Description:A view looking south-west across St. Mary’su Grove from the west end of St. Mary's Church. In the foreground are the foundations of the Anglo-Saxon chapel of St. Bertelin which had been excavated in summer 1954. Lying within them is a replica of what was believed to be a wooden preaching cross which was found during the excavations. This photograph was published in the Stafford Newsletter in April 1955.
St. Bertelin's Chapel was dedicated to an eighth century Anglo-Saxon saint, who had chosen Stafford for his hermitage. The wooden chapel was replaced by a stone one on the same site in the eleventh century. St. Bertelin's was one of the first buildings used by the King Edward VI Grammar School as a schoolroom. In 1801 the school demolished the chapel and the materials were used to build a new school near the Northgate. In 1954 St. Mary's churchyard became a Garden of Remembrance and the site of St. Bertelin's, at the west end of St. Mary's Church, was excavated; the outline of the foundations were traced in stone.
Reproduced by kind permission of the Staffordshire Newsletter who retain copyright.