Church Of St Mary

This parish church was built in 1841–44 by Edmund Sharpe of Lancaster, and subsequently extended in several phases: transepts added in 1860 by Edward Paley, the Derby Chapel added in 1871 by Paley & Austin, and chancel alterations and vestry extension in 1892–93 by Paley, Austin & Paley. The stained glass is by Shrigley & Hunt. The church was built at the expense of the 13th Earl of Derby of Knowsley Hall for £20,000.

Materials and Construction

The church is built of snecked sandstone, hammer-dressed on the north chapel, with freestone dressings and a graded stone-tile roof.

Plan

The church comprises an aisled nave with north porch, west tower, transepts, and chancel with north Derby Chapel and south vestry.

Exterior

The church is designed mainly in the Early English style. The west tower and spire dominate the composition. The tower rises in three stages with shallow angle buttresses in the lower two stages. The west doorway has two orders of shafts and dogtooth moulding in the arch. Above are lancets in the lower stage. The second stage has shorter pointed windows with nook-shafted surrounds. The upper stage has blind arches on ringed shafts either side of two-light openings with blind-quatrefoil tracery. The broach stone spire has two tiers of lucarnes.

The nave and aisles extend for five buttressed bays with low freestone parapets and coped gables. They have pairs of clerestorey and aisle lancets in each bay. The porch has a two-centred arch on semi-circular responds, though this is marred by double doors inserted in 1982. The transepts have set-back buttresses, corbel table, and two-light Decorated north and south windows with small cusped west windows.

The chancel, which has a corbel table and a rainwater head dated 1871, features a five-light east window with Perpendicular tracery and two two-light south windows with Decorated tracery. The north chapel is in a freer Decorated style. Its four-light window sits beneath a segmental arch spanning the wall between buttresses, above which is rich diaperwork in the gable. The three-bay north wall has three-light windows, a frieze of shallow quatrefoils beneath the sill band, and pilasters with blind tracery. The vestry is L-shaped against the south transept and chancel, with square-headed windows and a re-set east doorway taken from the previous vestry.

Interior

The tall tower arch has a continuous chamfer, and beneath the tower is a rib vault. The nave is narrow and tall, six bays internally including a wider bay across the transepts. Quatrefoil piers have foliage capitals and two orders of ovolo moulding in the arches. The nave has an arched-brace roof on corbelled wall shafts that contribute to the strong vertical emphasis, and beneath the clerestorey is a string course.

The chancel arch rises on clustered shafts with stiff-leaf capitals. The label has large head stops of Queen Victoria and the Archbishop of Canterbury. The chancel has a five-bay cusped arched-brace roof on foliage corbels, with painted trusses and polygonal rafters behind.

The three-bay arcade to the chapel has piers set diagonally with attached ringed polished shafts and stiff-leaf capitals. The painted wooden rib vault is on full-height ringed shafts in the north wall. There is a two-bay arcade between chapel and transept, which has a central octagonal pier and double-chamfered arches. East windows of chapel and chancel have shafted rere-arches, and in the north chancel wall is a credence shelf under a cusped arch. The transepts have roofs of closely spaced arched braces.

Walls are plastered except for the exposed stone walls of the chapel. There are 19th-century relief tiles in the nave, raised floorboards below pews, and encaustic tiles in the chapel.

Principal Fixtures

The chief fixtures of interest are at the east end and are associated with the Derby family. In the chapel is the monument to Edward Stanley, the 14th Earl (died 1869). It is a recumbent effigy by Matthew Noble, dated 1871, on a Gothic tomb chest. Chancel walls are decorated with memorial mosaics. On the south side are scenes from the Nativity below a band of angels (1912–13), and on the north side are angels (1923).

The octagonal font, carved in 1890 by Stubbs & Sons of Liverpool, has a stem with attached shafts and bowl with raised foliage and crosses. Aisles have benches with arm rests, tops decorated with foliage, and quatrefoils with relief foliage. The nave was originally without seating, and its plain benches are a later addition. All benches west of the north porch have been removed. The polygonal pulpit is circa 1946.

Choir stalls of 1915 have ends with blind tracery and poppy heads, and frontal with open arcading. The rear of a priest's stall, facing into the chapel, has a large relief of the Transfiguration. In the chapel, stalls are arranged in an L-plan and have curved backs and arm rests, and arcaded front. The reredos is a low blind arcade on polished marble shafts and painted diaper panels.

Two items were probably brought from Knowsley Hall: a Royal Arms of 1567, possibly from a chapel screen, and a seat dated 1646 which is richly decorated and has relief scenes of the Adoration and Presentation. The tower screen is by Austin & Paley (1904), although the upper section was added in 1982. There is a brass plaque to George Charles Hale (died 1902) by Jones & Willis.

The east window shows Christ and Archangels, by Shrigley & Hunt (1893). Chancel south windows are by Powell & Sons (1923), transept windows are by Lavers & Barraud (1871), and there is heraldic glass in the aisle west windows.

Subsidiary Features

The churchyard has a stone wall with saddleback coping, incorporating two arched entrances under gables, and a shed of rock-faced stone with stone-tile roof. A lych-gate dated 1895 stands under a shingled gambrel roof.

Historical Context

Edmund Sharpe (1809–77), architect of Lancaster, worked under Thomas Rickman before starting his own successful practice, though he left the architectural profession in 1851, handing the practice to his partner Edward Paley (1823–95). In 1868 Paley formed a partnership with Hubert Austin (1841–1915), and as Paley & Austin they added the Derby family chapel in 1871, the money raised by public subscription. The chapel houses the monument to Edward Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby (1799–1868), who was Conservative Prime Minister in the 1850s and 1860s. In 1892–93 the chancel fenestration was changed and the south vestry was extended, all by the same firm, now joined by Henry Paley (1865–1946) as partner. In 1981–82 pews were removed from the west end of the nave, the north transept was separated from the main body of the church by a glazed screen, and service rooms were created in the tower base.