Stafford was founded in about 700 AD by a Mercian prince called Bertelin who, according to legend, established a hermitage on the site.
The remains of a wooden preaching
cross from this time have been found under the remains of St Bertelin's chapel, next to the later collegiate Church of St Mary in the center of the town.
The oldest building now in Stafford is St Chad's Church, dating back into the twelfth century.
The main part of the church is richly decorated. Carvings in the
church's archways and pillars may have been made by a group of
stonemasons from the Middle East who came to England during the
Crusades. A great deal of the stonework was covered up during the 17th
and 18th centuriesto create a neo-classical style. In the
early 19th-century restoration,
work was carried out on the church and the Norman decoration was
rediscovered. heritage of twelfth-century architecture and sculpture that place St
Chad’s amongst the finest examples of Norman architecture in the
Midlands.
St Mary's, the collegiate church, linked to St Bertelin's chapel, was completely rebuilt in the early 13th century in a cruciform layout, typical of the period. It has an impressive octagonal tower. Initially, the church was effectively two churches in one, divided by a
screen, with the parish using the nave and the collegiate canons using
the chancel.
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