Church Of St Mary Magdalene

The Church of St Mary Magdalene is a church dating from the early 15th century, with substantial restoration work carried out in 1862 by Pountney Smith. It is constructed from coursed and squared limestone with plain tiled and Welsh slate roofs. The church consists of a west tower, a nave with a single south aisle, and a chancel.

The two-stage west tower has a doorway and a two-light traceried window above on its west wall, along with paired, foiled bell chamber lights in the upper stage. A stair turret projects from the south wall. The tower is topped with an embattled parapet featuring a quatrefoil frieze and angle pinnacles. The nave has three bays and is divided by pilaster buttresses, with doorways on both the north and south sides. Most of the windows were reset during the 1862 restoration in a late Decorated style, though one window on the north side retains reticulated tracery of an earlier pattern. The chancel is long, with reticulated traceried windows on the south side, partially obscured by a chapel added during the restoration on the north side. Visible foundations of a further range of building are present towards the southeast. The nave has a plain parapet, while the chancel has an openwork quatrefoil parapet. Gargoyles, some depicting fighting figures, are present. The east window is five-light Perpendicular in style and features a statue of King Henry IV in a niche above.

Inside, the church has a single space with a tall, double-chamfered tower arch and a hammer beam roof. The roof includes shields as bosses, pendants and traceried panelling between braces and rafters. A timber screen with traceried panels and an ogee central arch divides the nave, inserted during restoration. It marks a division of the building made in the 18th century, when only the eastern end was in use. The entire floor is covered in encaustic tiles, possibly by Maw's. Features include a sedilia, a squint, and a blocked doorway in the south wall, adjacent to the altar; the squint formerly led to a vanished southern range. A reredos with high relief panels depicting the Nativity, Crucifixion, and Resurrection is present. Emblematic stained glass is throughout the church, with figures of apostles in the chancel and a depiction of Mary Magdalene in the east window. A Corbet family mortuary chapel is located to the north, with stained glass dated 1864, and fragments of 15th-century glass originating in Normandy. A Corbet tomb is to the north of the chancel, featuring four traceried panels forming a vaulted sanctuary. A wooden Pieta has been relocated from the church at Albright Hussey and stands on the north wall.

The church was originally built as a chantry, established by King Henry IV to commemorate the Battle of Shrewsbury fought nearby in 1403. After 1545, it served as the parish church for the old parish of Albright Hussey and is now maintained by the Redundant Churches Fund.