The ancient church of St. Margaret, Draycott, stands on a small knoll on the North side of what used to be the A50 road from the Potteries to Derby, which in place follows the line of the old Roman Road. The oldest part of the church is the base of the squat embattled tower with walls about four feet thick and which dates back to the 13th Century A.D. In the tower there is a very substantial wooden ladder of unknown date, but possibly mediaeval, which leads to the upper part of the tower. There had been an earlier church on the site and it is reputed that a stone cross from this stood in the churchyard until the beginning of the 20th Century, but this disintegrated over the years and has been lost.
The superstructure of the tower was built around 1628 A.D. and it was probably at around this date that the aforementioned wooden ladder was installed. The clock was installed in the tower in 1889 and was the gift of Lady Stourton.
This painting of the church dated 1722, (from the William Salt Library), shows the entrance to the church was through a single door with no porch, with decorative pillars and a stone canopy. Above the door is a semicircular window with fan glazing. In the North wall it shows two long plain windows with semicircular heads and glazed with small panes. The pitch of the roof seems similar to that of today, but there is no balustrade.
The church itself is built in the Early Decorated style of the 13th Century, and there are three bays on either side of the Nave, but most of the structure was largely rebuilt in 1848 and the pannelled ceiling in the Nave was probably installed at this time, and the sedilia, (recessed stone seats on the South side of the altar for the use of the priest), and the piscina, (a stone basin near the altar, used for washing the chalice and other vessels used at Communion), are reputedly of that date, but a drawing dated 1841, (before the rebuilding of the Chancel), shows them as they are today. It is possible that they were removed and then rebuilt into the same positions when the rebuilding took place, probably with the original stone redressed. At that time there was no window above these structures. The same drawing shows that the Chancel was paved with stone, with two steps up to the Sanctuary which were also of stone. The altar rail appears to be Jacobean and seems to be about 2ft6in. high and was of a baluster type. The tomb of Philip Draycott and his wife Elizabeth is shown on the South side of the Chancel and came up to the bottom of the Sanctuary.
The office of the County Archivist at Stafford provides the following information regarding interments in the Chancel before the repaving in 1848.
1. On the East side of the Chancel, i.e. below the East window, the following:- (a) Alexander Howbatch (Howe?), Parson of Draycott. (b) Ellen, widow of Thomas, who was wife of Alexander. (this suggests that she married twice), (c) Ellen Sherratt de nobet, Rector de Brecknock. (d) Elizabeth, daughter of Nathaniel Taylor, Rector of Checkley (1662) and Ann, daughter of (omission here, possibly Nathaniel Taylor, Rector of) Checkley. Wife of John Sherratt of Draycott (1675 - 1721).
2. On the North side. John H. Eyre.
These interments were recorded by the Rev. C. W. Stocker, Rector of Draycott 1841 - 1871.
A list of Rectors at the West end of the church is complete from 1268 except for a period of exactly 100 years (1375 - 1475). The explanation for this discontinuity is not known. One of the most famous was Dr. Anthony Draycott, LLD, who was Chancellor of the Diocese of Lichfield, Coventry and Lincoln and who in 1535 became Rector of Draycott, Checkley, Uttoxeter and Mayfield and held the Archdeaconaries of Stowe and Huntingdon. This probably accounts for the fact that the list of Rectors of Draycott shows three other names as Rector between 1547 and 1560. Dr. Draycott may possibly have had these as assistants working under him. In 1560 he was committed to the Fleet Street Prison for three years as an "irreconcilable Papist". On his release he spent the last years of his life at Paynsley Hall. He died on 20th January 1570.
In Lewis' 'Topographical History of England' (Ed. 1849), he makes the following observations. "The nave of the church and the upper part of the tower of Draycot church were rebuilt in 1735...In the South side of the former chancel are a piscina and three sedilia and a fine altar tomb of the 16th century, with recumbent effigies and small sculptured statues on the sides". It is quite easy to see the rebuilding work which was carried out on the tower, as from the exterior the stone work of the original tower can be seen to be quite different in colour and texture from the later additions. According to Robert Porter, Rector of Draycott, February 23rd 1838, the body of the present church was built in the year 1735 by one Trubshaw and the Chancel was built with the addition of a vestry in 1848. Part of the stone from the previous Chancel was incorporated into the new one, and from a stone bearing the initials A. H. the earlier one could have been built during the incumbency of the Rev. Alexander Howe, 1647-8.
Extensive repairs to the church were carried out in 1933 and again in 1956, and in 1970 it was redecorated. The original organ had a one manual keyboard and was installed opposite to its present position i.e. where the choir stalls now stand. It was converted in 1925 to a two manual instrument by W. Rogers of Hanley at the expense of the Rector Rev. W. T. M. Hoopell who was himself an organist. When electricity was introduced into the church in 1933 an electrically driven blower was added in place of the original bellows. The organ was overhauled in 1965 by J. Oakes and Son, at which time more pipes were added and the cost was £900. The cost of the 1925 rebuild was said to have been £400.
During building repairs for the church in 1975 it was found that three round arches capped the pointed Gothic ones of the three windows in the North wall of the Nave and that the stonework of the most Westerly window of these showed a break in regularity as if it had originally been planned to have a North church entrance to match the South one and a change made in mid-building. The painting below, (from the William Salt Library), shows that this entrance was indeed a fact, for it shows the two windows with a half window at the West end of the wall. All have round arches, and beneath the half window is shown a doorway. The drawing of the font at the same time, (below, also from the William Salt Library), shows it to be exactly as it is today, but with an elaborate cover supported on eight spindles. There may also be an arch , hidden by plaster, over the door into the Draycott Chapel, but at the time of writing it is impossible to discern any signs of this.
Probably the oldest thing in the church is an ancient tree trunk chest which stands at the West end near the font. Dating back to about 1270 AD, this is likely to be the oldest piece of church furniture which is still in place in its original Parish Church. This paticular chest is of the oldest and simplest form of construction, being simply part of the trunk of an oak tree, squared at either end and with the centre hollowed out, fitted with a lid and reinforced with three iron bars. The original hinges were two iron hooks passing through each other, but these were later superseded by pin hinges. King Edward I in 1287 ordered that all parish chest were to be fitted with three locks, the keys of which were to be kept separately by the parish priest and two other persons of good repute.
In May 1552, during the reign of King Edward VI, Kings Commissioners were appointed to travel round the country making inventories of every parish church and its contents and taking over for the king's use everything not considered necessary for the reformed church services. Everything was removed from the churches except for one chalice, one paten, the church bells, one cassock and a linen cloth for the communion table. Among the records in the Public Records Office in London is one reading:- "A just trew and parfett survey and inventorie of all goodes, juells, vestments, gilds, fraternities and companies" within the various hundreds of Staffordshire, taken in the "sixth yere of the reigne of our Sovereign Lord King Edwarde the sixthe, by Walter Vicounte Hereforde, Thomas Fitzherbert, Knight and Edward Lyttleton, esquier, by virtue of the Kinges Majesties Commission to them directed in that behalfe as hereafter appereth".
The following are taken from the "inventorie" of church goods in the "Hundredum de Tatmondislowe".
Fyrste, on redde vestment of saton sipers with all thing to hitt.
Itm. on vestment of saton sipers, blow, with all thing to hitt.
Itm. on vestment of cremeson chamblett withoute an ames.
Itm. ij other vestmentes of diverse collars without ani thing belonging to them; on cape of dune velvett, on other of grene wolsted.
Itm. viij alter clothes, iij corporases with cases, on chales of silver with a patent, ij grotte belles, a hand-belle and ij sacring belles.
Md. delyvered, etc. to James Wright and Richard Cocke churchwardens there, on chales of silver with patent, iij belles in the stepull, and ij lynen clothes for the Holli Comunyon table, safelie to be kept until the Kinges matics pleasure be therin furder knowon, etc.
Fearing for the safety of the treasure of the church, Rev. Dr. Anthony Draycott is believed to have removed, (with the connivance of the churchwardens), much of the altar plate and vestments that were in excess of that allowed and packed them into the oak chest which was hidden at Paynsley Hall where they were used in the private chapel. They were still there in 1643 when the Parliamentary forces captured the hall, but they had again been hidden in the oak chest and buried beneath the floor of the cellar. Repeated searches by Capt. Jhn Ashenhurst and his men failed to reveal them and they remained hidden until the Restoration of King Charles II in 1660, when Sir Richard Draycott regained the estate and restored the house. On the death of the last male Draycot in 1698 the estate passed to the Langdale family of Yorkshire and Paynsley Hall was used as a residence for Roman Catholic chaplains who celebrated Mass there and later at a farm in the parish. In 1751 Lord Langdale could not afford to keep up the hall and Rev. George Hardwicke went to live at Rookery Farm, taking with him the plates and vestments, packed once more into the oak chest. Eight years later this was entrusted to the tenant farmer Joseph Warrilow who died in 1763. In 1846 during repairs to the farm, the chest was rediscovered in a bricked up recess in the chimney stack, and its contents were conveyed to the Roman Catholic Priest at Cresswell. He brought the plate and vestments into use again and returned the oak chest to the Rector of Draycott who placed it once more in the parish church. Thus, after an abscense of 300 years, the ancient chest was returned to its original home. The vestments are still in use at Cresswell!!
The church plate dates from 1846 and 1849 and the small paten, 1966. The Communion table and credence table were given in the time of Dr. Alexander Howe (1647/8) and his initials are carved on it, but they were taken out of use and replaced by a Communion table given by the people of Oakamoor in October 1967. In its turn this later table has been removed and the old Communion table and credence table have been restored to their original positions. The "Oakamoor" table now stands in the Sanctuary in front of the Piscina.
The "dole" mentioned on the gravestones of the Rev. William Draycot which is set in the North wall near the entrance to the Draycott Chapel is still distributed in mid-Lent each year. A copy of the conditions of this charity and its augmentation under the Will of George Gallimore is still in the possesion of the church, wrapped in a linen cloth but almost falling to pieces. It is an extract from a "Terrier" dated between 1698 and 1722. It reads as follows:-
"Gifts, Charity; William Draycott, parson of this parish 1512, March 20th, founded a dole of £1-6s-8d (£1-33) to be yearly distributed in Bread and Herrings every Sunday in Lent and the overplus in Pork on Easter Eve by the Churchwardens. This money is payable to them out of a living at Lee in the Parish of Kingsley now in the holding of Mr. Goodwin.
George Gallimore of Cresswell left by Will 45 shillings (£2-25) per annum to the poor of this parish, 30 shillings (£1-50) per annum of it payable out of lands at Tean in the parish of Checkley now in the holding of Mr. J. Philips by two portions viz: fourteen shillings (70p) in Lent to be dealt in bread every Sunday, sixteen shillings (80p) at Christmas in money and the other fifteen shillings (75p) per annum out of Carriers Meadow in this parish to be dealt yearly every Palm Sunday in money." The original heating in the church was by two stove pots, probably coal-fired and the undated photograph below, (taken from the William Salt Library), shows one of these at the Chancel step, with a flue pipe to ventilated cast iron ducting down the centre aisle. Around 1902 this was changed to heating by hot air supplied by a boiler and ducts underneath the main aisle, and in 1948 the heating system was again changed, this time to a hot water system with radiators and heated by a solid fuel boiler in a new boiler house. The boiler was converted to oil firing in 1966.
The photo also shows a round candelabrum above the altar and an oil lamp. There was no altar rail. The reading desk is shown facing the congregation on the left hand side with the pulpit on the right, candleholders left and right of the pews at the front and oil lamps at intervals down the Nave. The pulpit and reading desk were both moved in 1948. The positions being transposed because the Rector at the time, Rev. Alfred Stanley, correctly thought that they were on the wrong sides, (traditionally the pulpit is placed on the Gospel or North side).
According to Rev. Hoopell, the two figure heads which adorn the portal represent St. Peter and St. Margaret, which seems logical since the church has, at one time or another, been dedicated to both those Saints. It also has ben suggested that at one time there was a musicians gallery situated above the tower arch, but at the present time there is no disernable sign of where this was.In the Ecclesiastical Taxation of Pope Nicholas the Fourth the following entry occurs:-
"Ecclesia de Draycote preter Pensionum £13-6s-8d Abbe de Combermere percipit in eadem 3/-"
Which in the Archdeaconary of Stoke-upon-Trent Historical Notes by Rev. S. W. Hutchinson BA is translated as "Draycot le Moors (St. Peter)...value in 1291 £13-6s-8d and a pension of 3/4d (about 16.5p) to Combermere Abbey", confirming the original dedication of the church to St. Peter.
Taken from the St. Margaret's Church Guide by Bert Spencer, (c1995)
A tour round St. Margaret's...
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