Written by Christian Gittings

St Werburgh’s Church Burslem

// Interesting Anglo-Catholic church building built in the 1950s designed by Wood, Goldstraw & Yorath (of Tunstall and Hanley), the church building is in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent

This brings up an interesting fact about the name of this church, St Werburgh church, which was named after a saint called Werburgh, who was the daughter of an Anglo-Saxon King of Mercia called Wulfhere, who himself was a christian.

St Werburgh herself was born in Stone in Staffordshire, near Stoke on Trent. St Werburgh  was also trained in the Faith by St Chad, who later became one of the earliest bishops of Lichfield, iv Staffordshire. Another local connection to the area is Trentham, which is part of Stoke-on-Trent, where she died.

So this church is named after a local saint, who was born and died in the area. She was also the daughter of a king, and now you know, life is amazing. You learn new things every day, I am also unsure why this church called themselves that, maybe because she was born and died in the the area, I don’t know, I am also unsure why Werburgh came a saint but there is a interesting story in the Wikipedia article below about her

“Following Werburgh’s death, her brother Coenred became king of Mercia. In 708, he decided to move his sister’s remains to a more conspicuous place within the church at Hanbury. When the tomb was opened, her body was found to be miraculously intact. This preservation was taken as a sign of divine favour. A year later, Coenred had abdicated as king and taken holy orders, becoming a monk in Rome.”

Below are a number of useful links about the subject, including a link on Anglo-Catholicism

Bonus: Jesus on the cross sculpture St Werburgh’s Church (Burslem Stoke-on-Trent )

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