Church Of St Mary And Attached Railings

The Church of St Mary is a Roman Catholic parish church, built between 1830 and 1835 by I Bonomi. In 1850, chapels were added, and alterations were made around 1980 when the attached presbytery was demolished. The church is oriented so that its western front faces east in terms of ritual layout. The building is composed of a sanctuary, and north and south chapels, and a three-bay nave. It is designed in the Gothic Revival style.

The western front, constructed from sandstone ashlar, features stepped buttresses with tall pinnacles flanking a tall three-light window with cinquefoil tracery. Above is a stepped triple arcade with outer arches that are blind and a central louvred section, all topped by a crocketed gable. Smaller flanking lancets are situated below, set under plain sloped coping. Two-stage porches are located at each end, featuring pinnacled, stepped, and angled buttresses. The moulded door arches have nook shafts, and bands above have blind quatrefoil tracery. The top stage contains two-light windows with quatrefoil tracery under a Lombard frieze and a blind arcaded parapet. A cross finial tops the gable. The south elevation displays lancet windows. The eastern front, facing Back Bridge Street, has a central trefoil below a small lancet, with lancets in the outer bays and paired lancets in the north and triple lancets in the south chapels.

Inside, a western gallery is supported by moulded cast-iron columns, with an inserted partition set back below. The chapels are defined by paired, double-chamfered arches on round columns and attached half-columns; the north chapel features shafts. The high, pointed-arched sanctuary has a blind trefoil above and within, with flanking windows having nook shafts and clasping rings. A hoodstring runs over the pointed blind arches and windows. The panelled, coved ceiling is supported by a brattished cornice and heraldic corbels. Four confessional doors in the north wall have shouldered arches; the spandrels of the chamfered surrounds are carved with signs of the Passion under a hoodstring. The north chapel contains a Gothic-style reredos with a high-relief carving of the Annunciation, while the south chapel has an east arcade. The church was reordered, bringing the altar forward, and a carved, painted Gothic reredos is now in place. Glass in the east windows is signed and dated 1946, and bears the signature of TC Dickinson, London. The north chapel's north window is vibrantly coloured and is signed HM Barnett, Newcastle, commemorating Gilmore, who died in 1867. Cast-iron railings are attached to the front and right return of the ritual south porch, featuring spears with trefoils on pointed principles. The church is considered the earliest Gothic revival church surviving in Sunderland.