Church Recording - an Overview
Church Recorders work as a team at a single local church or place of worship. In pairs, they research and document items within the building in 9 discrete categories: memorials, metalwork, stonework, woodwork, textiles, paintings, libraries, windows and miscellaneous. Depending upon the size of building it can take two or more years to complete a Church Record, a bound copy of which is presented to the church or place of worship. Additional copies, in printed or digital format, have previously been lodged with relevant national bodies such as the local county records office (or Diocesan authorities), the Church Care Library, the V&A Museum Art Library and Historic England, although a single, new national repository is currently being sought.
As well as being a source of tremendous pleasure and interest to individual members of the recording team and congregations alike, Church Records serve a number of practical purposes: they provide a complete furnishing record; the police can use the descriptions and photographs to identify retrieved stolen artefacts; insurance companies may use Records to identify items; and they help researchers in producing theses and books on allied subjects. Since 2020 Church Recording was managed, nationally, by the Church Recording Society, but this responsibility will be returned, in full, to to The Arts Society in 2026.
Our Most Recent Project - St Michael and All Angels, Alberbury
The Arts Society Shrewsbury’s Church Recording group recently completed their latest project, and were able to present the hard-bound copy of the Record of Church Furnishings to Alberbury’s new incumbent, Rev Stephen Griffiths, on 11 September 2025.
With its complicated ecclesiastical history the church, just inside the Welsh border, is a mix of medieval and Victorian architectural styles with a fine south aisle, known as the Loton Chapel, and a northern tower with a saddleback roof – unique in Shropshire. There are strong links with the Leighton and Lyster families, the former going back several centuries. A spiral-bound copy of the Record has been lodged for public viewing with Shropshire Archives in Shrewsbury, along with the Society's previous records of churches at Grinshill, Pitchford and the Unitarian Church in Shrewsbury.
Earlier Projects
In 2008, after an 8-year break, a new team of Arts Society Shrewsbury Church a newly formed group of 16 Recorders began a new project at St Michael and All Angels, Pitchford, in the Hereford Diocese, 6 miles south of Shrewsbury. After 4 years' detailed research and writing-up, the hard-bound record of furnishings was presented to the Rev'd John Rose on 2 September 2012. Two years later the team were pleased to present a Record of Church Furnishings at All Saints, Grinshill, in the Lichfield Diocese, to the Rev'd Rob Haarhoff, followed in January 2018 by a Record presentation to the Unitarian Church committee chairman, Debra Burbery.
Shropshire churches recorded by The Arts Society Shrewsbury now include:
2025 Alberbury - St Michael and All Angels
2017 Shrewsbury Unitarian Church
2014 Grinshill - All Saints
2012 Pitchford - St Michael and All Angels
2004 West Felton - St Michael the Archangel
2001 Acton Burnell - St Mary
1998 Atcham - St Eata
1997 Little Ness - St Martin
1995 Berwick - Berwick House Chapel
Where to, now?
The Arts Society Shrewsbury is very keen to recruit new recorders in order to sustain this important contribution to our National Heritage. If you would like to join us please contact our new Chairman, Jill Robinson, by e-mail or telephone, or let her know at the next meeting.
The Arts Society Shrewsbury Recorders Complete First Cathedral Trail
Church Trails have been developing across the country for over 10 years having been pioneered by Frances Moule Fenton in Somerset. In 2013 two Arts Society Shrewsbury Church Recorders created an Arts Society Church Trail for the Roman Catholic Cathedral on Town Walls in Shrewsbury, the first trail to have been produced in the UK for a Catholic church or a cathedral. The trail comprises a 2-sided question sheet with 14 stops indicated on a plan of the cathedral, and a separate answer / explanation sheet. Stewards are on hand to both help and mark the sheets, and will award a sticker to those who complete the trail.
Initial feedback from a group of pupils from St Mary’s Catholic School in Crewe who did a test run on the Cathedral trail was: ‘They thoroughly enjoyed it’. The Arts Society Shrewsbury trail compilers, Jane Morris and Claude Owen, hope that many more young people will come and get to know this unique building.
Page updated on 12/03/2026