Christ Church, Chilwell

Christ Church stands in the quiet Nottinghamshire village of Chilwell, a parish church built between 1901 and 1903 from a former mission chapel of St Mary’s in Attenborough. The Bishop of Southwell, Rt Revd Edwin Hoskyns, consecrated it on 3 July 1915 after years as a simple mission room. In 1950 new vestries were added, and in 1957 the architect Eric Vernon Royle designed a chancel to expand the sanctuary. A daughter church, St Barnabas in Inham Nook, grew from its congregation in later years. The building houses an organ with a long history. The first instrument arrived in 1857, a one-manual Groves organ moved from St Mary’s Attenborough. In 1937 a two-manual Gray and Davison organ with sixteen stops was installed by organist Norman Buttler of Long Eaton. Ernest Wragg overhauled it in 1956 before it was removed to St Vincent’s Church, Caythorpe in 1986. Today a modern mechanical-action organ by Nigel Church, built in 1984, fills the nave with sound. Inside, the church presents a calm space of brick and stone, softened by the current organ’s clear tones. The 1957 chancel frames the altar with careful brickwork by Royle, while the vestries provide practical rooms for weekday activities. Stained glass and simple furnishings reflect the modest scale of a village parish church. Outside, Chilwell’s tree-lined streets and nearby Attenborough Nature Reserve offer quiet walks after services.