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Wybunbury Tower is what remains of the former Church of St Chad in the village of Wybunbury, Cheshire, the rest of the building having been demolished in 1976. It is a designated Grade II* listed building
Structure of particular architectural and/or historic interest deserving of special protection..[1] The site of the tower is a Scheduled Monument, owing to the succession of churches which have been built on the site.[2]
The tower was built in the 15th century on the site of an earlier church. By 1750 its foundations were observed to be settling, and the tower was beginning to lean. In the early 1790s the church was repaired or rebuilt.[3] In 1833 the body of the church was demolished; James Trubshaw then straightened the tower by removing soil from the higher side and soaking the ground so that the tower settled back straight. He then rebuilt the body of the church in a style loosely based on the previous building. This church was replaced in 1892–1893 by one designed by James Brooks, which in turn was demolished in 1976, except for the surviving tower.[1] It was deconsecrated, and is now maintained by the Wybunbury Tower Preservation Trust.[4]
The present-day St Chad’s in Wybunbury, built in 1978, is sited well away from the unstable clay sand on which the tower was built.[4][5]
Architecture
The tower, which still leans to the north, is built in sandstone ashlar
Masonry of squared and finely cut or worked stone, commonly used for the facing of a building. and has a lead roof.[1] It is square, and has five stages. The west doorway is deeply recessed, and immediately above it is a window of three lights. On each side of the door and of the window are niches containing statues, possibly of bishops, while over the window is a fifth niche containing a statue of the Trinity.[3] The fourth stage has a square wrought-iron clock face. The fifth stage has two two-light belfry
Structure in which bells are hung. openings. The parapet is battlemented with crocketed pinnacles at the corners.[1]
The tower contains a ring of six bells, cast in 1791 by John Rudhall.[6]