Church Of St Mary

Church of St Mary, Barkby

This is a parish church of mainly late 13th-century date, with some conservative Victorian restoration work. The building is constructed primarily of ironstone, with granite used in the 19th-century work.

The plan comprises a west tower and spire, a nave with two aisles and clerestory, and a chancel. The tower is tall with four stages, the second stage being constructed in ashlar of a different stone type. It features slight angle buttresses, a west doorway with paired shafts and hood mould, and a single-light window with shafts in the second stage. The bell chamber in the top stage contains paired traceried, many-shafted lights with quatrefoils. A parapet frieze with grotesque masks and other ornaments crowns the tower. The tall broach spire dates to the 14th century and is decorated with paired foiled lucarnes and two quatrefoil frieze bands.

The south aisle is a 19th-century restoration that renews existing features, built of granite rubble with a limestone sill course and window tracery. The three principal windows and the window above the south doorway display a fine collection of Decorated tracery forms. A frieze with geometric masks ornaments the eaves level. The south doorway is set in a coped gabled porch with a continuous moulded shaft archway and no capitals. The aisle is wide, with a pitched roof and coped gables.

The clerestory is constructed of ironstone rubble with some white ashlar work and contains three-light windows. The chancel is earlier in the 13th century than the rest of the fabric and is built of small ironstone rubble. Its north and south sides are identically arranged, each with a small shuttered low-side window to the west, paired lancets, a small doorway, and a Y-traceried window. The east window also features Y-tracery and is rather narrow. A Victorian granite vestry stands to the north. A moulded stone eaves cornice extends around the building, with heightening in brick. Angle buttresses to the south east carry a Victorian pinnacle.

The north aisle is buttressed ironstone rubble or cobble stone. Its east window contains five foiled lancets and a segment of circle cutting through them, set in a squared head with a stilted hood mould. Whether this represents the original design or a later alteration is uncertain; there is some evidence that the roof pitch of the aisle may have been changed. The north windows are each of different and ornate Decorated designs—the easternmost, for instance, has three foiled lancets with two quatrefoiled squares above. The sill course of the north aisle forms the hood mould to the north doorway.

Inside, the church creates an impression of great space. Both the aisles and the chancel are rather wide, and the structure is also high. The nave contains four bays with a late 13th-century arcade of triple-chamfered arches on octagonal piers. The roof is perhaps 15th-century, featuring tie beams with tracery panels above in a low pitch. An 18th-century gallery to the west sits on slim wooden columns and features an elegant cantilevered staircase. The gallery contains a Gothic organ case of 1899, with a narrow musicians' gallery above it. A wide Perpendicular chancel arch forms a shallow curve, with traces of painted decoration visible on the mouldings. A two-light traceried window sits above the chancel arch.

Various 18th-century and early 19th-century memorials to members of the Pochin family are located in the north aisle. One memorial, to Charlotte Pochin (died 1732), is by Rysbrack. Hatchments are also displayed in the north aisle. A diminutive font, possibly 18th-century, consists of an octagonal basin on an octagonal shaft, very elegantly moulded and proportioned. An old working clock mechanism, removed from the tower, is preserved in the south aisle.