St. Chad's Church, Shrewsbury,
Shropshire, England

Many folk survey guidebooks before going anywhere, but I tend not to have that level of application. OS maps tend to act as my guides, and it is often that my explorations can be called that. A crisp winter afternoon spent around Shrewsbury turned out to be one of those and turned up a lot of unexpected gems too. On of them can be seen in the photo: St. Chad's Church. This isn't the first one of the name to be found in the town of Shrewsbury for there was a predecessor until that collapsed in 1788, and its prominent site remains there to surveyed near the town centre. All that remains today is a side chapel, such was the devastation that befell that earlier St. Chad's due to injudicious grave digging near its foundations.

The successor, which was completed in 1794, is no less grand a structure with its high tower adorned by a dome. Then, there's the circular nave that goes with it and that comes from a happy misunderstanding due to poor minute taking; getting the rectangular one that was the actual decision would have added more cost, so the circular option came to be. The building have involved a committee in its planning stages, but it's none the worse for that.

With a sunny afternoon on offer, I never did get to going inside to take a look because fine weather is not to be wasted in Britain or Ireland. Still, the building's setting next to Quarry Park is a good one for getting some distance for a photo that does not show up converging verticals as much, which is why it was from there that this view was captured. In fact, I got in one of park's bandstands in the scene too.