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stchad winsford Over, Winsford

St. Chad

2007 was the 700th birthday of St. Chad's.



Hidden on the edge of the township of old Over, almost submerged in the urban sprawl of Winsford, but still largely unknown, lies this large and lovely church. How to find
Take the B5074 south from over Square along Swanlow Lane. The church is tucked away down a little cul-de-sac and sign posted from Swanlow Lane .
Map. Ref 6506561

The church was remodelled in 1543 but parts still exist from the original of 1307.
stchad winsford stchad winsford
devil and st. chad church The Legend of the Devil and Over Church
Tradition says that St. Chad's Church was once in Over Square but the devil tore it from the ground soon after the church had been bestowed on the Abbot of Vale Royal Abbey in the reign of King Edward 1.
The devil was making good his escape when the monks at the Abbey, remembering that the evil one was scared of music, tolled the abbey bells. The devil dropped the church and it floated down to earth to land in it's present site.

(Edward 1 founded the abbey after he was saved from a storm in the channel when he was returning to England from France.)

St. Chad
In Saxon times St. Chad was a bishop in the kingdom of Mercia and was based in the Staffordshire town of Lichfield. Cheshire at that time did not exist and was part of that kingdom.

The church has 3 stained glass windows erected for the diamond jubilee of Queen Victoria which depict his life
  • from its beginnings in Lindisfarne
  • training under Aiden
  • his wandering,
  • his preaching
  • his death.
stchad window winsford stchad window winsford stchad window winsford

The Cheshire prophet Robert Nixon was said to have been born in Over. He was a ploughboy who may have lived in the reign of King James 1 and told the future. The king in 1617 on his stay at Vale Royal Abbey heard of him and took him back to London as a curiosity. Robert was always hungry and the kitchen staff at the palace got so fed up they locked him in a cupboard.
He starved to death!		 robert nixon cheshire prophet


Over St. Chad's is one of 5 churches dedicated to St. Chad in Cheshire.
They others are at Farndon, Chadkirk, Wynbunbury Tushingham.
The church has it's own web site St. Chad Over

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