2016-02

St Chad’s
S
67 Dalewood Avenue, Beauchief, Sheffield S8 0EG
email: bigdavesummit@hotmail.com
07889 229013
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t: 0114 220 3299 or 07908 898 827
e: chrisshephard@blueyonder.co.uk
www.chrisshephardplumbing.co.uk
Every now and then someone will
knock on the vicarage door asking
if they can be let into the church.
They do not want to come in and
pray, nor do they want somewhere
to shelter from the rain, or even to use
the facilities (though these are all reasons
why people sometimes do ask for entry).
Some people want to go into the church
for the sole reason of seeing the stained
glass windows.
This may surprise some people,
for whom St Chad’s appears a fairly
unprepossessing building hardly likely to
contain architectural treasures (though it
is Grade II* listed). St Chad’s is certainly
not Chartres cathedral, nor does it have
anything to rival the rose window of York
minster. But it does have some attractive
and interesting stained glass.
When the church was built it had no
stained glass at all. In fact it didn’t have
a great deal of anything – the outbreak of
the First World War meant that money ran
out for the building and only the nave was
initially completed. The windows were
made of clear glass. I don’t know whether
there had originally been any plans to
adorn the building with stained glass, but
in any event the windows when they were
fitted were clear.
The First World War sadly gave many
decorations to the church in the form of
war memorials. It is the memorial in the
shape of a stained glass window that is
the one that excites the interest of church
visitors. The window is in the centre of the
south wall. The left-hand scene shows a
traditional picture of the Lord’s Supper (the
observant can spot Judas on the far left,
clutching a bag of money). On the right is
shown a scene from the trenches. British
soldiers are receiving a ‘Field Communion’
St Chad’s Church, Linden Avenue, Woodseats
Church Office: 9 Linden Avenue, Sheffield S8 0GA
Tel: (0114) 274 5086
Page 18
email: office@stchads.org
website: www.stchads.org