St Mary's and All Saints is an Anglican parish church in the diocese of Lichfield.
A church may have stood on the site since Saxon times, but the main visible structure dates from the Norman conquest, with the principal construction being in the C12th, remodelled in the C17th and extensively restored and slightly extended in around 1880.
The current building was given Grade II listed status in 1966. The belfry dates from 1632, with a clock on the west face commemorating Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897. Inside, on the west wall, a board dated 1736 records benefactions to the poor of the parish, while on the north and south walls are C18th funerary hatchments (diamond-shaped tablet) to various members of the Mainwaring family of nearby Whitmore Hall. There is an alabaster slab to Edward Mainwaring (died 1580) and his wife, and on the wall above a finely carved alabaster and marble memorial to Elizabeth Mainwaring. At the northern end of the church grounds is a large memorial to Thomas William Twyford and his family.
Thomas Twyford was a significant figure in the local pottery industry, particularly in the development of hygienic sanitaryware.
Twyford's father had already established two pottery manufacturies, and on his death, Thomas inherited the business, in 1872. In the 1870s, Thomas was at the forefront of the debate regarding the best type of water closet, and he was credited with the invention of the single piece ceramic flush toilet.
Today it's something we all take for granted, but at the time it represented a major advance in safe and hygienic disposal of waste. Thomas made considerable profits from his numerous developments, and in 1887 he built a new factory at Cliffe Vale in Stoke, now developed into canal-side apartments. Thomas lived in Whitmore Hall from 1898, dying in 1921 in Bournemouth, before being interred in the church grounds.
The cache is not within the church grounds, but may be located by finding answers to the following:-
1) At the top of the steps adjacent to the parking place, there is a memorial plaque to Walter & Hilda Smith, with a date October 2ABC
2) The number of chimneys on the church = D
3) Thomas William Twyford's daughter was born on 12 May XYZ0
The cache can be found at N52 58.AB(C+D) W2 17.X(Y+1)(Z-1)
The final location is a short walk from the church. After finding the cache, there is plentiful refreshment available nearby, at either the pub or tea rooms.
If you would like to add to the Church Micro series yourself then please look here
There is also a Church Micro Stats & Information page that can be found here