"St Eata's Church is in the village of Atcham, Shropshire, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Shrewsbury, the archdeaconry of Salop, and the diocese of Lichfield. Its benefice is united with that of St Giles-with-Sutton, Shrewsbury. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building. Its dedication to Eata of Hexham is unique.
The first church to St Eata is said to have been built in the eighth century but there is no longer any trace of this. A church was present on the site by 1075, the chronicler Orderic Vitalis being baptised there on the Easter Day of that year. The oldest part of the present church is in the nave and dates from the late Saxon or the early Norman era. The tower is probably from the 12th century, and the chancel from the late 13th century. The south porch is dated 1665. The church was restored in the late 19th century.
The church is constructed in red and grey sandstone, and incorporates some large blocks of stone from the Roman city of Wroxeter. The roof is tiled. The plan of the church consists of a nave, a chancel, a south porch, and a west tower. The tower is in four stages, with buttresses. At the top of the tower is a quatrefoil frieze, corner gargoyles, a parapet with truncated pinnacles, and a small pyramidal cap. The bell openings are louvred, with a clock face over the opening on the north side. In the third stage are paired lancet windows, and the second stage contains a large lancet window on the west side. The bottom stage has a round-arched west doorway with five orders of shafts. In the north wall of the nave is an early, small, round-headed window; the other windows in the nave are Perpendicular in style. The chancel has an east window consisting of three stepped lancets under one arch. The windows on the north and south sides of the chancel contain Y-tracery."
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"We are the only church to be dedicated to St Eata and there is very little known about this saint.
In 664 AD Eata, Abbot ofthe monastery at Mailros (Melrose) a gentle man and greatly revered, was appointed Abbot of Lindesfarne.
This break in Lindesfarne occured after the Synod of Whitby which was held in May 664 AD at which the Celtic church was forced to accept the Roman calculation for keeping Easter.
In 678 AD at York, Eata was consecrated Bishop of Northern Northumbria, Bernicia by Theodore of Cantebury. Eata was given a choice of residing at Hexham or Lindesfame to serve his see at Bernicia. Eata chose Lindesfarne.
Later when Cuthbert was nominated Bishop of Hexham, but wished to remain in Lindesfarne, Eata's filled his palce at Hexham.
Eata is one of many English saints who were canonised without suffering martyrdom.
Eata died in 685 or 686, rumoured to be of dysentery, and was burried to the south of the church at Hexham before being moved inside in the 11th Century.
His life was dedicated to the saving souls and to the Romanizing and Benedictinizing of his See.
His Saint day is celebrated on 26th October."
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