Church Of St Mary

Church of St Mary, Worsbrough Village

A church of considerable historical importance, with traces of 12th-century work in the chancel, but substantially rebuilt in the 14th and 15th centuries. The aisles were remodelled in 1838 by the architect J. P. Pritchett. The building is constructed in ashlar sandstone and comprises a west tower, a 4-bay aisled nave (internally 2 bays) with a south porch, a single-bay chancel, and a south vestry.

The tower has a chamfered plinth and a blocked west doorway beneath a 2-light window, with a small round-headed light above and hoodmould. Clock faces sit in a lozenge-shaped panel to the south and an octagonal panel to the north. The belfry features square-headed openings with louvred ogee-headed lights. A string course with corner gargoyles supports a recessed octagonal spire topped with a weathervane. The nave displays a chamfered plinth and wave-moulded band, with diagonal west buttresses and offset buttresses between bays and at the eastern angles. The south porch has a double-quadrant-moulded arch with hoodmould and carved stops. The aisle windows are of Decorated and Perpendicular style, those of 1838 having 3-light transomed design with hoodmoulds, the one over the porch being truncated. A cavetto-moulded string course runs beneath the parapet. The north side has a square-headed door with hoodmould and windows matching the south. The chancel is narrower and retains a 12th-century north window. The lean-to south vestry sits beneath a 2-light window. The east window is of 14th-century date with 3 lights and reticulated tracery.

The interior contains two-bay arcades with half-octagonal responds and octagonal piers with moulded capitals, supporting double-chamfered arches, those on the south being more pointed. The chancel arch is double-chamfered with re-used 12th-century stones on its eastern face displaying extensive zig-zag ornament. Broad arches open into a north organ chamber and south chapel. The 15th-century porch roof has gilded bosses; the nave roof features moulded tie beams and two purlins on each slope, with two bosses; the chancel roof is similar but unmoulded.

The superb 15th-century porch door bears a Gothic inscription on its mid-rail reading 'IHS NICOLAS GENN THOMAS ALOTT'. One Gothic bench end survives at the east end of the central aisle. An Elmhirst box pew occupies the north-west corner of the nave. The font has a broach-stopped base and octagonal bowl with Gothic side panels, dated 1662.

The church contains numerous monuments of note. Wall monuments include one over the font to Elizabeth Carrington (died 1710), an ornate marble cartouche with cherubs and drops; in the south chapel, a monument to H. and T. Edmunds (died 1708/9) with draped panel, two cherubs, and a galleon; a table monument in front of the organ to Sir Thomas Rockley (died 1517); and another in a recess behind the organ to Sir Robert Rockley, now obscured by a raised floor level. The most impressive is a wooden freestanding double-decker monument between the chancel and south chapel, featuring shields in panels round the base, a cadaver on the lower bunk, and a crudely-painted knight on the upper bunk beneath a tester. This represents Sir Roger Rockley (died 1533). Brasses include 17th- and 18th-century examples on the east side of the south chancel pier, and two 17th-century Elmhirst brasses near their pew. A painted board in the south chapel commemorates John Rayne (died 1632), repainted and enlarged in 1684. The 19th-century glass includes an unusual window depicting Adam and Eve to the south of the tower arch. A Norman stone depicting a centaur shooting a bird with a bow and arrow is recorded from the vestry.