Church Of St Mary The Virgin

Church of St Mary the Virgin

This is an estate chapel built between 1886 and 1889 by the architects Bodley and Garner for the seventh Duke of Newcastle. It stands in the Decorated Revival style of the 14th century, constructed in polychromatic Steetley and Runcorn sandstone ashlar with lead roofs.

The exterior displays characteristic Gothic Revival detailing: a chamfered and moulded plinth, gabled buttresses, dentillated sill band, moulded string courses, and coped and crenellated parapets. Windows and doors feature hood moulds, while gables are shouldered, coped and crowned with crosses. The building is embellished with gargoyles and carved figures set in niches.

The plan comprises a nave, chancel, crossing with tower, north and south transepts, baptistry, vestries, a north tower, lady chapel, and a south transept chapel. The four-bay buttressed nave has four double lancet windows on each side. The west door displays a moulded ogee head with vine motif, above which is a triple lancet with intersecting tracery flanked by niches. The buttressed chancel of four bays contains four double and triple lancets with reticulated tracery. The east end is pinnacled and features a traceried panel with a five-light lancet above.

The corner buttressed crossing tower rises in two stages, with paired double lancet bell openings on each side, above which are four crocketed pinnacles linked by flying buttresses to a pierced octagonal corona. A spire with lucarnes crowns the top. The north transept incorporates a stair turret to the left and an extruded corner with doorway to the right, topped by a double lancet. The two-stage north tower has paired lancets below and three lancets above. The single-storey lady chapel is buttressed with three lancets. The south transept features a moulded doorway and an extruded corner with two small lancets, above which is a triple lancet with flanking pinnacled niches.

Internally, the nave contains stone benches and a blind arcade with moulded arches. A wall passage runs above a sill band, and clerestorey openings with shafts light the interior. The west window glass is by Kempe. A rib vault with clustered filleted responds covers the space, and a moulded crossing arch separates it from the chancel.

The chancel arch is similar in form and contains figures in canopied niches. Beyond it stands a canopied timber screen with wrought iron gates by Bodley. The chancel has three-bay arcades with traceried stone and wrought iron screens and single doorways. To the north is a panelled organ tribune. The east end displays a carved marble altar with gradine and tabernacle, while the south side contains triple sedilia. The windows include stained glass by Kempe in the east window. The chancel vault is ribbed with figure-carved bosses in the two eastern bays and clustered shaft responds. The crossing vault spans a single bay on imposts.

The north transept contains moulded archways and a carved stoup. A Classical style monument by Westmacott commemorates Georgiana, Duchess of Newcastle (died 1822), featuring a reclining figure on a couch with two infants and a pedimented panel at the rear with an allegorical figure in low relief. A window above the monument contains stained glass. The transept vault is moulded with gilt bosses.

The single-bay baptistry has stone benches, two lancets with stained glass featuring a figure by Comper, and a painted panelled ceiling. The north aisle vestry features a coffered arched ceiling. The clergy vestry contains fitted vestment cupboards, a shaft piscina, a single stained glass window, and a coffered painted ceiling. The lady chapel has a moulded archway with wrought iron screen at its west end and an altar with a panelled reredos containing figures by Bodley to the east. Three stained glass windows are by Kempe. A carved, painted and gilt lierne vault with filleted responds and some marble shafts covers the space.

The south transept contains moulded archways, a corbelled niche to the north holding a figure by Comper, and a carved stoup to the south with a stained glass window above. The south transept chapel has stone benches, three stained glass windows, a figure by Comper, and a coffered arched ceiling.

The fittings are of exceptional quality and craftsmanship. A traceried panelled pulpit, linenfold panelled timber lectern, candelabra, sconces, and a font with octagonal marble shaft are all by Bodley. Traceried and carved choir stalls and similar clergy stalls with canopies, spires and figures date to 1890. Additional furnishings include a similar font enclosure and cover, a confessional, suspended oil lamps, a rood, and fourteen carved timber figures, all by Reverend Ernest Geldart.