Pilgrim Porch Project
Diocesan Community Artwork

Almost a year ago, St James’ Christleton were invited to participate in an exciting new artwork at Chester Cathedral. This Pilgrim Porch project by local Cheshire Artist Stephen Broadbent celebrates the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, and is to be a fitting tribute to the long reign of her Majesty, and be a permanent enhancement of the fabric of the Cathedral. Passers by can now look into the Cathedral through this sculptural bronze porch with ceremonial glass doors, which are decorated by designs from churches throughout the Chester Diocese. I was invited to write the accompanying article and provide the illustrations from St James’ to be included in the project. I have added some more illustrations to this article, for the village website, showing some of the rich artwork found in the present church, designed by the eminent Victorian Architect William Butterfield, and his glass artist Charles Ermer Kempe.

The Story - St James’ Christleton
Investigations by archaeologists suggest that a church existed in Christleton soon after the Roman occupation of Chester. The design of the site is also found in churches in north Wales and usually associated with the fourth or fifth century. The balance of probability is that the church was in existence before the arrival of the pagan Saxons during the seventh century. The name "Christetone" in the Domesday Book of 1086 suggests the existence of a Christian settlement. The name Christleton means "the village or place of Christ", or alternatively "Cristentum" the enclosed farm of the Christians. Local names of this type are thought to date back to AD 600-750. It has no doubt been a place of pilgrimage for centuries, as the ancient highway between Chester and London ran through the village, and across the listed three red sandstone pack horse bridges, over the River Gowy at Hockenhull Platts. St James is also visited by modern pilgrims on the Two Saints Way between Chester and Lichfield, and its east window contains the figures of St James and St Werburgh on either side of the figure of Christ.

A shell from Santiago de Compostella hangs from the pulpit at St James’, a link with Camino de Santiago (St James Way). Another is featured in a modern stained glass window by Bill Davies of Wirral. This window to commemorate the Millennium is a work based on ideas from members of the community. The figure of Christ stands magnificently with arms outstretched welcoming people through the ages, to church and chapel, standing side by side at his feet. This reflects the work of Churches Together in Christleton. Above the figure of Christ are the symbols of a shell representing St James’, a bell rope for the tradition of bell ringing in the church since 1737, and a mute swan representing conservation in the village, and the village emblem.

On either side of Christ are figures representing village history over the last thousand years. On the lower right hand side, is Robert, Baron of Malpas, patron of the church in 1086. Above him is the kneeling figure of Celia Fiennes the famous traveller, who rode through Christleton on her white horse in 1685. The uppermost figures are Lucy Anne and Townsend Ince, benefactors of the present church building and of the village in general, in Victorian times. On the left are the figures of Prince Rupert of the Rhine, nephew of King Charles 1st, who largely destroyed the village in early 1645, before the Battle of Rowton Moor. The Abbot seen kneeling above, obtained water from the well in Christleton for the Abbey in Chester in 1285. The figures of a mother and child represent the present generation in 2000 AD.

The window is signed with Bill Davies’ own symbol, a windmill. It is hoped that this unique piece of craftsmanship will grace our church for centuries to come, letting the light of Christ illuminate the Lady Chapel through this beautiful window. The window was dedicated on Sunday 5th January 2003, by the Reverend Graham Evans, Superintendent of the Chester Methodist Circuit and the Dean of Chester, the Very Reverend Dr. Gordon McPhate. The Service was conducted by the Rector of Christleton Canon Revd. K Peter Lee

St James’ Church is recorded in Historic England Records as a Grade II listed building, in the Gothic Revival style, and in 2016 the Village War Memorial in the church grounds was added to the National List, also as Grade II listed. Other national listings include; the sundial, the Headstone of William Huggins an eminent Victorian animal artist, the Lychgate, and the churchyard as a War Graves site by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. An alabaster Boer War Memorial on the west wall of the nave is also recorded nationally. The beautiful stained glass memorial windows at St James, designed by Charles Earmer Kemp & Company, and installed between 1894 – 1909, are listed in the Corpus of Kempe Stained Glass in the UK.