The Rector is the Rev.Adrian Stone Tel: 01785 253493
Curate:    Ann Kelly, The Vicarage  Tel: 01785 224634
Local Lay Minister: Keith Eaton    Tel: 01785 602482
 Churchwardens are: Mr Tony Stubbs 

Tel: 01889 270329 

                         and Mr Trevor Field-Williams 

Tel: 01889 808157

     Services are normally held on the 2nd and 4th Sundays in the month at 11.15am  using the Book of Common Prayer services.
Matins on the 2nd Sunday and Holy Communion on the 4th Sunday. See Church News.

     St Mary's Church at Ingestre is part of the Lichfield Diocese  and the United Benefice with St John's, Littleworth and St John's, Tixall.

EARLY HISTORY:-

    There are references to a chaplain at Ingestre in 1305, and to the advowson of Ingestre Church in 1307. Originally it was a Chapel of Ease, established by the Lord of the Manor with the Bishop's consent, as Ingestre was too far from St Mary's, Stafford for people to walk there regularly for services.

   In the late 15th century, between 1485 and 1509, William Chetwynd built a chapel on the waste of Ingestre dedicated to St Erasmus, a Bishop & Martyr from about 300AD. The chapel was endowed with lands to maintain a priest, and soon became famous for its adjoining, medicinal salt springs. It was visited by the lame and diseased, with the walls hung about with crutches. In 1536  it was valued at £10 - 16s - 8d, compared with Tixall nearby valued at £8 - 7s - 4d.

    The exact site of this earlier Chapel is not known, but some of the stained glass was reused in the present Church, after the Chapel had been taken down in the 1670s.

PRESENT CHURCH:-

  The Church of St Mary, Ingestre is a Grade I Listed Building, finished in 1676, and reputed to be to a design by Christopher Wren. The foundations were laid in 1673: " mill'd shillings, halfpence and farthings, coyn'd that year, being put into hollow places cut fit for that purpose in the large corner stones of the steeple, by Mr Chetwynd himself and other gentlemen."

   The Church was consecrated in August 1677 with the Bishop baptizing a child, churching a woman, joining a couple in matrimony and burying another, all on the same day - no wonder it had taken some time after the completion of the building in 1676 to arrange all these together. The idea was to emphasize that this was a Parish Church, and not a private Chapel for the Chetwynd family.

   The exterior is all ashlar faced and the west door has Tuscan columns and a pediment leading from the tower into the church. There is a plaque recording the dedication of the Church by Walter Chetwynd in 1676 and the Chetwynd Coat of Arms. The exterior of the tower is decorated with garlands, a balustrade and urns. Inside the floor is black and white marble and there is a very fine stucco ceiling. The nave has four arcaded bays with Doric Columns on tall square bases. 

 

   The pews, originally box pews, are of Flanders Oak. There is a handsome screen decorated with the Royal Coat of Arms, and a richly carved pulpit with tester by Grinling Gibbons, signed with his open pea pods. 

  
                                 Lighting was installed in 1886, 4 years after the fire at Ingestre Hall.
 

   There are some excellent late17th century and 19th century mural tablets and other monuments recording members of the Chetwynd family, including a fine 1918 monument to Viscount Ingestre by Countess Feodora Gleichen

The font is marble with a contemporary cover.

   All graves and monuments have been recorded by the Local History Group, and these records alongwith all burial records for Ingestre have been entered on a database. Searches by name can be carried out for a small donation to cover expenses and towards the upkeep of Ingestre Church. Contact Anne Andrews Tel: 01785 246101 or Tixandrews@hotmail.com for further details.

    Ingestre Church Website

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