Parish Church Of St Mary

PARISH CHURCH OF ST MARY

A large town church occupying an elevated position overlooking the old town centre of Stockport, adjacent to Stockport Market. The building combines a medieval Decorated style eastern arm with a substantially rebuilt nave and tower, making it one of the most ambitious ecclesiastical schemes of its era.

The medieval section comprises a three-bay chancel of pinkish ashlar with freestone dressings, attached to a two-cell north-east block of probably 14th-century origins that incorporates what appears to be an oratory or chantry. The chancel underwent window renewal and internal stonework restoration in the 19th century. The remainder of the church was rebuilt between 1813 and 1817 to designs by Robert Goldsmith, revised by Lewis Wyatt following advice from John Soane, executed in Perpendicular Gothic style. Repairs and alterations were carried out in 1882 to designs by J S Crowther. All elevations use ashlar masonry with freestone dressings and slate roofs.

The medieval chancel features three bays with diagonal buttresses rising as giant crocketted pinnacles, the pinnacles themselves being 19th-century work. The nave windows on the north and south sides display Decorated style tracery dating to the 19th century, though these occupy medieval window openings. A 19th-century ogee-arched priest's doorway sits on the north side. The east window is a large six-light composition with Flamboyant tracery, also 19th-century.

The north-east block comprises two cells. The eastern cell is gabled to the north whilst the western cell is topped with a parapet; the block may have been reduced in height. A 19th-century chimney stack stands between the cells. On the east side, a small steeply-gabled projecting bay with stone slate roof contains a two-light Decorated style traceried window and a small medieval trefoil-headed lancet in the east wall north of the bay. The north wall contains two crank-headed three-light windows and a doorway into the western cell.

The west tower is impressively tall with set-back buttresses decorated with gables and blind tracery. An embattled traceried parapet is crowned with large octagonal pinnacles bearing crocketted finials. The west doorway is four-centred with a square-headed hoodmould and carved spandrels. Above stands a four-light traceried west window with a Flamboyant traceried roundel, all set within a gable. The clock face stage is ornamented with tiers of blind tracery. Tall paired traceried belfry windows, each with two transoms, light the bell stage. The nave walls are canted where they meet the tower, with two matching embattled porches in the angles between, each having open four-centred arches on the west and outer sides. The five-bay nave has an embattled parapet with buttresses rising above it as tall crocketted pinnacles. Two tiers of traceried windows light the nave: the lower tier are smaller openings whilst the gallery windows are tall with reticulated tracery.

Internally, the medieval eastern arm is of high quality but heavily restored. Walls remain unplastered. The chancel features a moulded chancel arch and wallplate. The medieval roof structure is a common rafter arch braced construction with scissor-bracing above, probably dating to the 14th century and overhauled in 1984. A fine example of triple sedilia and double piscina adorns the south wall with cusped arches and crocketted gables, though the carved stonework is heavily restored. The north wall holds a Tudor-arched tomb recess with panelled soffit and an effigy of a priest, re-sited here from a former chapel on the south side of the chancel. An alabaster reredos dates to 1909 with panels featuring depressed ogee arches in a frame decorated with fleurons, with matching east wall panelling. 19th-century choir stalls feature concave shouldered ends and poppyhead finials.

The eastern cell of the north-east block is lined with early 19th-century timber Gothick panelling. The moulded brattished cornice and timber panelled ceiling with moulded ribs may be earlier. On the east wall, a pair of 19th-century doors opens into the oratory or chantry beneath an unrestored segmental arch, with a trefoil-headed aumbrey on the south wall.

The nave displays a plaster tierceron vaulted roof with large foliage bosses and additional ribs in the west bay. North and south galleries flanking the nave feature good timber Gothick staircases with traceried balustrades and octagonal newel posts with carved finials. The gallery roof is divided into bays by crank-headed cross arches. Above the chancel arch the wall displays panelled blind tracery flanking a Royal Arms. A tall moulded stone tower arch dates to 1882. A plaque records the removal of the west gallery, restoration of the nave and tower work in 1881 to 1882 under Crowther's direction. The tower has an internal oval plan. The polygonal timber pulpit is a 1960s adaptation of the original 1813 to 1817 phase pulpit. The font features an octagonal stone bowl with carved motifs on a stem with marble shafts bearing carved capitals. Circa 1880s nave benches have concave shouldered ends. Original 1813 to 1817 benches survive in the gallery with fielded panelled ends.

Wall monuments are numerous and of considerable quality, including work by Daniel Sephton of Manchester (William Wright, died 1753), Westmacott (two monuments), and John Bacon Junior. The 19th-century stained glass is by several makers: the east window by O'Connor (1849) and windows by Clayton & Bell, Hedgeland, Wailes, Cox and Son, and Shrigley & Hunt.

A painting of the church before the 1813 to 1817 rebuilding is retained in the vestry, alongside a good collection of copies of later prints.

The church is outstanding for the scale and quality of its medieval eastern arm, which includes an oratory or chantry of considerable interest, combined with the architectural ambition of the 1813 to 1817 nave and tower designed by Lewis Wyatt. It forms a key element in the townscape of old Stockport and shares group value with the arched screen wall to the north-west, part of Wyatt's overall design.