Church Of St Mary

Church of St. Mary

This parish church was built in 1879–80 by the Leicester architects Goddard and Paget. It is constructed of rock-faced ashlar with ashlar dressings, and features slate, concrete pantile and felt roofs. The building is set on a chamfered plinth and comprises a north-west tower, nave, west porch, north and south aisles, north vestry and organ chamber, south chapel and chancel.

The north-west tower rises in four stages with decorative bands and a saddle-back roof topped with four gargoyles connected by a band. The tower is extensively fenestrated with a western doorway having a continuous hood mould, a single arched two-light window with tracery, a single lancet above with a clock face, and three circular stair lights. The north side has a two-light window with trefoil arched lights and a cusped circle, above which are three lancets with a single lancet above. The east side has a single lancet with a clock face. In the bell chamber, each side has a pair of moulded arched openings supported on engaged colonnettes with decorative capitals; above these on the north and south are single lancets.

The west nave is preceded by a lean-to porch with a parapet rising to a gable. The entrance has a trefoil arch with moulded arch and continuous hood mould. Single quatrefoils enclosed within roundels decorate the north and south porch walls. An inner moulded arched doorway with continuous impost bands leads into the church. Above the porch is a single arched three-light window with cusped tracery and hood mould, with a small rectangular blind recessed panel in the apex.

The north aisle contains six pairs of arched windows. A clerestory above has three windows, each with three arched lights surmounted by a single cusped circle. The organ chamber adjoins the aisle to the east, with a single lancet in its east wall. The vestry, also with a chamfered band over the plinth, is located further east; its east wall contains a single pair of lancets. A matching chamfered band extends around the chancel and chapel.

The north chancel has a single pair of tall lancets with continuous hood mould, which extends to the east. The east chancel has three lancets, the central one being taller. The south chapel features two pairs of lancets, with a pointed chamfered arched doorway flanked by moulded arch and supported on single colonnettes with moulded capitals. Another pair of similar lancets stands to the left, and a single circular light appears in the west apex.

The south aisle mirrors the north aisle with eight pairs of windows and a similar clerestory of four windows. A chamfered sill band runs along the south aisle, with a further pair of lights in the west wall. All windows except those in the east chancel and east chapel have flush ashlar quoin surrounds.

The building is buttressed throughout except on the south aisle. Coped gables with single ridge crosses mark the west nave and east chancel.

Interior

The interior features four-bay south and three-bay north nave arcades with circular columns and responds, moulded capitals, and arches with hood moulds. A moulded nave-to-tower arch with hood mould and screen, along with a moulded north aisle-to-tower arch with screen, define the space.

The chancel arch is particularly elaborate: its inner order is supported on sections of three engaged colonnettes with decorative capitals, in turn supported on corbels, with continuous impost bands. Above the arch are three lancets, the central one taller.

The chancel-to-south chapel features a three-bay arcade of moulded arches supported on quatrefoil piers and responds with moulded capitals. Each arcade is subdivided by a single colonnette with moulded capital supporting two trefoil arched openings, each with a single open trefoil above. A moulded arched doorway opens to the vestry.

All nave and aisle windows except those in the west nave have continuous sill bands. A west entrance features an inner wood and glass porch.

The furnishings include nineteenth and twentieth-century pieces, notably an ashlar pulpit and octagonal font decorated with blind traceried panels. To the right of the chancel arch is a brass plaque to Anne Ballard, dated 1626, decorated with an incised figure in contemporary dress flanked by single shields. Some nineteenth-century monuments are present.

Two stained-glass windows enliven the south wall of the south aisle: one by H. Hughes (1875) and one by Guthrie (1893).