Church Of St Mary And All Saints

Church of St Mary and All Saints

This is a substantial medieval church of 13th-century origin, with significant later alterations and additions. The building is constructed in sandstone rubble with stone slate roofs.

The plan comprises a west tower, a nave with clearstorey and north and south aisles, a lower chancel, a south porch, and a north vestry. A timber north porch was added in 1909.

The west tower, added in the late 15th century, has angle buttresses and an embattled parapet. The bell openings are formed of two trefoiled lights with tracery and hoods. The west window has three trefoiled lights under a pointed head with Perpendicular tracery, and below it is a moulded doorway with pointed arch.

The south aisle contains one bay to the west of the porch and two to the east. Windows here are of three lights with rounded heads under a flat head with hood. The south porch was rebuilt in 1844 and features a moulded pointed outer doorway. The inner doorway has a moulded pointed arch and late 12th-century capitals for angle shafts, now missing.

The north aisle windows are similar to those on the south, with two of them having three and two lights respectively. The eastern window is 19th-century with two trefoiled lights. The four clearstorey windows are of two cinquefoiled lights.

The chancel is lower than the main body of the church. Its windows are chamfered lancets with a drip course rising over each light and a string course at sill level. There are five windows on the south side and three on the north. Three buttresses with gablets are positioned on the south side, and two on the north. To the right of the left-hand southern window is a priest's doorway. The east window has five cinquefoiled lights under a pointed head with Perpendicular tracery.

The interior features four-bay arcades with octagonal piers on the south and round piers to the north. The arches are pointed and chamfered in two orders. The nave roof, possibly dating to around 1500, has moulded cambered tie beams and king posts rising from high collars. Between tie and collar are thin vertical members with traceried heads. Intermediate principals lack ties but have high arch-braced collars with king posts. The chancel roof similarly has high arch-braced collars with king posts, and the lower purlins are fitted with large curved wind braces. The chancel arch is pointed, formed of two rounded orders with moulded imposts and responds.

The triple sedilia have pointed arches springing from round shafts with moulded caps and bases. Adjoining these to the east are a piscina and credence table, the latter with a trefoiled head. Among the wall tablets is a memorial to Dr T.D. Whitaker (died 1822).

The east window contains glass inserted in 1816 depicting shields of arms of local families. The east window of the south aisle was designed by Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin in 1847.

The church contains a substantial quantity of early woodwork. The 18th-century west gallery was reconstructed in 1909 and carries an organ with a case made in 1729 for Lancaster church. The pews, although rearranged, are mostly 17th-century with shaped tops to the bench ends. At the west end of the north aisle are the churchwardens' pew and the constable's pew (dated 1714), both moved to their present positions in the 20th century. At the east end of the nave on the south side is St Anton's cage, with elaborately carved woodwork and dates of 1697 and 1830, the latter recording a restoration when two doors were substituted for one. The cage incorporates earlier dated panels. To its east is the 'medieval pew' with a front of carved tracery decoration. To the north is the Starkie pew, dated 1702.

The north and south chapels have screens that are partly medieval. The chancel screen is a 15th-century rood screen which was restored in 1864. The 22 choir stalls are dated by initials 'W.W.' to between 1418 and 1434. They were extensively restored in 1866 and have elaborate carved canopies and a fine series of misericords.