Roman Catholic Church of St Mary with presbytery

Roman Catholic Church of St Mary with Presbytery

A Catholic chapel and attached presbytery, built between 1838 and 1840 to the designs of Weightman and Hadfield for the 12th Duke of Norfolk. The building has undergone alterations in the 20th and 21st centuries.

Both the church and presbytery are constructed of coursed ashlar with carved stone dressings and slate roofs. The church is orientated on an east-west axis and comprises an aisleless rectangular nave with a short, canted apse at the east end. The presbytery adjoins the church at its south-east corner and has a roughly L-shaped plan.

Church Exterior

The church consists of a nave of five bays, divided by pier buttresses with chamfered sills and plinth, beneath a continuous roof with a shallow parapet and coped gables. An apsidal chancel rises at the east end.

The west elevation features a Tudor arched doorway within a chamfered and rebated reveal, with shields carved into the spandrels. Above this is a Perpendicular style eight-light window with mullions and transoms, cusped heads and a hood mould. Higher still is a Decorated style canopied niche set on an angel corbel, containing a sculpture of the Virgin and Child. At the apex of the gable is a shouldered bellcote with a chamfered, arched bell niche, surmounted by a bronze cross. Gargoyles feature above the buttresses at both west corners.

The buttressed apsidal chancel has a triple lancet east window and flanking double lancet windows, each with cusped heads and set beneath a drip mould with carved figure stops. The north and south sides of the building feature two-light Gothic arch windows in each bay, all with hood moulds incorporating carved motifs or figure heads. To the south side is a vestry, with an earlier section to the north beneath a pitched roof and a more recent extension to the west featuring a flat roof with parapet and corner buttress.

Church Interior

The west main entrance leads into an early 21st-century glazed lobby beneath a galleried organ loft with traceried balustrade and organ. The west window is clear leaded glass with stained glass and quatrefoils beneath the pointed arch. In front of the lobby is a late 20th-century stone font by Smith & Roper and a 21st-century confessional booth.

Hammerbeam trusses with gilded pendants and traceried spandrels divide each bay of the nave. The upper, central braces meet to form a Tudor arch, which is echoed in the archway between the nave and chancel. The nave windows, probably by Hardman, are of late 19th or early 20th-century stained glass. Below these are 12 moulded relief panels depicting the Stations of the Cross.

Three steps lead up to the semi-hexangular chancel, which features an oak reredos with crocketed canopies and pinnacles upon a stone plinth featuring five carved and painted panels with heraldry. A stone altar and lectern by Smith & Roper were added in the late 20th century. The three stained glass windows above have traceried heads; the central window is divided into three panels and features the Madonna and Child. The chancel roof has a ribbed ceiling with moulded angel bosses at the springing points. A door to the south side of the nave leads to the vestry, which contains 20th-century fitted cabinets.

Presbytery Exterior

The presbytery comprises two perpendicular, two-storey pitched-roof ranges meeting at the south-west corner. Both ranges feature a stone ridge stack offset from the centre, ashlar quoins, a moulded string course and flush window and door surrounds.

The principal elevation faces west and is of three bays with a brick end stack to the north side. The southernmost bay projects slightly and features a gable with kneelers and a small squint window within the apex, with tripartite casement windows with glazing bars to both floors. The central front door has a Tudor arched head and is set within a flush stone surround with carved spandrels. North of this is a bay window featuring three sash windows in a chamfered frame with plain lower sashes and upper sashes divided into smaller panes. Above, on the first floor, are two pairs of casements, similarly divided into smaller panes. These continue to the outer bays of the south elevation, which also features much smaller windows offset from the centre on both floors, as well as one set within a gabled dormer above the easternmost first-floor window. A single-storey pitched range and garage project from the south-east corner, with a smaller brick lean-to attached to its south side.

The east elevation forms an L-shaped dual aspect and features a lean-to porch with a half-glazed, Tudor-arched door set within a flush stone surround with spandrels. The windows to this elevation are casements with glazing bars.

Presbytery Interior

The principal entrance leads into a central hallway with principal rooms to either side, featuring moulded cornicing above a picture rail. Fireplaces have been removed or replaced in the late 20th century.

A staircase with half landing rises from the hallway to the first floor. It features a moulded handrail meeting a turned octagonal newel post at the ground floor, turned balusters, and three square newel posts with relief carving to outer faces, surmounted by hollow pointed finials. Above the stairwell is a plastered beam with decorative corbel detail. The landing features moulded cornicing. Throughout are four panelled doors with moulded architraves. A ladder staircase with bullnose treads leads from the landing to the attic.