Formation of the Parish: Born for Mission
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 | History
The history of a church is much more than just a record of what has happened to a building, for church is first and foremost about people. This short history of St Chad’s Woodseats attempts to describe something of the story of the people whose worship of God has been focussed in and around St Chad’s since the formation of the parish in 1912.
Location & St Chad
St Chad’s Woodseats is located on the south side of Sheffield in South Yorkshire and is the Anglican parish church of Woodseats, whose geographical boundary also covers most of the suburbs of Beauchief and Chancet Wood. |
It is one of a few British churches named after St Chad, the first Bishop of Lichfield. He was a seventh century holy man, known, according to the historian Bede, for being “humble, devout, zealous and apostolic”.
Formation of Parish: Born for Mission
St Chad’s was conceived in the optimistic pre-war years - the days of the 1910 Edinburgh Missionary Conference which talked of “the evangelisation of the world in this generation”. The parish was formed in 1912 with mission very much in mind, for new housing had begun to develop in Woodseats during the early years of the century. St Chad’s was meant to serve this developing community. Geographically, it took in elements from the adjoining historic parish of Norton, from the parish of Norton Lees and from the Liberty of Beauchief - the Anglican ‘peculiar’ that is all that survives of Beauchief Abbey. The Abbey, founded in 1183, provides the missionary roots for the area, is still used for worship, and is situated at the south-west end of St Chad’s parish.
For two years, St Chad’s was part of Derby Diocese until the Diocese of Sheffield was created in 1914.
St Chad’s Church Building & Vicarage
The foundation stone of the new building was laid by the wife of Lieutenant Colonel BA Firth of Norton Hall on 3rd August 1911. The nave and aisles were built as the first phase of the building, costing £5,100, and the church was consecrated on 25th July 1912 by Dr Hoskyns, Bishop of Southwell. The chancel, vestries and organ were added in 1933 at a cost of £4,460. The original design of the building was modelled on 14th Century English designs and is the only Anglican church designed by the Catholic architects Hadfield & Hadfield. It was built of local coarsed rubble with ashlar dressings for the walls, Bath stone for the window tracery and nave arcade, and Westmorland slates for the roof.
The Vicarage was built in 1914 at a cost of £1,800 and is one of the last large vicarages to be built, with room for servants quarters in the attic. |
