Church Of St Mary The Virgin And All Souls

The Church of St Mary the Virgin and All Souls is a parish church built in 1849-50, designed by HI Stevens of Derby. A north chapel was added in 1946, and alterations were made in 1978 by E Vernon Royle. The church is constructed of rubble stone with ashlar dressings and concrete tile roofs in a Gothic Revival style.

The plan consists of a chancel, organ chamber, north chapel and vestry, a nave with aisles and porches, and a west tower. The exterior features a plinth, buttresses, coped gables, and pointed arched windows with hood moulds. The chancel's east window is a four-light design with intersecting tracery, alongside two-light windows on either side. The organ chamber has a two-light window with Y tracery. The north chapel has a flat-roofed design with a flat-headed, mullioned two-light window, while the adjoining vestry features a two-light window to the north and a door to the west. The nave clerestory provides five three-light mullioned windows with flat heads on each side. The aisles, with five bays, contain two-light windows with Y tracery and moulded parapets. A shallow gabled porch, built in 1978, replaced a window in the north aisle’s fourth bay, while the south aisle’s second bay showcases a gabled porch with a moulded, pointed arched doorway and hood mould. The four-stage west tower has angle buttresses, an octagonal north-west stair turret, and crenellated parapet. A pointed arched west door is accompanied by two large bronze war memorial tablets. Above the door is a three-light window with intersecting tracery, with single lancet windows, a slit light, and a clock above. The bell stage displays a two-light, louvred opening on each side.

Inside, the church is rendered. The chancel has a moulded arch with responds and a wagon roof with ribs. The east end contains a C19 stained glass window, an elaborate Decorated style alabaster reredos from 1900, and traceried alabaster panelling from 1912. A stained glass window and doorway are located on the north side, while the south side includes a plain window and a shouldered opening housing an organ case dated 1872. The nave features arcades with double chamfered arches and octagonal piers, with an arch braced king post roof. A full-height partition, constructed in 1978, separates the two west bays to create meeting rooms, incorporating three glazing bar windows and a round window above. The aisles have lean-to roofs. The north aisle holds two stained glass windows (from 1990 and 1992) and a stained glass east window from 1872. The south aisle features a traceried stone screen with three lights, and various C19 and 1928 stained glass windows. Other fittings include a traceried octagonal ashlar font, a bracketed cover, traceried stalls with poppyheads, square-ended benches, a brass eagle lectern, all dating to the C19, and a traceried octagonal ashlar pulpit from 1891. Various C20 fittings are also present. Memorials include small tablets from the early C19 to early C20, and a painted ashlar cartouche in C18 style, dated 1919-21.