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1. All Saints, Alrewas, Staffordshire, England

Parish church
Alrewas grew up alongside the Trent, near its junction with the Thame, and the Trent joins the Trent and Mersey canal here, running in its bed for just a mile or so before the two divide again at Wychnor Bridges. In the 19thc. too it was an important station on the South Staffordshire Railway. The A38, Britain's longest A-class road, running from Bodmin (Cornwall) to Mansfield (Notts) once ran through it, but Alrewas has now been bypassed and despite its commercial history is now a quiet and attractive village. All Saints has an aisled nave, chancel and W tower. The present appearance of the nave, as a hall-church with a loft arcade and aisles as high as the main vessel, is due to Basil Champney's rebuilding of 1891. Two original 12thc. nave doorways survive, now re-set in the W wall of the tower and the N nave aisle. The chancel is much narrower than the present central nave and dates from the 13thc. It was restored in 1877 but the original sedilia and piscina remain, and there is a S chapel now used as an organ loft. In the 14thc. a S aisle was added to the nave with piers shorter than at present, and the chancel arch replaced, and in the same period the W tower with its angle buttresses was built. The two 12thc. doorways must have been re-set at this time. The S doorway is 14thc. and protected by a porch of 1866. In the 16thc. the S arcade piers were heightened and the aisle and chancel roofs raised; a second storey of windows being added to both. Champney's work involved the demolition and rebuilding of the N nave wall as an aisle wall, and the insertion of a tall N arcade. He did not try to match the S arcade in detail, opting for quatrefoil piers with individual moulded capitals rather than octagonal piers and capitals. The William Salt Library holds exterior views of the church dating from before both 19thc. restorations, but unfortunately all from the SE or SW. They at least confirm that the raising of the S aisle and chancel roofs had already been carried out before the 19thc. restorations. Romanesque sculpture is found on the N nave doorway and the tower doorway.
2. St Peter, Alstonfield, Staffordshire, England

Parish church
St Peter's has a clerestoried nave with four-bay N and S aisles. The S arcade is 14thc., while the N and the square-headed clerestory windows date fromc.1500. The nave has N and S doorways, both under porches. The S doorway is 12thc. work and its 13thc. porch is now used as a store for building materials; the N doorway is 16thc. The chancel arch is also 12thc., while the chancel includes three 13thc. lancets in its side walls. The chancel was rebuilt in 1590 (inscription) and restored in 1870. The W tower arch is tall and Perpendicular. The tower has a 16thc. W doorway, diagonal buttresses and an embattled parapet with crocketed pinnacles at the corners, but the Y-traceried bell-openings are stylistically ofc.1300. The nave bases are concealed by the present floor, and in the chancel the piscina is very low in the wall, both features indicating that the original floor level was lower than it is now. Construction is of coursed rubble including roughly squared large blocks of ashlar. There are Anglo-Saxon fragments built into the stonework around the N porch and others loose at the W end of the N aisle. The Romanesque features described here are the S doorway and the chancel arch.
3. St John the Baptist, Armitage, Staffordshire, England

Parish church
Armitage is in central south Staffordshire, to the E of Cannock Chase and 2 miles SE of Rugeley. The village is built along the A513 road from Rugeley to Handsacre, and the latter and Armitage now form a continuous conurbation. This road follows the line of the River Trent, and St John's is built on a sandstone outcrop overlooking the river.
4. All Saints, Chebsey, Staffordshire, England

Parish church
Chebsey is a village on the river Sow, 5 miles upstream from the centre of Stafford. All Saints has a spacious nave with no clerestory and S aisle, a chancel and W tower with a modern vestry on the S side of it. Nave and chancel are 12thc.; visible in the two 12thc. N nave doorways (one now blocked and neither with a porch), the flat buttress on the N nave wall, and the tiny round-headed lancets on the N walls of the nave and chancel. The S aisle was added in the mid-13thc., and the chancel arch remodelled at the same time. Both this and the four-bay S arcade have pointed, double chamfered arches and moulded capitals. The S doorway, under a porch, is also 13thc. The W tower is 15thc. with diagonal buttresses, a SE stair turret and a battlemented parapet with pinnacles. Construction is of reddish sandstone, much renewed especially in the S aisle wall. The 12thc. doorways and windows are very plain, but the interior niche left by the blocking of the eastern doorway now contains loose 12thc. stones carved with foliage in relief. There are two 19thc. S views in the William Salt Library, Stafford, SV III 74 and 75a, but they add little to our knowledge of the building.
5. Dosthill Norman Chapel, Dosthill, Staffordshire, England

Chapel
Nineteenth century accounts of Dosthill describe it as a village or hamlet in the parish of Kingsbury, and a centre of brickmaking and coalmining. Diorite also outcrops at Dosthill, known locally as Dosthill granite and was formerly quarried for use as roadstone. Little of this industrial activity survives, and Dosthill is chiefly known as a centre for scuba diving (in a former quarry) and a place to watch birds. It is now on rising land at the southern edge of Tamworth, which has expanded, almost absorbing it. The chapel stands in the churchyard of St Paul's parish church, to the NE of the 19thc. church. It is a single-cell box now, with 12thc. doorways to N and S and three small round-headed windows, in the north, south and west walls, all with replaced heads. There is also an oculus in the west gable. There was originally an eastern presbytery, but this has been removed, and the chancel arch blocked and fitted with a window, perhaps 16thc.-17thc. Above this, the western gable has been rebuilt in brick. It is now used as a parish room.
6. St James, Longdon, Staffordshire, England

Parish church
The nave has no aisles but broad transepts at its E end. The N transept is of 1870 by A. Hartshorne; 13thc. in its details, but with a single opening to the nave consisting of shafted piers carrying a heavy joist. The S transept is of two pointed bays, and was built by John Stoneywall, later Abbot of Pershore, around 1500. The nave roof is modern and fitted with skylights. The nave E wall has the remains of wallpainting at the top. There are N and S nave doorways; the S under a porch and the N now giving access to a vestry. The chancel arch is 12thc. work, and the chancel is 13th-14thc., with simple lancets at the W end and Y-traceried window further E. The E window has reticulated tracery of the early 14thc. The W tower is 14thc., with diagonal buttresses at the W end and reticulated bell-openings. The parapet, with battlements and crocketed pinnacles at the angles, may be a later addition. Construction is of red sandstone ashlar throughout. The S transept has battlements. There are drawings of the church in the William Salt Library, dating from 1769 to 1841 (SV VII 35a, 35b, 36, 37a) and one of the S doorway of 1843 (SV VII 38). All show the church much as it is today. In the same collection are drawings of the font, of 1842 (A. E. Everitt - SV VII 42) and 1843 (J. C. Buckler - SV VII 41). Romanesque features are the chancel arch, the bowl of the font, and the two nave doorways. The N doorway was not accessible when the church was recorded.
7. St Peter, Maer, Staffordshire, England

Parish church
The village of Maer is in the Staffordshire uplands, in the NW of the county. On Berth Hill, half a mile to the N, is an Iron Age hill fort, and the settlement has presumably moved down the hill towards the lake or mere that gives the village its name, and that is now in the grounds of the hall. The entire area was heavily wooded, but clearances must have begun before the Conquest, and by the time of the Domesday Survey there was land for two ploughs as well as woodland a league square. Church and hall are very close together; the road that now separates them originally ran behind the hall but was diverted in the 19thc. so that it did not divide the hall from the lake. Despite their proximity, the precipitous slope on which the church is built raises it high above the hall. The effect of this slope on the architecture of the church is best seen inside the building. Nave and chancel share a single (horizontal) roof, but the chancel floor is four steps above the nave. There is no chancel arch. The nave has a late-12thc. S doorway under a porch (of which more below), and a N aisle with a two-bay arcade, perhaps 15thc. in date. The chancel has a N organ chamber with a vestry to the E of it, both dating from 1877, and the W tower is 13thc. with a battlemented parapet and stumpy pinnacles added, perhapsc.1600. They may, indeed, belong to the rebuilding known to have taken place in 1610. Two drawings of 1838 and 1843 show the S porch with a room above it, entered by an external staircase (William Salt Library, SV VII 62a and 62b). By 1875, when an early photograph was taken, the tower was entirely overgrown with ivy. There was another restoration in 1877, when the ivy was cleared, the porch was reduced to a single storey, the entire church was re-roofed, the old organ loft and gallery were removed and the present organ chamber and vestry were added. The E window also dates from this restoration. The only Romanesque work described here is the S doorway.
8. St John the Baptist, Mayfield, Staffordshire, England

Parish church
St John's has an aisled nave with three-bay arcades and a S doorway under a porch. The chancel is square ended and the W tower has diagonal buttresses. The S arcade and S doorway date from the 12thc., both with round arches and the arcade with cylindrical piers. The N arcade also has round arches, but the piers have a quatrefoil plan and the capitals have crockets. The style is early 13thc., therefore, but Pevsner suggests that it belongs to the rebuilding of the aisle in 1854 by F. W. Fiddian and Ewen Christian. This is incorrect; Fiddian's plan suggests that the arcade was not replaced, and it also appears on J. Buckler's drawing of 1844 (William Salt Library SV VII 69). The S porch is dated 1866, and must replace the porch shown on Fiddian's plan. The chancel windows have Y-tracery or (at the E) reticulated tracery, pointing to a date in the first half of the 14thc. The external cresting of the chancel roof looks 18thc. According to an inscription on its W face, the tower was begun by T. Rolleston in 1515. It has Perpendicular bell-openings and W window and doorway, and a battlemented parapet with eight tall pinnacles. Construction is of reddish ashlar. A plain 12thc. window head is reused as facing stone above the S porch. Two 12thc. lancets are shown above the porch in a Buckler drawing of 1839 (William Salt Library SV VII 66), but they are no longer there, and this window head probably belonged to one of them. Romanesque features recorded here are the S arcade and the S doorway.
9. Ranton Priory, Staffordshire, England

Originally house of Augustinian canons
The ruined priory of Ranton and the remains of the Georgian hall alongside it stand in landscaped parkland 1 mile W of the village of Ranton and 5 miles W of Stafford. All that survives of the abbey church is the W tower and a short section of the S nave wall rebuilt to house the S doorway. This doorway is of the late 12thc. The 15thc. tower has angle buttresses, a five-light W window and two-light bell-openings below a saltire frieze and an embattled parapet. All the main windows are now blocked with bricks. To the S of the church is the ruined shell of the house, called Ranton Abbey and dating fromc.1820 according to Pevsner. Various antiquarian drawings survive in the William Salt Library, many by Buckler and most concentrating on the W tower. SV VIII 59 (Buckler 1842) shows the S doorway looking much as it does today, but it is not clear from this whether any more of the nave wall was standing at that date.
10. St Mary, Rolleston on Dove, Staffordshire, England

Parish church
Rolleston is now practically a suburb of Burton-on-Trent; what was a small village with an economy based on arable (cereals and beans) and dairy farming situated on the edge of Needwood Forest having largely abandoned its agricultural activities and expanded its housing stock in the 20thc., not without some resistance from the older villagers. It was an estate village until the Rolleston Estate, landlord to most of the local farms, was broken up and sold off in the 1920s. Little evidence of this remains, owing to the post-1945 expansion of the village.
11. Statfold Chapel, Staffordshire, England

Chapel, formerly Parish church
Statfold is in the extreme SE of the county, 3 miles NE of Tamworth. Statfold chapel stands in the grounds of Statfold Hall, to the N of the hall itself, and is not marked on the OS Landranger map. The present hall is a brick building of 1571 and later. The hall, the chapel, Statfold Farm and a few scattered houses are all that remain of Statfold, although the topography of a field immediately to the N of the chapel suggests that the village was here. It is likely to have been deserted in the early Tudor period following enclosure by the landlord. The chapel serves as a mortuary chapel for the Wolferstan family. It was restored and refitted for use as a parish church in 1906, although the parish has never been populous enough to support its own minister. It is now attached to the benefice of Clifton Campville. The chapel is a single-cell gabled box with steps to an altar at the E. The 12thc. W doorway is the oldest part of the fabric, while the priest's doorway dates from the 13thc. A good deal of work was carried out in the first half of the 14thc; the chancel windows and the sedilia and piscina being of that period. It contains two wall tombs with female effigies; both of the later 14thc. Drawings by Buckler show the exterior (1838) and the interior (1848) (William Salt Library SV X 8, SV X 9a) looking much as they do today structurally, but with the roof covered in ivy. A small steeple at the W end was pulled down as unsafec.1680. Construction is of sandstone quarried nearby. The stonework is of regular ashlar blocks except at the W end, where it is rubbly and irregular. The western gable has been rebuilt incorporating a millstone as a decorative feature. This appears in Buckler's engraving. The only 12thc. features are the W doorway and the font. The author is grateful to Mr Francis Wolferstan for allowing access to the chapel.
12. All Saints, Standon, Staffordshire, England

Parish church
All Saints, Standon is wildly asymmetrical inside and out. From within it can be seen to have an aisled nave with a clerestory on the N but not the S. The N arcade is of two 13thc. bays but occupies only the eastern part of the nave. To the W on this side is a stretch of 12thc. walling that still contains the original N doorway, which is thus inside the church now (as is the case with the S doorway at Rolleston on Dove). The S arcade is much taller, too tall to accommodate a clerestory above it, and is of two and a half bays; the half-arch bearing on the W wall of the nave. The W tower is not set symmetrically between the arcades, but is set towards the S. Its S wall is in line with the S arcade but its N wall is well inside the line of the N arcade. The tall 14thc. tower arch is thus place to the S of the nave rather than in the centre. Further confusion at the W end has been caused by the later additions. The S aisle has been extended alongside the tower as far as its W face. There is also an addition to the N of the tower, but it extends only as far as the line of the N arcade. In compensation, however, it is much taller, and a large and entirely inappropriate window has been inserted in the W wall of the nave to provide it with some indirect light. The result of all this is the bizarrely calligraphic outline of the W elevation of the church. At the E, the chancel is by Scott, of 1846-47 in a 13thc. style. He chose to line up the chancel fairly between the nave arcades. There is an organ loft to the N of the chancel, and a vestry to the S. It is difficult to suggest a logical sequence of building that would have resulted in All Saints Standon, and the old views in the William Salt Library do not help much. SV IX 122a and 136a, of 1837 and 1841 respectively, show the SE view before the restoration, with no vestry to the S of the chancel and with S aisle with a gablet. SV IX 131 is a similar view after the restoration, showing the new form of the aisle and the new vestry in place. SV IX 130 is a SW view of 1847 that shows the rebuilt S aisle, and shows too that the W elevation was much the same then as it is now. The only Romanesque feature of the church is the N doorway.
13. St Mary, Swynnerton, Staffordshire, England

Parish church
Swynnerton is an attractive village on a low hill just 6 miles S of Newcastle-under-Lyme. It is centred on the church and the hall just to the S, the latter standing in Swynnerton Park. A view of the hall from the SW, published in 1821, shows the church in the background (William Salt Library SV X 59b). St Mary's has an aisled and clerestoried nave, a chancel with a S chapel (the Lady Chapel, now a vestry) and a W tower. The nave is 12thc. in origin, and of large, irregular ashlar blocks. It retains a round-headed W window and a W doorway to the tower. The tower itself is also 12thc. in its lower parts, including another W doorway (which Pevsner suggests is re-set here), but in the 14thc. diagonal buttresses were added and the upper stage rebuilt in more regular ashlar. Drawings of 1838 and 1841 (William Salt Library SV X 59a and 60) show the parapet with urns at the corners. The form of the five-bay nave arcades and a dogtooth stringcourse at the top of the nave walls indicate that the aisles were added in the 13thc. The clerestory has quatrefoil openings of the same period. The E bay of the each nave aisle has been enlarged to form a chapel; the S Perpendicular and battlemented, the N 13thc. in style but perhaps 19thc. (it does not appear in the 1838 drawing noted above). There is a 13thc. S doorway under a porch. The chancel arch is 13thc., with nailhead on moulded capitals and detached en-delit shafts, and the chancel is of the same date. The details of the S chancel chapel indicate that it was added in the early 14thc. Beneath it is the Fitzherbert family vault. Romanesque sculpture, elaborate for the county, appears on the two W doorways.
14. St Editha, Tamworth, Staffordshire, England

Parish church (Collegiate church to 1548)
Tamworth stands on the river Tame in the extreme SE of the county. The Warwickshire border is just 2 miles to the E, but until 1888 it ran through the centre of Tamworth. The historic centre is on the N bank with Tamworth Castle overlooking the river and St Editha's church just to the N, occupying the N side of St Editha's Square, which is now a market place.
15. All Saints, Trysull, Staffordshire, England

Parish church, formerly chapel
Trysull is a small village in the SW of the county, only a mile from Womborne and two from the edge of Wolverhampton, both to the E. For the moment the village is surrounded by the rolling farmland of the area; the prospect least affected by the industrial sprawl being westward towards the Severn and the Shropshire Hills. The village itself lies in the shallow valley of the Smestow Brook, which runs W to E at this point before turning S to follow the line of the Staffordshire and Worcestershire canal, eventually joining the Stour near Kinver.
16. St James and St Bartholomew, Waterfall, Staffordshire, England

Formerly chapel, now parish church
Waterfall is a moorland village, on a hill above the River Hamps. There is no waterfall here; the village taking its name from the behaviour of the River Hamps, which abruptly disappears underground among the limestone rocks nearby, re-emerging near Ilam. The church has a blocky nave and W tower, both dating from 1792 and typical of their date with round-headed windows and heavy ashlar facings. The chancel was rebuilt in the 1890s, using old masonry, and the chancel arch is 12thc., if restored. To the N of the chancel is a chapel, also of the 1890s, now used as a vestry. The only other 12thc. feature is the arch now set above the 18thc. S nave doorway under a porch dated 1894. It looks, says Pevsner, 'curious'.
17. St Peter, Yoxall, Staffordshire, England

Parish church
Yoxall was built along the river Swarbourn, which runs from N to S here. It was on the edge of the Needwood Forest, which was not enclosed until the 19thc. Its main street is now the A515 from Lichfield to Ashbourne and the church stands back from this in a spacious churchyard. St Peter's is mostly by Woodyer of 1865-68 and has an aisled nave with a clerestorey, a chancel with N and S chapels and a W tower. The nave is spacious with five-bay arcades in a Decorated style and a clerestorey with square-headed quadruple lights. The S doorway is genuinely medieval and of c.1200 and has no porch; the N is 19thc. The chancel chapels are both of two bays, and the N now contains the organ. The W tower has a battlemented parapet and tall crocketed finials. Drawings predating Woodyer's restoration show a similarly aisled nave, apparently without a clerestorey and with no N porch; a very similar W tower and a much lower chancel without chapels. The only feature included here is the S doorway.