Church Of St Milburga

The Church of St. Milburga is a parish church with origins in the 13th century, extensively remodelled in the 18th century and restored and altered in the 19th century. The exterior is constructed of red sandstone ashlar with red brick patching at the east end of the nave, and has plain tiled roofs.

The west tower, dating to circa 1730, is two stages high and incorporates a plinth, plain string course, rusticated quoins, a moulded cornice, and a pyramidal roof with a weather vane. The west doorway has a Gibbs surround. Round windows were originally placed on the north and west faces of the belfry, now filled with clocks installed in 1856 by J. Smith of Shifnal. A round-headed window is above on the west side, and a semi-circular opening is in the east wall.

The nave, also from around 1730, features rusticated quoins at the southwest and southeast angles and a moulded eaves cornice, pierced by a 19th-century clerestory on the north side. The south aisle was constructed in 1856, featuring five two-light decorated style windows with buttresses. The north aisle and transept date to 1880 and have two-light windows and a pointed doorway. A timber north porch with bargeboards, set into sandstone walls, was added in 1888.

The chancel is from the early 14th century and was restored in 1856 and 1884. It features an east window dating from around 1300, with three lights and intersecting cusped tracery. Two two-light early 14th-century windows are also present, and at the west end are cusped lancets above blocked low-side windows; that on the south retains its original iron framework. Diagonal buttresses are on the east wall. A memorial stone to Eleanor Watts (died 1816) is fixed to the south wall, and a blocked arched opening of uncertain purpose, recently restored and likely a medieval tomb recess, is on the north wall.

The interior has undergone extensive 19th-century restoration. The nave arcades and tower arch were rebuilt in 1888, and the roof includes massive tie beams, also restored. A chancel arch and a low stone screen were erected in 1884 when the east end was raised, and an arch braced roof is in the chancel, likely from the 19th century. An early 14th-century piscina is in the south wall, and stained glass is in the east window (1885). A stone pulpit with naturalistic foliage carving (designer unknown) was added in 1867. The Perpendicular font, with cusped quatrefoils and shields in the panels, was considerably restored in 1892. Fragments of 14th-century stained glass were re-assembled by the Vicar in 1893 into an east window in the south wall of the south aisle. A parish chest with fine ornamental ironwork (possibly medieval) is also present. An incised alabaster slab, likely from an altar tomb and belonging to Richard Haughton, who died in 1505, and his wife, Margaret, was moved to the north wall of the chancel during the 1856 restoration. Historically, in the Middle Ages, Beckbury was a dependent chapelry of the parish of Holy Trinity, Much Wenlock.