Church Of St Mary Magdalene

Church of Saint Mary Magdalene

This chapel of ease, now a parish church, originated around 1190 with significant 14th-century work. The tower dates to around 1840, while the church underwent major restoration and enlargement between 1872 and 1874 at a cost of £1,000. Further restoration, alteration, and the addition of a vestry took place in 1903–1904 at the expense of F. Bibby of Hardwicke Grange, in memory of his father J. J. Bibby (died 1892). The building is constructed of dressed grey sandstone with grey sandstone ashlar additions to the tower, which features tooled masonry, and plain tile roofs.

The church comprises a three-bay nave, two-bay chancel, south porch, north vestry, and west tower. The tower is designed in late 13th-century Gothic style, while the late 19th and early 20th-century work follows 14th-century Gothic style.

The tower rises in three stages. Diagonal buttresses with chamfered offsets extend to the top of the second stage, followed by a chamfered offset to the second stage and a moulded string to the belfry. A moulded parapet string course features carved decoration with corner gargoyles. The top is crowned by a stepped battlemented parapet with ogee trefoil-headed panels and a pyramidal cap with weathervane. The belfry openings are chamfered lancets with ogee-trefoiled heads, louvres, and returned hoodmoulds. A chamfered square recess to the east has a returned hoodmould. The second stage displays a seven-foiled circular west window and tall, narrow chamfered blind lancets to north and south. The first stage contains a chamfered west lancet with a cinquefoil head, a hoodmould with carved stops, and a chamfered offset razed above.

The nave features a chamfered plinth, restored 14th-century buttresses at the corners with steeply chamfered offsets, and a moulded parapet string course. A 19th-century battlemented parapet rises above, with trefoil-headed panels at the ends. The 19th-century clerestory displays triple trefoil-headed lights. A parapeted gable end to the east is surmounted by a cross. Lead downpipes with shaped rainwater heads are fed by carved stone gargoyles.

The south side displays 14th and 19th-century windows to the right with two trefoil-headed lights, cusped tracery, and double-chamfered reveals. A single double-chamfered lancet with a trefoil head appears to the left. A 12th-century round-arched doorway in the second bay from the left has a returned hoodmould and is fitted with a circa 1903–1904 panelled door featuring glazed trefoiled panels and elaborate ironwork including lock plate and hinges. A 14th or 15th-century gabled porch, with late 19th or early 20th-century alterations, is timber-framed on a chamfered grey sandstone plinth. The front displays curved braces with shields lettered "TD" and "ID", curved struts in the gable with pierced quatrefoil panels between, trefoil-pierced barge boards, and panelled pendant finials. The sides have pierced leaded cinquefoil lights with wrought-iron grilles. Benches stand within the porch, and a 14th or 15th-century jointed cruck truss with continuous chamfer extends to the rear.

The north side has two windows to the left, each of two ogee trefoil-headed lights with cusped tracery and double-chamfered reveals, and a double-chamfered trefoil-headed lancet to the right. A blocked 12th-century doorway in the second bay from the west displays chamfered reveals, imposts, a roll-moulded round arch, and a returned hoodmould.

The chancel dates to circa 1903–1904, except for the 14th-century east wall. It features a double-chamfered plinth, chamfered and moulded string course at cill level, moulded cornice, angle buttresses with chamfered offsets and trefoiled gabled tops, and a battlemented parapet with chamfered coping. A parapeted gable end with chamfered coping and a cross at the apex crowns the composition. A lead downpipe to the south is fed by a stone gargoyle. A rooflight with shaped lead top pierces the roof.

The chancel's south side has a window to the left of two cinquefoil-headed lights with quatrefoil tracery and returned hoodmould, and a pair of cinquefoil-headed lancets to the right with moulded arches and continuous hoodmould. The 14th-century east window has three ogee trefoil-headed lights with reticulated tracery, moulded reveals, and a hoodmould (formerly returned).

The north vestry adjoins the chancel and features a chamfered plinth, coped parapet, and a large external stack to the left with chamfered offset and three octagonal shafts with broaches and moulded cornice. Lead downpipes and rainwater heads are present. A chamfered-mullioned window of three quatrefoil-headed lights beneath a gable appears to the right, with a diagonal porch to the right fitted with a four-centred arched panelled door. The left-hand return front has a straight-sided arched window of three trefoil-headed lights with wrought-iron grilles and a returned hoodmould. The right-hand return front contains a small chamfered lancet.

The interior features a late 19th or early 20th-century five-bay nave roof with chamfered ogee arch-braced collars springing from hammer beams decorated with billet work and shields resting on carved stone foliage corbels. King posts and pierced trefoil panels rise above the collars. The two-bay chancel roof has cusped moulded arch-braced collars springing from hammer beams on carved stone foliage corbels, with a carved and crested wall plate, a pierced screen over ashlar pieces, and single purlins with cusped ceils below. Cusped panels decorate the rooflights.

A double-chamfered tower arch with chamfer dying into responds is surmounted by a hoodmould with carved stops. Pair of small chamfered openings appear in the apex of the roof above. A late 19th or early 20th-century chamfered and moulded chancel arch has an inner moulding dying into responds and a hoodmould with carved stops. The north side of the chancel has a double-chamfered round arch leading to the organ chamber and vestry.

A 14th-century piscina to the south-east of the nave features a chamfered ogee arch. The chancel piscina has a pierced ogee arch and panelled spandrels, and the chancel south windows have chamfered trefoiled rear arches. The 14th-century east window has a moulded rear arch.

The church's fittings are mostly early 20th-century, though some are late 19th-century. An elaborate carved wooden reredos displays traceried panels with pierced cusping and cresting. A similar altar table is present. Wainscot panelling in the sanctuary features cusped heads. Recessed panelled sedilia stand nearby. Altar rails have twisted balusters, square dies, and a ramped handrail. A patterned marble floor covers the sanctuary. Choir stalls display traceried-panelled fronts, with desks and a vicar's pew featuring traceried panels and carved animal poppyheads including a pelican. A sumptuous organ screen has a central canted break with cresting. A three-bay chancel screen features traceried lower panels and open upper panels with pierced tracery and twisted shafts, topped by a decorative canopy with pierced cresting. An eagle lectern stands in the chancel. A wooden pulpit with a canted front, traceried panels, twisted shafts, a scalloped top with adjustable reading desk, and four steps up serves the nave. The nave itself has plain wainscot panelling and pews with linenfold and traceried-panelled fronts and ends. Movable benches at the rear of the nave have 17th-style splat-baluster backs. An octagonal carved stone font from Malta, given by Mr Bibby in 1880, consists of marble shafts and floral decoration; its carved wooden canopy dates to 1923. Four wooden benefactors' boards stand beneath the tower. A free-standing hexagonal wooden newel staircase to the tower has pierced splat balusters.

A monument—a tablet to Rowland, First Viscount Hill (died 10 December 1842) by sculptor Thomas Carline—features a mourning grenadier and tenant flanking a lion. Stained glass includes an east window of 1888 and north and south nave windows of 1892 and 1897, all by C. E. Kempe.

Hadnall was formerly a chapelry of Myddle.