St Chads 2

t Chad's replaced a smaller church dedicated to St Austin, built on the same site in 1808, in the Gunmakers' Quarter of the town on steeply sloping land that fell away to the canal and wharf.[5] Because of the narrow site, and the necessity to build in brick rather than stone, Pugin was restricted in the style and proportions of the church that he could design. Because he wished to make the church as open and spacious as possible, he looked as a model to the style of churches that were built in Northern Germany in the late Middle Ages.[3] St Chad's is built in the style of a brick hall church or "hallenkirke", similar to Munich Cathedral and has a westwerk with narrow broached spires similar to those of Lübeck Cathedral. Because of the steep slope of the site, Pugin built a large crypt beneath the building, to be used primarily as a burial place for family tombs,[3] and former cathedral clergy, and is now rehearsal room for the choir.

The interior, the nave of which is almost twice as high as it is wide, has a very high arcade, like German hall churches, carried on clusters of thin shafts, those of the chancel being decorated in paint and gold leaf with a helical pattern like a barber's pole, bearing the legend Sanctus Sanctus Sanctus Dominus Deus Sabaoth ('Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts') . The wooden ceiling, with curving blue trusses, is ornamented with monograms and floral patterns, inspired by the remnants of medieval decoration to be found on the ancient ceilings of Ely and Peterborough Cathedrals. Phoebe Stanton describes the ornate decoration of the ceiling as "brilliant" and so delicate that "it resembles fabric stretched over a lattice".[3]

Pugin designed many of the fittings including the high altar under an elaborate baldachin, with riddel posts, and the choir screen. The Bishop's Chair, in oak upholstered in green velvet, backed with the diocesan shield of arms was also designed by Pugin. Other fittings, such the 16th century carved pulpit and the medieval canons' stalls were from churches in Belgium and Germany respectively and were collected and donated by John Talbot, the sixteenth Earl of Shrewsbury. The sanctuary windows are the work of William Warrington. Other windows, metalwork, fittings and vestments were provided by John Hardman of Birmingham, to the design or specifications of Pugin. Hardman was a parishioner of St Chad's, founding the Cathedral Choir in 1854. Four generations of his family are among those interred in the crypt.[4]

In 1932, St Chad's was extended by the addition of St Edward's Chapel, designed by Pugin's grandson, Sebastian Pugin Powell, and built in memory of Archbishop Edward Ilsley and his patron St Edward the Confessor. The chapel windows depict the history of the relics of St Chad, and those who have served the church there, along with some magnificent ecclesiastical coats of arms. In the 1960s, a number of the fittings, including Pugin's screen, were removed and the interior repainted, to the detriment of the original design.[3][5] The rood screen was re-erected in the Anglican parish church of Holy Trinity, Reading. Other artifacts were removed to other churches, including the giant rood crucifix, which after its removal to the Church of the Sacred Heart & St Therese, in Coleshill, was reinstated in the cathedral within the Sanctuary on the instructions of Archbishop Maurice Couve de Murville.

One of the finest neo-gothic church buildings in England, built to the design of Augustus Welby Pugin and opened in 1841. Much of the work is by Hardman & Co. The mother church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Birmingham, it contains some splendid 19th century stained glass made by Hardmans, a 16th century Flemish pulpit, and a late medieval statue of the Virgin Mary, as well as one of the largest new manual organs in the UK, built by Walkers & Co in 1993.