---
title: "Holy Cross, Ilam"
description: "Located in Ilam, Staffordshire. Built C11 origins; C13 rebuild; St Bertram’s chapel 1618; Watts chapel 1831; restored 1855–56. Diocese of Lichfield. Grade I. Saxon, medieval and Gothic Revival style."
category: "Church"
tags: ["Church","Church of England","Staffordshire","Ilam","Grade I","Peak District","George Gilbert Scott","St Bertram"]
canonical: "https://thebritishgazette.com/post/ilam-holy-cross"
pubDate: "2026-09-06T01:52:29.380Z"
dateModified: "2026-09-07T16:06:53.170Z"
location: "Ilam, Staffordshire"
country: "England"
county: "Staffordshire"
town: "Ilam"
address: "Ilam Park, Ilam, Staffordshire, DE6 2AZ"
postcode: "DE6 2AZ"
built: "C11 origins; C13 rebuild; St Bertram’s chapel 1618; Watts chapel 1831; restored 1855–56"
architect: "Sir George Gilbert Scott (1855–56 restoration)"
denomination: "Church of England"
dedications: ["Holy Cross"]
diocese: "Lichfield"
grade: "I"
style: "Saxon, medieval and Gothic Revival"
openingHours: "Please contact church for more details."
parish: "Ilam"
listEntryUrl: "https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1038155"
gridReference: "SK 132 507"
---

# Holy Cross, Ilam

The Church of the Holy Cross stands in Ilam Park in the Peak District, a Grade I parish church of eleventh-century origin restored by Sir George Gilbert Scott, in the Diocese of Lichfield.

## Overview

Neither settlement nor church appears in Domesday, though a church here is likely by the eleventh century. The south nave wall retains a blocked eleventh-century doorway; the font is Romanesque (often called twelfth-century) with figures from the life of St Bertram. The south chapel of 1618, built by the Meverells of Throwley, houses a thirteenth- or fourteenth-century altar tomb with foramina, locally the shrine of Beorhthelm of Stafford (St Bertram or Bertelin). Jesse Watts-Russell added the large octagonal north chapel in 1831 as a memorial to his father-in-law David Pike Watts, with a group by Sir Francis Chantrey. Scott’s restoration of 1855–56 inserted lancets, a north arcade and chancel arch, a saddleback to the tower, and fittings including a Skidmore rood screen. Two Anglo-Saxon cross shafts stand in the churchyard (separately listed Grade I). The church was listed Grade I on 1 February 1967 (NHLE 1038155). The parish is Ilam, in the Alstonefield, Ilam and Wetton benefice; the park is National Trust.

## Further Information

- [Historic England list entry 1038155](https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1038155)
- [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_the_Holy_Cross,_Ilam)
- [Gilbert Scott archive](https://gilbertscott.org/buildings/holy-cross-ilam)