Church Of St Mary

Church of St Mary

Parish church on the south side of Main Street in Thoresway. The building dates from the 12th and 13th centuries but was mostly rebuilt between 1879 and 1886 by James Fowler. It is constructed from coursed ironstone rubble with limestone ashlar dressings and features slate roofs with decorative ridge tiles.

The church comprises a wooden bell turret, nave with north and south aisles, a north porch, a rectangular chancel, and a north vestry.

The 19th-century west front reuses part of the 12th-century tower arch. It has an ashlar-dressed plinth and two-stage buttresses where the aisles meet the main vessel. Between these buttresses is a 12th-century central round-headed blind archway with large impost blocks and inserted round-headed lights. Above this sits an oculus contained within a small blind round-headed opening with a hoodmould. A coped gable with finial crowns the composition. The west front of each aisle is flush with the main vessel, each displaying a single pointed light set within ornate cusped and finalled ogee moulding. The wooden bell turret sits above, topped with a pyramidal roof and weathervane.

The west side of the 19th-century north porch has a moulded plinth and eaves, a round-headed light, and a clasping buttress. A round-headed doorway opens to the north with rectangular jambs, grooved imposts, and a limestone hoodmould. A coped gable with finial sits above. The east corner is clasped by a buttress, and the east side of the porch has a moulded plinth, eaves, and a single round-headed light. Inside the porch are stone benches flanking a late 12th-century round-headed double-chamfered doorway with inner rectangular jambs and outer 19th-century circular jambs with shaft rings, moulded bases, and stiff-leaf capitals. A plank door closes the opening.

The north aisle proper has an ashlar-dressed plinth and a rectangular window of two cusped ogee lights with a hoodmould. To its east is a two-stage buttress, beyond which stands a rectangular window of three cusped ogee lights with a hoodmould, followed by another two-stage buttress. A low plain clerestorey runs along the aisle, with a tall ashlar chimney to the east on a rubble plinth.

The north side of the vestry has an ashlar-dressed plinth and eaves, and a rectangular window with two Caernarvon-headed lights. The east end of the vestry features a pointed doorway with a hoodmould and plank door. A two-stage angle buttress occupies the north-east corner.

The ashlar-dressed plinth continues round the 19th-century chancel. At the east end, a stringcourse rises to run beneath a pointed three-light east window with a hoodmould and head and floral label stops. A coped gable with finial crowns the gable. A two-stage angle buttress occupies the south-east corner. The stringcourse continues under the south aisle window of two pointed lights with a hoodmould and label stops. To its west is a two-stage buttress, beyond which stands another similar window. The nave's south aisle has a moulded plinth and eaves, and three rectangular windows: the easternmost has four cusped ogee lights, while the two to the west each have two cusped ogee lights, all with hoodmoulds. Windows alternate with two-stage buttresses. A plain, low clerestorey runs along the south side.

Interior

The west end of the interior contains blocked remnants of the 12th-century round-headed tower arch with large imposts. The late 13th-century north and south arcades each comprise three bays with double-chamfered pointed arches, octagonal piers, and polygonal responds with octagonal capitals. Some bases and plinths are 19th-century Fowler work.

The 13th-century chancel arch was heavily restored in the 19th century. The bases and first few feet of the polygonal responds are 13th-century; the remainder features beaded capitals and is 19th-century work. Above sits a 13th-century double-chamfered pointed arch. On the north side of the chancel is a 19th-century organ recess with a small door to the vestry beyond; a hoodmould runs into the arch to the west. Further east is a cusped aumbry with a hoodmould. The south side of the chancel contains a seat set into the wall beneath the south-east window. The east window is flanked internally by nook shafts with stiff-leaf capitals, a hoodmould, and head label stops.

The interior features 19th-century roofs and encaustic tiles throughout, together with 19th-century pulpits, lectern, and pews. Two 19th-century monuments are present.

A 12th-century octagonal stone font with quatrefoils scored on an octagonal support survives. Three re-set 14th-century gravestones, two decorated with ornate crosses, stand in the north aisle of the nave.