Church Of St Mary

Parish church of St Mary, Barnard Castle, dating from the 12th to 14th centuries with Perpendicular windows. The church has been substantially altered and restored over several centuries.

The building is constructed of rubble with a tower of coursed squared stone featuring ashlar dressings. Most roofs are covered with graduated stone slates, though some sections are not visible. The plan comprises a chancel with a north Lady chapel, vestry, and south organ chamber; an aisled nave with transepts; a north porch with blocked door; a north-west tower porch; and a south door.

The exterior features a blocked priest's door in the east wall of the south transept. Diagonal buttresses support the chancel, with angle buttresses at other corners. The north chancel windows are Norman in style. Most other windows display restored Perpendicular tracery with 2-centred arches to the east window (5 lights) and to the original 3-light east window in the south transept; remaining windows have straight heads. The 5-stage tower has a pointed arch to double boarded north doors, a 2-light pointed arch above, a blank third stage with a clock in the fourth stage, and a belfry with paired louvred 2-centred arches. Pinnacles ornament the angles and sides. A late 12th-century south door features 3 orders with zigzag and nailhead mouldings. Battlements run along all roofs except the vestry, which has low-pitched covering.

The interior rises 6 steps to the chancel, which has a partly restored Perpendicular arch with double hollow chamfers decorated with Tudor flowers, supported on responds with battlemented abaci and a head-stopped hoodmould. The north windows have deep splays and round heads; walls are panelled with wrought-iron fittings. A rood-loft door and corbels survive.

The nave contains a 4-bay north arcade (originally 3 bays, later lengthened) with round arches on round piers with square capitals, two of which have spurs, a half-octagonal west respond, and an east corbel shaft. The 4-bay south arcade features a hoodstring to double-chamfered 2-centred arches on octagonal piers. The nave roof is low-pitched and restored with a cusped ridge; the chancel retains its original roof.

The north transept contains a high piscina in its east wall and a niche holding a sculpture of a man and swine, possibly representing St Anthony, which was moved here from the south corner of Newgate. A tall, wide, octagonal font of fossil carboniferous limestone (local "Teesdale marble") is carved with alpha and omega symbols and elaborate mason's marks. The blocked north door has a double-chamfered pointed arch with broach stops, abaci with incised zigzag, and an inserted window dated 1864.

The church contains numerous memorials of high quality. The north transept displays a 14th-century effigy of Robert de Morton, vicar of Gainford, depicted with a bird, lion, and chalice. A traceried wood tower screen serves as a First World War memorial. The north aisle holds an 1899-1902 South African War memorial to the 3rd Militia Battalion Durham Light Infantry, signed by Keswick School of Industrial Arts and featuring low relief bronze and enamel plaques in a marble frame. Additional memorials in the tower include a large monument with Perpendicular canopy over a female figure to Sir John Hullock, a judge (1767-1829), signed by Westmacott, alongside works by Green of Newcastle, Jopling of Gateshead, Skelton of Yorkshire, and Ross of Richmond.

The church contains much high-quality 19th-century stained glass, including work in the style of Kempe in the chancel, a circa 1912 north transept window to F Cullis and E Richardson featuring delicate quarries, flowers, fruit, and sweeping skies, a circa 1878 north aisle window, and a south transept window with grisaille and inset brilliant pictures. A circa 1890 south aisle west window attributed to T Richardson depicts Christ Preaching with finely rendered faces, trees, lake, and sky.

The church underwent significant alterations and restorations: around 1680 the south porch was removed; in 1814 repairs included renewal of the east window and rebuilding of the south wall of the chancel, removing four lancets; 1868-70 repairs by FRN Haswell of North Shields included closing the west door, removing galleries, rebuilding the east end of the north arcade and the east window, and inserting new clerestory windows; an 1873-4 restoration by CH Fowler included rebuilding the tower; and a 1908 restoration and enlargement of the chancel was undertaken by A Jackson. St Margaret chapel was added and dedicated in 1957 by JC Smith.