Church Of St Mary

Church of St Mary

A parish church in Lesbury with a core probably dating from the 12th century. The north aisle and chapel were added and the chancel remodelled during the 13th century, followed by a mid-14th-century east window. The tower underwent late or post-medieval rebuilding. A vestry was probably added in the 17th century. In 1849 the church underwent major restoration including refacing and part rebuilding of the south wall, the addition of a south porch, a new parapet and roof to the tower, and re-cutting of much internal detail. The chancel arcade was further altered in 1853.

Construction uses squared stone throughout, with large squared masonry of 12th-century type in the tower, roughly-squared stone in the vestry, and tooled stone in the 19th-century parts with cut dressings that are tooled-and-margined in the 19th-century sections. The roofs are covered in graduated Lakeland slate except for Welsh slates on the chancel.

The building comprises a nave with a west tower, south porch and a two-bay north aisle, together with a chancel that has a two-bay north aisle and a north-east vestry.

The tower displays complex evidence of rebuilding and repair, with a stepped and chamfered plinth, set-backs at mid-height, and an irregular stepped clasping buttress at the south-west corner. The west window is a 19th-century lancet. Slatted belfry openings with plain pointed heads are set north of centre in the east and west walls, with no openings on the north side. A 19th-century parapet sits on block corbels, topped by a pyramidal roof with a weathercock.

The south side of the nave dates entirely from 1849 and features a large stepped buttress at the west end and a gabled porch. The porch contains 20th-century glazed doors set in a double-chamfered arch beneath a worn sundial, and encloses studded double doors under a moulded round arch on shafted jambs, possibly copying a 12th-century original. One lancet window stands to the west of the porch and three to the east.

The north aisle shows medieval masonry heightened in the 19th century, with old stepped buttresses, a blocked north door and blocked small square-headed windows, replaced by 19th-century lancets.

The south side of the chancel consists of 1849 refacing with reproduced 13th-century features, arranged in three bays with a chamfered plinth, shallow buttresses, lancets and a priest's door. A 14th-century three-light east window cuts through the 13th-century chamfered string course, with clasping buttresses and a 19th-century trefoil opening in the rebuilt gable. The north chapel displays a restored 14th-century-style three-light window.

The vestry features an old studded door on the east set in a chamfered stone surround, with a blocked window above. A 19th-century two-light window and an older blocked loop appear on the north side. Coped gables sit on moulded kneelers, each finished with a finial cross.

The interior is plastered except for the north aisle. A tall double-chamfered tower arch springs from half-round responds. The arcade consists of broad double-chamfered arches with circular piers and responds bearing a heavy chamfered impost band carried back on both wall faces. The chancel arch is similar but taller, whilst the chancel arcade is again similar but without the impost band. All internal detail has been heavily re-cut.

The chancel contains a retooled trefoiled piscina on the south side and a restored rebated square aumbry on the north. The nave roof dates from the 19th century and comprises collar-beam trusses with upper king posts and braces rising from re-cut stone corbels. The five-bay chancel roof features heavy cambered ties resting on re-cut or renewed corbels and carrying purlins, a ridge and separate straining-pieces linking the tie faces below the ridge. The ties, purlins and straining pieces are decorated with relief-carved flower and leaf bosses, grotesque animals and Percy emblems. An old studded door connects the chapel to the vestry.

The church retains a 15th-century octagonal font carved with Percy crescents and fetterlocks. Old creed and pater boards flank the chancel arch, with a commandments board and George III royal arms positioned under the tower. A mid-18th-century mural tablet in the chancel commemorates the Garret family of Wooden, and there are several 19th-century ledger stones.