Anyone visiting Warrington today cannot fail to see the towering spire of St. Elphin’s church that is visible for many miles around and dominating the landscape.
Reaching an impressive two hundred and eighty-one feet the spire can claim to be the 5th highest parish church spire in the UK. St. Elphin’s is believed to have been first built around 650 AD as a place of worship. A mention in the Domesday Book of 1066 states that a priest was present at Warrington.
Historical research reveals that the first priest ‘Elphin’ was present at the church until his death in 679 AD. The church has been associated with several well-known Warrington families throughout time including the Masseys, and the Pattens. But it was the Boteler family of Bewsey old hall who founded the Lady Chapel at the church in the year 1290 AD and it was endowed by Sir John Boteler. In 1354 the church was rebuilt once again by Sir William Boteler and the earliest remains from that time can still be seen today in the chancel and crypt.
It was at Bewsey old hall in 1429 AD that a baby was born to John Boteler and his wife Isabel and this baby also called John would one day become the 13th Baron of Warrington.
Alabaster tomb chest of Sir John Boteler
St Elphin’s Church
The child was to grow strong and as part of the Boteler family he represented a family that had been in Warrington and the surrounding area for many hundreds of years. By the age of twenty young John was to become a Knight of the Shire a noble position and one that he would hold for many years to come. On the 18th August 1444 John was to wed Lady Margaret Gerard of Kingsley, daughter of Sir Peter Gerard. Between them they bore at least five children, John, Margaret, Elizabeth, William and Isabel however in the year 1452 Lady Margaret was to die young. Sometime before July 1448 John was Knighted and the ceremony was witnessed by his brother-in-Law Sir Thomas Gerard of Kingsley.
John was to marry Margaret in August 1444, he was just fifteen years old and Margaret just fourteen. Sadly, Margaret passed away in 1452 aged just twenty two years. John married again to Elizabeth Dacre but this ended in divorce. John was to marry one more time and his third bride was Margaret Stanley but she survived John and it was at Bewsey Old Hall on the 24th February 1463 that Sir John died.
Upon his death Sir John was taken to St Elphin’s church in Warrington where he was buried inside the church in a beautiful Alabaster tomb chest. The tomb still remains today and is lavishly decorated and surmounted with the effigies of Sir John and his first wife Lady Gerard of Kingsley both holding hands for eternity.
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