Church Of St Mary And St Cuthbert

The Church of St Mary and St Cuthbert is a large parish church largely dating from the mid-13th century, with significant additions and alterations made over the centuries. A mid-13th century chancel, nave arcade, the lower stage of the tower and possibly the vestry formed the original core. Around 1383, an anchorage was extended in the mid-16th century, followed by the belfry and spire around 1400. A section of the north aisle was added in the mid-16th century and a porch in 1742. In 1829, Ignatius Bonomi designed a Lambton pew, which functioned as a chapel, and the church underwent restoration in 1862, including the construction of a new chancel arch. The church is constructed of squared sandstone, with an ashlar porch and Lambton pew, and has graduated green slate roofs.

The west tower is engaged and features a spire. It comprises a square lower stage with a pointed doorway, a three-light window, and twin lancets, flanked by a buttress and stair turret. The octagonal belfry features bell openings with Y-tracery and an embattled parapet, topped by a very tall, slender octagonal spire. The nave consists of six bays with a high-pitched roof. The buttressed south aisle stands on original grave-slab footings, with a two-light window at the west end and a pointed two-order doorway in the porch. The north aisle retains some Decorated and Perpendicular windows and a similar doorway, along with two blocked pointed arches where a transept once stood. Both aisles feature moulded plinths and low pent roofs. The four-bay chancel has two plate-tracery windows on the south side, and the east end has clasping buttresses and a window from 1877, topped with a high-pitched roof. The two-storey anchorage, under a pent roof, has a cross window and a single light cut from a single slab on the west side, and a chamfered doorway and window on the extension. The vestry, also under a steep pent roof, includes a Tudor-arched doorway and a two-light mullioned window with arched lights, as well as a diagonal buttress. The gabled Lambton pew features a four-light window and a stone stairway on the west side. The porch is characterised by a pointed doorway beneath a stepped embattled gable, with blank cinquefoil-headed windows on its returns.

Internally, the tower arches are double-chamfered and pointed, supported by three shaft responds. The five-bay nave arcade rests on cylindrical piers with octagonal caps (the two west bays being slightly later). A squint is visible in the anchorage wall. The south aisle's west end contains a baptistery with a 15th-century font and an ecclesiastical effigy, while the east end formerly housed a chantry chapel with a piscina and aumbry. The north aisle contains fourteen effigies (five genuine), installed around 1595 by John Lord Lumley, along with six 17th-century Lumley wall monuments. The chancel features an 1862 double-chamfered arch; a late 13th-century trefoil-headed piscina and three-seat sedilia are located on the south side. One south window has a two-order rear-arch with missing nailhead colonnettes. A 1883 carved rood screen, pulpits, and choir stalls are present, along with a 1927 reredos, panelling, and Bishop’s throne by Sir Charles Nicholson; these include three painted panels by A.K. Nicholson depicting the Journey of St Cuthbert's body. Sculptural fragments, including grave slabs, are found in the porch, anchorage, and tower. The church’s roofs date to the mid-19th century.