The first St Chad's Church stood for a thousand years until its tower collapsed in 1788, doing damage beyond repair. The second (and present) church was built within four years on a new site by the city wall. Indeed, some of that wall was included in the foundations, and other sections of it were demolished to make way for the new church.

That upset the people of Shrewsbury. But the shape of the church was even more surprising to them. It was circular, which was extremely untraditional. The legend is that this was one of three designs put forward by the architect, and the circular plan was accepted by mistake!

Inside there is a great deal of white, with a whole series of columns and a balcony rail around three-quarters of the circular structure. But that is contrasted with the bright colours of the stained-glass window at one end. Although the window was made locally, its design follows that of a much earlier painting, by Rubens, which is still in Antwerp Cathedral.

Outside there is a graveyard. It seems quiet and pleasant enough - by day. But in the 1980s it was used at night to film some of Charles Dickens's famous ghost story, A Christmas Carol…….

Exercise - Vocabulary

Look at the definitions below. Each one is for a word in bold in the text. Choose the word or expression from the list on the right which matches the definition.