Church Of St Mary De Castro

The Church of St Mary de Castro is a church founded around 1107 by the first Earl of Leicester as a collegiate chapel attached to Leicester Castle. The building includes elements from the early 13th and early 14th centuries, with alterations in the 15th century and 1785 by John Cheshire. It was restored in 1853-4 by Sir George Gilbert Scott and further additions were made in 1899 by GF Bodley.

The church is constructed of coursed rubble and ashlar with ashlar dressings and lead roofs. The west front features a central 16-light pointed arch window, a round-headed doorway with zig-zag moulding to the left, and a tall square tower. The tower has a small lancet window on each face and an octagonal stair turret to the southwest corner. The bell stage has blind arcading with a 2-light bell opening on each face, topped by battlements with tall corner pinnacles. Above is an octagonal stone spire with crockets and alternating lucarnes.

The south front has a lancet window to the left, a projecting gabled porch with a triple pointed arch doorway and double doors with elaborate iron hinges, and four pointed arch windows with reticulated tracery, alternating with buttresses. There are also eight 3-light windows with 4-centred arch heads above. The east front has a large 7-light pointed arch window, added in 1847 with reticulated tracery, to the south aisle. The chancel has two round-headed windows with zig-zag moulding, a blind arch above, and two similar windows to the south. The north front has a round-headed doorway to the aisle with a double arch decorated with zig-zag moulding supported on two columns, a small round-headed niche above, and two pointed arch windows to either side. The gabled north transept has a 3-light pointed arch window and a set-back vestry with two 3-light windows with 4-centred arch heads. Chancel windows feature round heads with zig-zag moulding to the arches, linking impost band and columns.

Inside, the chancel includes an important round-headed piscina and elaborate triple arched sedilia. The south aisle also features triple pointed arched sedilia. The 4-bay nave arcade has moulded and pointed arches, and the south arcade is topped with an internal clerestory formed of deeply chamfered pointed arches. The roofs are wooden and were restored in the 19th century. Other fittings include 19th-century wooden pews and organ case, a wooden parclose screen to the chancel, and a 13th-century stone font. A fine reredos was added in 1899, and monuments include a wall monument with a figure of The Rev Thomas Robinson by J Bacon junior.