Church of St Mary

Anglican church, built 1876-77 by E W Nobbs with G E Grayson as consultant. Constructed of buff-coloured snecked sandstone with red-sandstone ashlar dressings and slate roofs, in the Gothic style.

The church stands at the junction of Withens Lane and Manor Lane and has an irregular cruciform plan aligned north-east to south-west (the following description uses ritual rather than geographical orientation).

Exterior

The church presents a series of steeply pitched roofs. All main windows feature quoined surrounds, hoodmoulds, Gothic-arched heads with Perpendicular tracery, and leaded glazing, some containing stained glass.

The west end has a three-stage tower dating from 1882 with diagonal buttresses to the north-west and south-west corners and a crenellated parapet with crocketed pinnacles at the four corners and dragon-like gargoyles. A tiled pyramidal roof rises above the parapet, topped by a painted cast-iron cross and cockerel finial. The tower's west face features a Gothic-arched doorway set within a square-headed surround with carved foliate decoration to the spandrels and a hoodmould above. The original double doors have been removed due to poor condition and are stored inside the church; a single fake redwood door (the doorway is no longer in use) has been installed in their place with the iron hardware, including elaborate strap hinges and door pull, from the original doors reinstated on the replacement. Above the doorway sits a very large arched and traceried west window. The tower's second stage, above a red-sandstone band incorporating carved quatrefoil decoration, is blind. The third (belfry) stage has large Gothic-arched windows to all four faces with louvred traceried openings and a continuous hoodmould running around all four sides.

The four-bay nave has large traceried windows with buttresses separating the bays. Additional diagonal buttresses with dragon grotesques stand at the nave's west gable end adjoining the tower, along with two windows that are smaller versions of those to the side walls. The east end of the nave has lost its finial. An enclosed and gabled south-west porch has a Gothic-arched doorway with a quoined surround and double doors with elaborate strap hinges. Above the doorway is a carved band incorporating quatrefoil decoration and a canopied statue niche containing a small statue of the Virgin Mary holding the infant Jesus. A small square-headed traceried window exists to each side return.

The north and south transepts, which have lower roofs than the nave, are both gabled with angle buttresses and very large traceried windows. The north transept retains its foliated cross finial, whilst that to the south transept has been lost. Lying alongside the north transept on its east side, and projecting further north, is a gabled projection of 1907 in snecked yellow sandstone with red-sandstone dressings, which contains the former choir vestry and organ chamber. The organ chamber is located at the south end of the projection and incorporates a cross-gable facing east. The north gable-end is lit by an eight-light mullioned and transomed window incorporating cusped lights with a relieving arch above, whilst the east cross-gable has a blocked-up window (the traceried surround is visible internally). A substantial chimneystack rises from the roof. Attached to the east side of the projection is a flat-roofed clergy vestry in the same style with a four-light mullioned window to the east side (each light with a cusped head) and a Gothic-arched doorway with carved spandrels. Two cusped windows exist to the north return.

Attached to the east side of the south transept, and aligned with the chancel, is a small gabled lady chapel with a diagonal buttress and a traceried window to the east gable end. A lean-to porch is attached to the chapel's south side with a Gothic-arched doorway set within a square-headed surround with carved spandrels and a door with elaborate strap hinges. A single-light window with a cusped head exists to the porch's east side return.

The chancel, which also has a lower roof than the nave and has lost its finial at the east end, has angle buttresses and traceried windows to the north and south sides. The very large east window has a hoodmould with carved angel stops and a small square four-light blind window above.

Interior

The south-west porch forms the church's main entrance and has a collared-truss roof with exposed rafters, bench seating to each side, and deep window reveals and sills to the two side windows. A Gothic-arched doorway with panelled double doors leads into the main body of the church, which has plastered walls and sandstone dressings. The interior consists of the base of the west tower (accessed through a tall west arch), an aisle-less nave, transepts and a tripartite east end incorporating a tall chancel arch flanked by two smaller arches; that to the north led to the organ chamber and vestries originally (now a community room and office space), whilst that to the right leads into the lady chapel.

The nave has a hammerbeam collar-truss roof with exposed rafters and sandstone corbels, whilst the transepts have collar-braced king-post trusses, and the chancel has a ceiled, boarded and ribbed roof.

A tall west arch with decorative cast-iron screen and gates leads through into the base of the tower, which has a parquet floor. The original west entrance has a quoined surround, but the rear face of the now fake door has been plastered over. Above the entrance is the west window, which has diamond-shaped leaded-glazing and margin lights with pale-pink, blue, yellow and green stained glass. Bell ropes hang down through the ceiling into the tower's base and a doorway in the north-west corner leads to a sandstone spiral stair accessing the belfry, which contains a peal of eight bells cast by the Taylors foundry in Loughborough, and a timber stair leading up to the tower roof.

The nave has a modern raised floor in part, but the original wood-block floor survives underneath. Fixed-bench pews survive to the east half, but have been removed to the west half.

The interior contains a number of stained-glass windows, including a window on the south side of the nave towards the west end, which dates to circa 1903 and is by the Bromsgrove Guild and depicts Jesus with a flock of sheep overlooked by angels. The two windows in the west wall flanking the tower entrance are by A J Davies of the Bromsgrove Guild; that to the north side of the west arch depicts the Crucifixion, whilst that to the south side of the west arch commemorates all those who served during the Second World War and depicts St George kneeling before an altar. Adjacent to this window and affixed to the west wall is a brass First World War memorial tablet. One of the windows in the north wall of the nave is by Charles Eamer Kempe (1837-1907) and depicts King Hiram (a figure associated with freemasonry), King David and King Solomon. Also affixed to the north wall is an elaborate marble tablet commemorating the life and reign of Queen Victoria. Further late-19th and early-20th century stained-glass windows exist to the lady chapel, the chancel, and both sides of the nave, including one to the south side, which is a war memorial to a young parishioner killed at the Battle of Messines in 1918.

The north transept contains an early-21st century panelled timber screen erected to create an office and storage space behind. The entrance arch of the adjacent former organ chamber has been in-filled with panelling in the same style as that to the north transept to the lower part of the arch, with glazing to the upper part. The internal dividing wall between the former organ chamber and the former choir vestry has been removed and the space is now a community/meeting space known as the Columba Room with a kitchenette inserted at the north end. A painted fire surround survives to the west wall with an ogee-arched head to the blocked-up opening. The vestry to the north-east corner of the church has been modernised and contains an office and toilets.

The south transept contains the font and also a Rushworth & Dreaper of Liverpool organ that was installed in the original organ chamber in the 1930s and was moved to its current location in 2006; the organ is believed to have possibly come from a Methodist chapel in Wales. The lady chapel is a plain space with a collared-rafter roof; its arched openings leading into the chancel and south transept were in-filled with glazing in circa 2006.

An altar platform and timber altar rails were installed in front of the chancel arch in the 1970s, with the platform now surmounted by a modern altar table. An elaborate sandstone pulpit with carvings of birds, animals and flora, figures of saints and pierced openings lies to the north side of the chancel arch and was donated by the mother of a little girl in 1891 who had died aged just under three years old. A timber canopy above was added in 1958 in memory of another parishioner. Behind the pulpit are decorative cast-iron chancel rails and gates.

The chancel has tall arched openings to each north and south side that have both been in-filled; that to the north side is identically styled to the former organ chamber entrance, which forms the west return, whilst the opening to the south side is a glazed screen. On the south side of the chancel is an elaborate carved sandstone and timber chair and kneeler with carved angels, which is similar in design and style to the pulpit and was probably produced by the same stonemason. The sanctuary is set behind timber altar rails incorporating pierced cusped openings and has a patterned tessarae floor. The lower part of the walls and a border around the east window are decorated with low-bas reliefs that were originally painted in bright colours, but are now painted white. However, the decoration, which includes a large depiction of an angel on the south wall, remains visible; the angel depiction is set above carved three-bay stalls set upon a dark-grey marble plinth. The sanctuary has an ornate carved and painted Gothic reredos incorporating relief figures, with a carved altar in front, all set upon a marble platform. The east window above depicts the Resurrection.