Church Of Saint Mary

The Church of St Mary is a parish church dating back to the 11th century, with substantial additions and alterations in the 13th, 15th, and 16th centuries. It was restored in the late 19th century by C Hodgson Fowler. The church comprises a west tower, a nave, a chancel, and a north chapel, which now serves as a vestry. The nave was rebuilt and the tower remodelled in the 16th century. It is constructed of coursed rubble with ashlar dressings, covered by a lead and plain tile roof.

The west tower has three stages, featuring a moulded plinth, a first-floor band, and angle buttresses with set-offs that terminate in battlements and four crocketed pinnacles. A 4-centred arched, moulded doorway, with a fine studded and panelled door, is set within the west face, above a hood mould and a relieving arch with shale voussoirs. A 2-light chamfered mullion window sits above the doorway, with a similar window to the south. Four bell openings are positioned above. The north wall of the nave has two large, 3-light 16th-century chamfered cross windows with drip moulds, with a single buttress with set-offs in between. Battlements top the north wall, alongside a small, ogee-arched gabled bellcote.

The north chapel’s west wall displays a blocked north aisle arch, along with a 4-centred arched doorway under a hood mould and a 2-light chamfered mullion window above. The north and east walls feature single, 3-light flat-headed panel tracery windows, each under a hood mould. The chancel’s north wall has a single, 2-light window. The east wall has a coped gable with kneelers and a cross finial, supporting a large, pointed arched, 3-light panel tracery window. The south wall of the chancel includes a small doorway and two 2-light panel tracery windows with flat heads and hood moulds, mirroring the north side.

The interior of the tower incorporates a 16th-century staircase leading to a first-floor chamber, formerly the entrance to a vanished 16th-century gallery, accessed through a 11th-century round-headed doorway with 16th-century doors. The tower also houses Charity Boards dated 1707. A very tall 13th-century chancel arch connects to fragmentary remains of the original arcade and chapel arch in the north, which also has a 13th-century keeled arch to the chancel. A 12th-century circular font with octagonal corner shafts is also present. The nave retains a largely 16th-century roof, whilst the chancel has a 19th-century roof. There is a much-restored 15th-century screen, as well as an 18th-century wooden pulpit and altar rail, and 19th-century pews. Monuments include a 1611 brass wall plate commemorating W Robert Peterson, and five smaller brass wall plates belonging to the Eastland and Tonge families, dated 1712, 1725, 1739, 1764, and 1765.