Church Of St Mary Magdalen

Church of St Mary Magdalen

A parish church built in 1783, designed by G. Richardson for the 4th Earl of Harborough. The building was restored in 1931 and 1967. It is constructed of ashlar with ashlar dressings in the Gothick style.

The exterior features chamfered and moulded plinths, string courses, a frieze of shields bearing Arms, and a coped blind arcaded parapet with pinnacles. Rainwater heads are dated 1931. The building comprises a west tower, nave, north and south transepts, and chancel.

The west tower rises in three stages. It has a moulded plinth and string course, frieze and cornices, one decorated with Romanesque ornament. A crenellated parapet with four pinnacles crowns the tower. The first stage has a moulded Tudor arched doorway to the west with an ogee-headed panelled surround topped by a finial in the form of feathers, and a margin stile door. Above this is a two-light pointed arched window with Y tracery. The north and south sides each have a recessed round window with a blank two-light pointed arched window above it, also with Y tracery. The second stage has a roundel on each side, the western one containing a clock. The third stage has on each side a double lancet bell opening with fretted shutters.

The nave contains three bays, each with three-light pointed arched windows with intersecting tracery on north and south sides. The west end has a roundel on each side with a pointed niche above. The parapeted north and south transepts have blank four-light lancets in each gable. The chancel has blank sides with a small central buttress and string course at the east end. A transomed four-light lancet with intersecting tracery, flanked by single niches, occupies the east end. Above it is a coronet in high relief and a datestone inscribed "1783".

The interior contains an octagonal vaulted porch below the tower with a central figurative boss. The porch has a pointed doorway to the east flanked by single round-headed doors, and a pointed doorway to the west flanked by single round-headed recesses. The nave features an arcaded cornice and a coved plaster ceiling with lozenge patterns and fluted brackets. A wooden gallery spans the west end with three Tudor arched openings on each stage, the upper central one gabled. Below the gallery is a panelled dado and a winder stair with stick balusters to the left. The gallery itself has a panelled dado. The west side of the nave contains a central Gothic Coade stone fireplace with a figurative panel, above which hang Royal Arms in a roundel flanked by double ogee lancet panels. The ceiling has lozenge patterns with a central oval dome containing cherubs.

The transepts have panelled plaster vaults, and the gable walls each contain a roundel with a dove. The chancel's east end has a dado and frieze with a central inlaid marble reredos featuring an anchor motif, pediment and urn, designed by R. Brown of Derby. The window above is flanked by double lancet Commandment boards.

The church contains fittings dating from 1783, restored in 1967, including longitudinal panelled stalls with candlesticks, a traceried reading desk, a panelled octagonal pulpit with winder stair, and a movable fluted marble font on an oak stem. Additional furnishings include two late 17th-century turned chairs and seven traceried early 19th-century chairs, together with a panelled 18th-century chest and a late 19th-century wooden lectern.

Memorials within the church include a brass of 1490 to Geoffrey Sherard and his wife. A black and white marble chest tomb of 1640 commemorates William and Abigail Sherard, featuring an inscribed side panel, Arms at the ends, two full-size reclining figures and eleven smaller figures of children. Above this tomb is a depressed Gothic arch carrying a central obelisk with a niche containing the bust of Philip Sherard (1750), flanked by busts of Bennet Sherard (1770) and Robert Sherard (1799). A central bust of Bennet Sherard (1699) sits above these. Another black and white marble chest tomb, created by M. Rysbrack and dating to 1732, commemorates Robert Sherard and his wife. The chest features an inscribed panel to the front and full-size figures of a seated woman with child and a half-reclining man in Roman costume. Behind these figures is an obelisk panel with crest and two portrait medallions. The church also contains a tablet and hatchment to the 6th Earl of Harborough, dated 1859.