The Parish of St Chad, Harpswell. Information about St Chad. St Chad, bishop of Mercia (Lichfield) d. 672 Feast day, 2nd March St Chad was the first bishop of Mercia and Lindsey at Lichfield. He was the brother of Cedd, whom he succeeded as Abbot of Lastingham, North Yorkshire, and a disciple of Aidan who sent him to Ireland as part of his education. Chad was chosen by Oswi, king of Northumbria, as bishop of the Northumbrian see, while Wilfrid, who had been chosen for Deira by the sub-king Alcfrith, was absent in Gaul seeking consecration shortly after the Synod of Whitby (663/4). Faced with a dearth of bishops in England, Chad was unwise enough to be consecrated by the simoniacal Wine of Dorchester, assisted by two dubious British bishops. Wilfrid on his return to England in 666, found that Alcfrith was dead or exiled and retired to Ripon, leaving Chad in occupation. But in 669 Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury, restored Wilfrid to York and deposed Chad (who retired to Lastingham), but soon reconsecrated him to be bishop of the Mercians. This unusual step was due both to the new opening for Christianity in Mercia and to the excellent character of Chad himself, whom both Eddius and Bede recognised as being unusually humble, devout, zealous and apostolic. Chad's episcopate of three years laid the foundations of the see of Lichfield according to the decrees of Theodore's council at Hertford, which established diocesan organisation. Wulfhere, king of Mercia, gave him fifty hides of land for a monastery at Barow (Lincolnshire); he also established a monastery close to Lichfield Cathedral. Chad died on March 2nd 672 and was buried in the Church of St Mary. At once, according to Bede, he was venerated as a saint and his relics were translated to the Cathedral Church of St Peter. Cures were claimed in both churches. Bede described his first shrine as 'a wooden coffin in the shape of a little house with an aperture in the side through which the devout can...take out some of the dust, which they put into water and give to sick cattle or men to drink, upon which they are presently eased of their infirmity and restored to health'. His relics were translated in 1148 and moved to the Lady Chapel in 1296. An even more splendid shrine was built by Robert Stretton, bishop of Lichfield (1360-85) of marble substructure with feretory adorned with gold and precious stones. Rowland Lee, bishop of Lichfield (1534-43), pleaded with Henry VIII to spare the shrine: this was done, but only for a time. At some unknown date the head and some other bones had been separated from the main shrine. Some of these, it was claimed, were preserved by recusants, and four large bones, believed to be Chad's are in the Roman Catholic cathedral of Birmingham. A fine Mercian illuminated Gospel Book of the 8th century called the Gospels of St Chad was probably associated with his shrine, as the Lindisfarne Gospels were associated with the shrine of St Cuthbert; it is now in Lichfield Cathedral Library. The 11th century shrine list mentions the relics of Cedd and Hedda resting at Lichfield with Chad. Thirty-three ancient churches and several wells were dedicated to St Chad, mainly in the Midlands. There are also several modern dedications. Source= www.dur.ac.uk Information about the Church building and its history. HARPSWELL, ST. CHAD Directions: St. Chad’s is best reached via the main A631 Gainsborough-Caenby Corner road: the signposted lane to Harpswell turns south off this road at the point where it ascends the Cliff. Despite its nearness to the main road, St. Chad’s has a decidedly countrified air, standing amid farm buildings and cottages at the foot of Lincoln Cliff. Its churchyard, indeed, actually climbs the Cliff slope towards a rookery on the brow, and contains a poignant reminder of nearby Hemswell airbase - four neat rows of R.A.F. graves, mostly dating from the Second World War. Appropriately, it is dedicated to St. Chad, an Anglo-Saxon bishop, for its most prominent feature is a massively sturdy Anglo-Saxon tower, over nine centuries old. Three of its faces still display typical Saxon windows (like those at nearby Glentworth) with twin round arches supported by a central pillar: while the fourth (nearest the road) has something quite unique, an inscription recording "the Culloden Clock", given by squire Thomas Whichcote in 1746 to commemorate "Butcher" Cumberland’s victory over Bonnie Prince Charlie’s Highland rebels at the battle of Culloden in faraway Scotland. Alas, the present clock is a replacement, the original having for some reason been carried off by Whichcote’s descendants to their home at Aswarby near Sleaford. Inside the church hangs a long handwritten explanation of the squire’s gift: every time his clock struck, he wanted the Harpswell villagers to remember how Cumberland’s redcoates had saved Britain from "a wicked and unnatural rebellion", and made it safe for the Protestant Church. To him, their victory was every bit as important as that which the Hemswell airmen helped to win in 1945. This explanation is well worth reading in full: but before going inside to do so, notice the fine array of mediaeval windows flanking the wide porch - especially those on the right, with their beautiful and unusual tracery pattern of interlocked figures of eight. These windows date from the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, when much of the present body of the church was built - originally it was rather larger, but in Victorian times the north aisle was demolished and walled off, hence its present lop-sided appearance. The mediaeval pointed arches of the south aisle (to the right as you enter) remain, and in their pillars can be seen slots for the wooden screens which once closed off a little chapel. Possibly this was meant to house the fine tomb of Master William Harrington, a Harpswell rector who died in 1350. He wears the academic robes of a Bachelor of Divinity, while beneath his feet is a curious "Green Man" with leaf-like hair and moustache. Near Harrington’s head lies another fourteenth century rector (said to be John Gere), depicted in his Mass vestments on a much-worn slab set into the floor - and hereabouts is also displayed a mediaeval bench-end carved with the hands, feet, and heart of Christ, all pierced with the nails of His Crucifixion. Nor are these the only mediaeval relics preserved at Harpswell. At the back of the south aisle is the Norman font, with its pattern of repeated arches, and in the tower window (near the rough-hewn ladder to the belfry) are fragments of ancient glass. To see the best-known of St. Chad’s treasurers, however, walk up the main aisle (past the ornately-painted Royal Arms of Queen Anne, dated 1703) and into the dark Victorian chancel, built in 1890. There, on the wall to the left of the altar, are the memorial brasses of a knight and lady of the 1480s. He wears the elaborate plate armour of the day, while she wears a stylish low-cut and fur-trimmed gown: her hair (plucked to display a fashionably high forehead) is drawn back into a net, and covered by the transparent veils of a "butterfly headdress". The figures are said to represent John Whichcote and his wife Margaret. If so, they are the ancestors of Thomas Whichcote - the squire who gave the "Culloden Clock". Access: St. Chad’s is normally open during daylight hours. Text about the church building is written by Charles Kightly and copyright is held by West Lindsey District Council Tourism Development Office. Reproduced on this page with their kind permission. 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