funds, has meant that Christ Church Hilderstone is very much as Thomas Trubshaw designed it. There have been only minor changes to the furnishings. Although the building has been  lit by electricity since 1947, the original candlesticks are in place at the ends of the box pews

In his Buildings of Staffordshire, Sir Nikolaus Pevsner says:

"Christ Church (1827-29) by Thomas Trubshaw. Commissioners type, but with North West steeple carrying a recessed spire. The church has lancets, with flattish  buttresses between, and typically clumsy pinnacles. The interior has originality ignorance breeding originality with its octagonal piers, each side carrying fluting or a sunk panel, and its leaf capitals. Angel  corbels for the roof inform us of the people connected with the new building (Ralph Bourne, the donor, the parson at the time, and the architect). Box Pews. Stained Glass. The east window with its glaring colours  typical of its date: 1829 by Collins of London (CPDD)."

Pevsner is unduly harsh. The charm of the church arises from the fact that it is a local work, little changed from the time when it was first built. The East  window is in fact enamelled glass. It is thought to be the only surviving example of Collins' work in situ in a church in the United Kingdom. The central panel is a copy of a painting by Carlo Dolci, the original of which was at one time in the ownership of the Marquis of Exeter. The panel was exhibited in 1828. Photographs of the East window may be seen on the Miscellanysite.

J A C, 1998

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