Church Of St Mary

Church of St Mary

A parish church in coursed rubble and ashlar with concrete tile roofs, situated on the north west side of Main Street in Shelton. The building dates from the 11th and 13th centuries. The original tower was demolished and replaced with a bellcote in 1837. Major restoration, re-roofing, and rebuilding of the chancel took place in 1878, when a vestry was also added.

The church comprises a nave, south aisle, chancel, vestry, and south porch. The exterior features chamfered eaves and coped gables with crosses throughout.

The nave, dating from the 13th century, is two bays long with a chamfered plinth. At the west end is a chamfered lancet window with hood mould and mask stops. Above this sits a corbelled shouldered bellcote with a coped gable and cross, pierced with two chamfered cusped head openings and a trefoil in the peak. The north side of the nave has two 19th-century lancet windows with hood moulds; the left window has mask stops, while the smaller lancet to the right has re-set foliate stops. An external stack with a round stalk rises on the north side.

The vestry, two bays in length, has chamfered eaves and coped gables with kneelers. Its north side contains a re-set chamfered 13th-century doorway to the west with hood mould, and a lancet window to the east with hood mould. Two re-set capitals with nailhead and two moulded arch stones are also present.

The chancel is two bays long. Its east end displays a 13th-century style stepped triple lancet with hood mould and mask stops. The south side has a tall lancet to the left and a restored 13th-century lancet to the right with hood mould.

The south porch, restored in 1878, features a 13th-century style doorway with filleted roll moulded head dying into chamfered reveal and hood mould with foliate stops.

The interior contains 14th-century stone benches. The inner doorway dates from the 11th century and has two small colonettes with simple waterleaf and volute capitals, alongside a single larger shaft with carved volute capital, all beneath a chamfered lintel. The roof is a common rafter construction with collars and ashlar pieces.

The south arcade, dating from the 13th century, comprises three bays with two round piers and responds. The piers have moulded round bases and simple moulded capitals. The responds have moulded square bases; the eastern respond has a waterleaf capital and bears a plaque with the Arms of William Warburton, while the western respond also features a waterleaf capital. The arches are chamfered with hood moulds. The roof is common rafter with collars and ashlar pieces.

Windows include a late 19th-century stained glass window in the west, mid 19th-century patterned stained glass in the north side west window, and 1869 stained glass in the east window. The south aisle's east window contains 13th-century colonettes and fine stained glass dating from the 1870s.

The south side of the south aisle contains a large 13th-century piscina with cusped head, filleted roll and cove moulding, hood mould with remains of stops. To its west are the remains of a chamfered stoup on a plain bracket. A lean-to roof of 1878 is supported by three re-set corbels and ashlar pieces.

The chancel interior features a moulded pointed wooden arch with turned imposts on moulded corbels, set in a timber framework with billeted lintel. A heavily restored 15th-century traceried panelled screen has a billeted transom and bressumer. The north side contains a chamfered recess to the organ chamber and a 13th-century style moulded piscina with shafts and hood mould. An east window has shafts and poor 19th-century stained glass. The south side features a window with patterned 19th-century stained glass to the east and, to the west, a window with stained glass signed "J. Hardman 1983". The roof is common rafter with collars and ashlar pieces.

Fittings include a mid 17th-century font with tapered octagonal stem with ring and plain octagonal bowl, topped with a flat wood cover with upright brass cross. A traceried panelled oak pulpit on a chamfered octagonal ashlar base dates from 1886. A 19th-century lectern has a turned bracketed wooden stem. Choir stalls with shaped ends and trefoil panels and matchboard benches with carved shaped ends were installed in 1878. The organ is housed in a trefoil panelled case.

Monuments include two large fragments of a 10th-century cross decorated with interlace work, a mid 18th-century benefaction board, and an oval slate cartouche with a Classical marble tablet to William Ffarmerie dated 1826, signed "H. Marshall, Newark". A marble and slate tablet commemorates Samuel Maltby and his wife, victims of the Indian Mutiny, dated 1857. An Egyptian style table is dedicated to Robert Hall, dated 1838. Four 19th-century brasses commemorate the Wright family, and a further brass dates from 1944.