Parish Church Of St Mary

Parish Church of St Mary, Acton Round

This is a parish church of late 12th-century origin, but substantially rebuilt and enlarged in the 18th century. The chancel was rebuilt in 1761 and a north chapel was added in 1763, with a monument by Thomas Farnolls Pritchard, the architect of Shrewsbury. The church was restored in 1895.

The building is constructed mainly of coursed local grey siltstone, with a hand-moulded brick porch and a clay tile roof with ridge tiles.

The plan consists of a nave with a lower and narrower chancel, a south porch, a north vestry, and a west belfry.

The nave comprises two wide bays and is lit by 2-light Decorated windows to the north and south walls, inserted in 1895. The south porch has a cruck truss to the entrance, and inside, the south doorway has an 18th-century triangular head. The door, which has strap hinges enriched by horseshoe scrolls dating from the late 12th century, bears scratched dates of 1738 and 1739. In the west wall is a square-headed 2-light 16th-century window with cusped lights. The square weatherboarded belfry, typical of the area, has a pyramidal roof and apex weathervane, with three narrow sound holes with louvres in each face.

The chancel has a wider plinth. The east window, dating from 1895, is of three stepped and cusped lights in red sandstone dressings. In the south wall an ogee-headed doorway with a sunk roll mould contains a boarded door. The north chapel has a wider plinth like the chancel, a moulded stone cornice, and a roof hipped to the north end. It has pointed windows in the east and west walls with plain bold surrounds, similar to the chancel door, and small-pane glazing with intersecting lead cames.

Interior walls are plastered, except for encaustic-tile panelling around the sanctuary. The nave has a plaster barrel ceiling of the 18th century. The chancel has a three-bay arched-brace roof, boarded behind. The chancel arch, dating from 1895, is of red sandstone. It is pointed, with a single order of chamfer, on semi-circular responds with scalloped capitals and impost bands. A pointed arch with continuous chamfer leads into the north chapel, which has a flat plaster ceiling on an arcaded frieze. The nave floor comprises 19th-century black and red tiles, with raised wood floors to the pews and choir stalls, and a raised stone-paved floor to the west end. The chapel has a similar stone floor.

The north chapel was built to display the monument to Sir Whitmore Acton (died 1731), which fills the north wall. Inspired by the pattern books of Batty Langley, it is one of the earliest monuments to mix rococo and Gothic elements. A sarcophagus and inscription panel with rococo garlands are framed by a cusped arch and flanked by pairs of Corinthian columns, which are unfluted and have shaft rings. The entablature has a Gothic lozenge frieze enriched with foliage. Above the cornice are a rococo crest and flaming lamps.

In the chancel north wall is a Baroque monument to Richard Acton (died 1703) and his wife by Edward Stanton. Two demi figures in high relief hold hands in an oval frame. In the nave north wall is a simpler neo-classical tablet to Sir Richard Acton (died 1791).

The octagonal tub font is lead lined and therefore probably medieval, but has been re-tooled and stands on a moulded base. The pulpit is 18th-century, polygonal with a panelled front. The main pews and choir stalls have plain ends with triangular heads and round finials. At the west end of the nave are pews with shaped ends. Over the south door is an oak tympanum made in 2000 by Andrew Pearson, which depicts the Annunciation in a modern rural setting.

The church is of probable later 12th-century origin, but its present character is defined by additions and rebuilding of 1761–3 and 1895. The chancel is said to have been rebuilt in 1714, but an inscription on the base of Sir Whitmore Acton's monument gives the date 1761. The chancel doorway is mid-18th century and, with the plinth, matches the work on the north chapel. The monument to Sir Whitmore Acton is by Thomas Farnolls Pritchard, who may also have designed the chapel and chancel. Ebenezer Pritchard oversaw reseating and repairs in 1852–3. The 1895 restoration introduced new windows in the nave and chancel, and a neo-Norman chancel arch, all using red sandstone typical of the period.