Hopwas

 Yesterday I visited the village of Hopwas, just outside Tamworth, to take a look at the church of St Chad (who else?), an unusual and rather charming Arts & Crafts building of around 1880. It was designed by John Douglas of Chester, the man who built practically everything Victorian in that city and give it its distinctive half-timbered look. He certainly brought his love of half-timbering with him to Hopwas, creating a picturesque building that he envisaged as having something of a Swiss or Bavarian look, nestling among tall trees (some of them have gone now) and set against a wooded hillside. 

   The interior is as plain as the exterior is fancy, with a fine exposed collar and tie-beam roof and a wide chancel arch of (surprisingly) yellow brick. 

 The glass is the handsome East window is rather good, but I can't find out who it's by. Fortunately I'm a member of a church stained glass group on Facebook, so I'm hoping to find out from them. 
  The church, which I believe is technically a chapel-of-ease in the parish of Tamworth, seems to be very much alive, and is always open to the public. When I arrived, a wedding party was being photographed at length in the churchyard. As usual in these parts, the bride was generously proportioned, as were most of the wedding party, with the men looking uncomfortable in bright blue suits. Everyone seemed very happy, and it's always a pleasure, or at least a reassurance, to see these wedding parties, with which Lichfield and its environs abound. It is surely a sign of health in a society – and the triumph of hope, indeed of love – that people are still getting married. And in these parts, property prices being so much lower, they can even afford to get married quite young.