st alphege

In the stonework behind the reredos can be seen the tower buttress on to which the wall of the north transept was built. In the angle between the buttress and the archway, later blocked, was the original chapel of St. Thomas à Becket. The builders of the first church would have shared the popular reverence for the martyred Archbishop who was murdered in 1170 and canonised in 1173.

There were close parallels between his life and death and that of St. Alphege to whom the church had been dedicated. The chapel was reordered when the north aisle was built and later desecrated when it became the family pew of the owners of Hillfield Hall and later of Malvern Hall.

The chapel was restored in 1944. The altar is a good seventeenth century chest given by Rector Clive. The reredos contains a fine Crucifixion painting by Gaspar de Crayer (1584-1669). It is a copy of a painting by Sir Anthony van Dyck. The pediment contains the shield of Henry Greswold Lewis of Malvern Hall and was part of the screen to the family pew. On the south wall of the chapel is a Jacobean monument containing a brass, dated 1610, to William and Ursula Hawes, the builders of Hillfield Hall. Below it in a modern window opening is a stained glass panel from Hillfield Hall, containing the coats of arms of Fielding, Greswold and Aston. Opposite, in the north wall, is a dramatic portrayal of the martyrdom of Thomas à Becket. Dated 1956, it is by Lawrence Lee well known for his work on windows in Coventry Cathedral.

back to plan

ST ALPHEGE

Sundays

8.00am Holy Eucharist (said)

9.15am Parish Eucharist & Sunday Club (2nd Sunday : All-age Eucharist)

Plus on 4th Sunday 'easy' in OBH rejoining Parish Eucharist at communion

11.00am Sung Eucharist

(traditional language)

6.30pm (except 4th Sunday)

Choral Evensong

6.30pm (4th Sunday)

Congregational Evensong

Plus at 6.00pm (1st Sunday)

‘the space’ – informal parish worship

(in the Oliver Bird Hall)

Weekday Eucharists

Monday 9.30am

Tuesday 9.30am

Wednesday 10.15am

Thursday 10.30am

  1st in month - Healing

  3rd in month - Mothers' Union

  Corporate Eucharist

Saturday 9.30am

Daily Morning Prayer

Mon-Sat 9.00am

(Wednesday 8.30am in term time)

ST HELEN

Sundays

8.00am Eucharist (Book of Common Prayer)

10.00am Parish Eucharist and Sunday Club 3rd Sunday : All-age worship (non-eucharistic)

6.30pm Evening Worship in Chapel

6.30pm (2nd Sunday) Wholeness and Healing service in Chapel.

Weekday Eucharist

Friday 10.00am

ST MICHAEL

Sundays

10.30am Holy Eucharist and Sunday Club (Sharmans Cross School)

10.30am (2nd Sunday) All-age worship (Sharmans Cross School).

4.30pm (2nd Sunday) Holy Communion (St Michael's Chapel).

Weekday Eucharist

Wednesday 10.00am at Oak Cottage