Church Of St Mary

Church of St Mary

A parish church of Bolton, mainly in the late Perpendicular style, though incorporating elements of an earlier building, with a clerestory added in 1833. The church was restored around 1880. It is constructed of coursed and squared stone with a shallow leaded roof.

The building comprises a west tower, a nave with clerestory and two aisles (each with clerestory windows), and an integral chancel.

The west tower is undivided and features an ogee-arched west doorway with a 3-light traceried window above. Paired bell chamber lights are set in the tower, and a clock is mounted in a moulded stone surround on the south face. The tower is topped with an embattled parapet with angle pinnacles.

The south aisle is clearly an addition, as the original nave wall's quoins are visible in the western elevation. A south porch with a 4-centred arched entrance and embattled coped gable with finials projects from this side. The south aisle has five clerestory windows of 3 and 4 lights with round heads in chamfered rectangular openings, similar lower windows, and a segmentally arched 3-light window east of the porch. A blocked doorway with 4-centred moulded archway sits towards the east, and the aisle has an embattled parapet.

The nave clerestory forms a continuous band of ten 3-light windows in chamfered rectangular openings. The north aisle is similar to the south but extends one bay further west and has a north door set in a moulded arch with hoodmould. A higher chapel lies to the east of the north aisle, alongside the chancel. A massive east window of 7 lights (divided by a transom) faces the chancel, and a wide 5-light window sits in the chancel's south wall.

Internally, a 5-bay arcade with octagonal shafts and double-chamfered arches divides the nave. The two north-west bays appear somewhat earlier and have primitive beasts' heads carved on the capitals. The north arcade is lower than the south, suggesting earlier construction, a view supported by external evidence of the south aisle's addition. Moulded tie beams are carried on wall posts sprung from corbels.

A western tower arch with a canopied screen incorporating the clock marks the tower's interior face. A traceried screen divides the eastern bay of the south aisle to form a small chapel. The chancel is undivided. An organ stands to the north of the chancel in a richly carved canopied case, and a timber reredos occupies the entire east wall of the chancel, forming an arcade of canopied niches.

Fittings include a timber altar with a central low-relief panel depicting the martyrdom of George Marsh in 1555, and a Jacobean pulpit. Pews and choir stalls date probably to the early 19th century, some with poppy heads. A brass candelabra from the 18th century, with globe and branching scrolled candle holders, hangs over the chancel steps.

The stained glass includes an east window by William Warrington from 1845 depicting the apostles in medieval style. The south aisle contains a south-east window by Kempe from 1907, an unattributed First World War memorial window in medieval style depicting British patron saints, and an unattributed Sunday School window from 1865 in memory of Elisabeth Heelis, also in medieval style. The north aisle includes a window of 1887 commemorating John Kynnaston Cross in Pre-Raphaelite style (unattributed) and the George Marsh memorial window from 1897.