Church Of St Mary The Virgin

The Church of St Mary the Virgin is a Gothic Revival church, originally built in 1812-14 by S. Taite and extensively rebuilt between 1872 and 1884 by W. H. Parkinson. It is constructed of ashlar magnesian limestone with some sandstone dressings and has a graduated green slate roof. The church is cruciform in plan, featuring a west tower, a four-bay aisled nave, a north chapel, and a south vestry set against a short chancel.

The tower, dated 1884, is three-stage with a double-chamfered plinth and moulded band. It has offset angle buttresses terminating in gablets on carved heads. A south doorway features a moulded, pointed arch with shafts, dogtooth moulding, and a hoodmould with grotesque stops. The west window is a tall trefoiled light with a hoodmould. The belfry stage has paired louvred and traceried openings linked by a continuous hoodmould. The parapet has corner merlons and central gablets, topped with a pyramidal roof and weathervane.

The nave, built in 1877, has a chamfered plinth, moulded band, and aisle buttresses. A stepped, three-light west window is set within a hoodmould. The clerestory has two trefoiled windows to each bay, with moulded eaves and carved heads supporting the steeply-pitched roof, which features east gable copings and a cross. The south transept has a blocked west door and angle buttresses flanking tall, trefoiled windows with a linking hoodmould and trefoil gable. The north side is similar but with one fewer bay to the west, adjacent to church rooms constructed in 1987.

The chancel (1872) is lower than the nave and features tall, trefoiled two-light windows on each side, with a stepped, three-light east window under a hoodmould with head-carved stops. It also has east gable copings with a cross. A twin-gabled south vestry and a gabled north chapel are also present.

Inside, a double-chamfered tower arch has an inner order resting on shafts rising from head-carved corbels. South and north arcades, with four and three bays respectively, feature round piers, carved capitals, and deeply-chamfered, pointed arches. Angel corbels support the principals of the aisle and the arch-braced nave roof. The transept arches are of two hollow-chamfered orders. The chancel arch is chamfered with short shafts to the inner order, and two moulded arches lead into the vestry, with a central pier. Stained glass is present in the east window by Clayton and Bell. The south transept and area under the tower contain Early 19th-century wall monuments. A plaque from the earlier church, dated 1812 and mentioning both S. Taite and H. L. Freeman, is located near the tower door.