Though there are no documents surviving from the early years of the church, and no record of the date of its building. there is one unusual record in the church itself. Carved on the capital of the north-east pillar of the tower is the Latin inscription:

Orm Vocatur Que Me Condidit
"The man who founded me is called Orm"

 

This, and the stones themselves, are the clues to the date and origin of the church.

Orm, as founder of the church, must have been an important figure locally, with money, and influence - and perhaps a particular reason to found a church in the town, as a penance, or in thanks. There are documents from the late twelfth century naming an "Orm of Eastgate", which is a street behind the church, and a daughter of Orm or Hormus. Nothing more is known of this Orm, but Orm was a common name, and is still a local surname. It comes from the Danish for Dragon, the same root as "Worm", as in "Great Orme’s Head". There are many carvings of dragons, referring to the name. Many of the people in Stafford at the time would have been descended from Viking settlers.

The style of the building is of the early twelfth century, and probably too early for "Orm of Eastgate". The grotesque figures and "beakheads" on the arch are typically Norman. The very elaborate decoration of churches in England began, famously at Kilpeck in Herefordshire, in about 1130. There are similar carvings at Tutbury, Lincoln Cathedral, and many other places from 1130-1150. The carvings of animals in trees and dragons on the capitals are very like work in Norman cathedrals, particularly on the pilgrimage route through France to Compostella, such as Moissac.

The carvings are not the product of local folk artists, though local craftsmen may have helped. They are created by travelling masons who may have learnt their trade in France.

There are unique St. Chad's features - the little men in "skirts" on the arch are unique to St. Chad's. They hold up their arms in amazement at the mysteries of the mass held within the sanctuary.

If the church is from the first half of the century there is a likely "Orm". This was "Orme de Derlaston" or "Orm le Guiden", otherwise known as Orm of Biddulph. who was a major figure. He held manors through the county from Biddulph to Essington. Stafford would have been in the centre of his land. His father was Richard the Forester, the Keeper of Cannock Chase and what was called the New Forest, which was a position of immense power over everything that happened in the forest. At that time the forest extended all the way to the moorlands. St Chad's carvings show forest animals, deer in the trees. Richard was one of the largest non-Norman landowner in the west Midlands in the Doomsday Book.

Some sources say Orme was born in Horton, near Leek on the edge of Biddulp Moor, and Darlaston near Stone seems to have been the family home. Some genealogies on the internet confuse this with Darlaston in the Black Country. Darlaston, Stone, though, was given to Orme and his son by the abbot of Burton Abbey in return for their protection of monks travelling in the area.

 

In 1150 (when he was probably an old man) Orm held manors from Biddulph and Knypersley to Essington, and most places between. Stafford was the only town of any size in this area, and the obvious place to found a church. According to the Burton Abbey  document his wife was the daughter of "Sheriff Nicholas", probably Nicholas de Toeni, Lord of Stafford Castle, making him closely related to Norman royalty, though others claim his father-in-law was Nicholas de Beauchamp of Chartley Castle.

There are no records of Orm's death, but he and his wife claimed the right to be buried at Burton Abbey "with great honour". His family continues to hold some of his land to this day! Direct descendants still live at Okeover near Ilam. "Ralph Son of Orme" was tenant of Horton, Leek, in the later 12th century and his daughter Emma's descendants are well recorded.

 

Though there are hardly any documents referring directly to Orme himself the records of his family prove his importance in Staffordshire from Biddulph Moor to Essington. His dates are not certain but he was alive in 1150, and the architectural evidence suggests St Chads was built in the 1140s or 50s.

In 1150 (or thereabouts) St Chad's was the most important church in Stafford, and the centre of the area of Orm's influence. The only other Stafford church before St Mary's was built later in the 12th century was the tiny St Bertelin's, behind St Mary's, of which only the foundations remain. Though there is a mention of an "Orm of Eastgate" in Stafford records it is reasonable to deduce that Orme le Guiden was the founder and St Chad's was the focal point of his domain.

St Chad'schurch, in the centre of its small circular town on an island in the marsh, was the geographic and spiritual centre of a region, most of which was wild forest under the King's control.