Church Of St Mary

The Church of St Mary is a parish church dating to 1867, designed by G.E. Street. It is constructed of red brick in English bond with sandstone ashlar dressings, and has slate roofs with ornamental cresting and coped verges. The church comprises a nave, chancel, full-length north aisle, and vestry.

The nave, with four bays, features double-chamfered plinths, plain two-light windows with plate tracery, and a shallow leanto porch with a pointed arch in the west bay. A large west window consists of four broad lancets with two roundels and one quatrefoil above. A lead-covered spirelet with a louvred belfry is situated at the east end. The lean-to north aisle incorporates six broad paired lancets with trefoil heads, and a similar three-light window to the east. The eastern section of the aisle integrates a vestry/organ chamber, accessed through a shouldered arch.

The chancel, in two bays and built on a triple-chamfered plinth, includes a string course and angle buttresses at its east end. A lancet window is located on the south side to the west, and a window with plate tracery is situated to the east. The east window features three lancets with a sexfoil above.

The interior reveals exposed brickwork and has trussed rafter roofs in both the nave and chancel, the latter being boarded. A four-bay north nave arcade features circular stone piers with moulded plinths and capping. The pointed chancel arch sits on corbelled responds. Original fittings and furnishings include a low stone screen to the chancel, altar rails, a stone pulpit, and a font at the west end, all executed in an early English style by Street. Late 18th or early 19th century benefactors' boards are affixed to the north wall of the north aisle. A 17th-century font, originating from an earlier chapel, is also present. This hexagonal font is dated 1608 and is ornamented with a scalloped shell, a lion rampant, birds, rosettes, and fleur-de-lys; it originally had a Jacobean font cover. A brass plate in the chancel acknowledges the erection of the present church in 1867 as a recognition of the character and services of John Allen, vicar of Prees and Archdeacon of Salop. Whixall was originally a dependent chapelry of Prees, and the site of the previous chapel, which dated to the 17th century, lies approximately a quarter of a mile to the south.