Church Of St Mary

SJ28NE 789-1/3/283

BIRKENHEAD UPTON FORD ROAD (North side) Church of St Mary

28/03/74

GV II Parish church. 1868. By John Cunningham. Roughly coursed and squared rubble with Welsh fishscale slate roofs. Nave withsouth-west tower and polygonal apse. Early Decorated style. Stepped foiled lancet window to west with blind trefoil over, and hood mould with carved heads as stops. 2 stage tower with angle buttresses. South door with triple shafts with stiff leaf capitals. Two tiers of triple lancets in west wall, and triple lancets to bell chamber with superimposed clock. Corbel table with beasts heads. Pinnacles and embattled parapet. Nave divided into 3 bays by buttresses, with triple lancets in outer bays, and 2-light Decorated window in centre, all with hood moulds and sill band. Canted vestry to south, with trefoiled window in west wall, and lancet window with rose over in gable. Polygonal apse with wide foiled lancet windows separated by buttresses. Series of 3 gables on north wall form vestry and hall complex now partially rebuilt and incorporated into the body of the church. Interior: aisleless nave, extended to north by opening up into rebuilt original halls and vestry. Arched brace roof trusses with king struts over collar, carried on stone corbels. Plain moulded chamfered arch to polygonal apse. Richly decorated marble pulpit with foliate capitals and statues. Stained glass: figures of Faith, Hope, and Charity in south wall, 1888. Representation of last supper carried across 5 windows of apse, painterly style, dated 1874.

(The Buildings of England: Pevsner N and Hubbard E: Cheshire: Harmondsworth: 1971-).

Listing NGR: SJ2718888119