Church Of St Mary

Church of St Mary

Originally a private manorial chapel dating from approximately 1260–70, this building was later used as a parish church and underwent alterations in the early 18th century and around 1840. It is constructed of roughly coursed red and grey sandstone rubble with red sandstone ashlar dressing, beneath a 19th-century plain tile roof. The church comprises a nave and chancel in one.

The west front features angle buttresses with chamfered offsets and stepped-chamfered tops, similar in style to those at Acton Burnell. A square wooden bellcote surmounts the west gable, with a lead-sheathed lower stage, two by two chamfered pointed-arched openings, and a pyramidal copper cap with weathervane. The west window, installed around 1840, has moulded arch with fillet and wooden tracery consisting of three stepped lights and three uncusped circles. A boarded door with moulded yellow and grey sandstone arch and returned hoodmould is reached by three steps.

The south side displays four chamfered lancets to the right with continuous hoodmould, the stops carved as heads. A 13th-century moulded-arched former south doorway, now blocked, sits off-centre to the left with carved head stops to its hoodmould. Below stands grey sandstone ashlar with chamfered top; above is a small-paned cast-iron window with intersecting tracery. A flight of ten external stone steps with plain wrought-iron handrail and 19th-century cast-iron gate leads to the external entrance of the west gallery. Between the middle two windows, projecting stone brackets support a sundial with copper dial plate dated 1718.

The north front contains two groups of three chamfered lancets to the left with continuous hoodmould over all six, and a pair of chamfered lancets to the right with continuous hoodmould, all with carved head stops. Like the south side, a 13th-century moulded-arched former doorway, now blocked, sits off-centre to the right with carved head stops, grey sandstone ashlar below and cast-iron window with intersecting tracery above.

Both gable ends are chamfered and parapeted with cross at the apex to the east. The large east window features three stepped lights and three uncusped circles in the tracery, chamfered base, heavily-moulded reveals, and hoodmould with carved head stops.

The interior retains a 19th-century single-framed roof. North and south windows have roll-moulded rear arches; the east window's rear arch features a heavily-moulded head and roll-moulded reveals. A pair of roll-moulded trefoiled piscinae and rectangular aumbry are set in the north wall. A step leads up to the sanctuary with 18th-century flooring.

The interior fittings are predominantly of the 18th century. Box pews are dated "RL/1723" (Richard Lewis) and feature raised and fielded panels with doors bearing H-hinges and knob finials. A manorial pew has tall sunken panels behind rising to a moulded cornice. The vicars' pew also survives. A two-decker pulpit with reader's desk is accompanied by a hexagonal wooden pulpit with tall raised and fielded panels and moulded cornice. The reredos incorporates some 17th-century panelling with fluted frieze and later cresting. Communion rails on three sides feature moulded base, turned balusters, and moulded rail. The sanctuary contains 18th-century wainscot panelling and low side benches.

The west gallery, enlarged around 1840, features a front with palmated frieze and splat balusters shaped to represent barleysugar balusters, supported on two square-section reeded posts to the front and two plain square-section posts to the rear with beaded corners. An internal west doorcase of circa 1840 contains a four-panelled door flanked by reeded pilaster strips with recessed capitals supporting a shallow open triangular pediment.

A mid- to late 19th-century font consists of four shafts with moulded bases and capitals supporting a large circular bowl with carved frieze around the top and wooden cover. Five hatchments are present. Commandment boards flank the east window. The glazing is mainly square- and diamond-leaded clear glass, with some stained glass dated 1857–88 to members of the Corbett family. A mid- to late 19th-century organ, brought from Hanwood church in 1976, is installed.

Alterations around 1840 included rearrangement of fittings, enlargement of the west gallery, blocking of the north and south doors, and creation of a new entrance in the west wall. In the 16th century the church was a chapelry of Condover; in late-medieval times it served as a private manorial chapel.

The building is notable as a largely unaltered late 13th-century chapel with strong stylistic affinities to St Mary's Church, Acton Burnell, and for its largely complete 18th-century interior fittings.