Church Of Saint Mary

Church of Saint Mary

This is a parish church with a complex building history spanning from the 12th century to the 19th century. A church has stood on this site since at least 1213. The original medieval building was damaged during Civil War action related to nearby Shrawardine Castle. The chancel was demolished in 1644-5 and the nave shortly after. The nave was rebuilt in 1649 and incorporates some 12th-century fabric from the earlier structure. The chancel was eventually rebuilt in 1722, also reusing some medieval material. The church was restored and a vestry added in 1892-3.

The exterior is constructed of dressed red sandstone with red and yellow or grey sandstone ashlar dressings. The vestry is of tooled snecked red sandstone with slate roofs throughout.

The plan comprises a two-bay nave with a south porch and west vestry, together with a one-bay chancel. The 1892-3 restoration work was carried out in a Gothic Revival style.

The nave has a parapeted gable end to the west with moulded coping. A weatherboarded square bellcote sits at the west end, featuring louvred round-arched openings and a pyramidal roof with weathervane. On the south side is a 19th-century window of two cinquefoil-headed lights with Y-tracery and moulded stone reveals. A chamfered round-arched south doorway with an old nail-studded boarded door and strap hinges is set within a gabled stone porch. The porch interior contains side benches and a painted wooden benefactors' board. The north side has a buttress with chamfered offsets, a moulded-arched window, and a trefoil-headed chamfered lancet; both of the latter windows are either medieval or 17th-century in date. The west end features a central buttress running up to the bellcote, with a lancet window.

The vestry has a parapeted gable end with coping. Its south side contains a chamfered rectangular window, and its west side has a two-light chamfered square window with chamfered stone mullion.

The chancel has a double-chamfered plinth to the east and a parapeted gable end with coping and truncated finial. The south side contains a 19th-century window of two trefoil-headed lights with quatrefoil in the tracery and chamfered reveals. A blocked chamfered round-arched priest's doorway lies to the left. The north side has a 19th-century window of two trefoil-headed lights with quatrefoil in the tracery and chamfered reveals. The east end has a 19th-century window of three trefoil-headed lights with intersecting tracery, chamfered reveals, and a hoodmould with carved stops. A datestone dated 1722 with moulded edge is set in the gable above. The chancel windows are probably enlargements of 18th-century windows and likely incorporate the old reveals.

Interior

The nave roof dates from the 19th-century restoration and comprises three bays with arched-braced collar trusses, ceiled above the collars. The chancel roof probably dates to the 18th century and features three bays with arched-braced collar trusses, curved V-struts above, and single purlins. A 19th-century double-chamfered chancel arch springs from moulded corbels. The south wall of the chancel contains a 19th-century piscina with an ogee trefoil head in a moulded square surround, and a sedile with a trefoil head in a moulded rectangular surround. Moulded rear arches to the windows date from the 19th century.

The interior contains a range of fittings of varying dates. Eighteenth-century raised and fielded dado panelling, possibly the remains of former box pews, survives. A 20th-century bolection-panelled altar and reredos have been inserted. Communion rails of circa 1722 are of oak with turned balusters and a moulded rail. Nineteenth-century choir stalls are present. A low chancel screen incorporates 17th-century carved panels and 18th-century gates from the communion rails, with turned balusters. An 18th-century hexagonal wooden pulpit features shaped-headed raised and fielded panels and a moulded cornice. A 19th-century wooden lectern and pews with raised and fielded panelled ends (possibly remains of 18th-century box pews) are also present. The west gallery rests on a 17th-century moulded beam supported on carved brackets at each end. Its front dates to the late 18th century and features pairs of beaded flush panels flanking a central break with a moulded panel, with 19th-century stairs to the rear. An 18th-century raised and fielded panelled cupboard door beneath the gallery survives, fitted with H-hinges.

A 12th-century circular stone font with a scalloped bowl, moulded lower part, and octagonal base is present, with a 19th-century iron-bound wooden cover. A rood beam with rood is mounted above the chancel. Several early 19th-century memorial tablets survive, along with a brass plate in memory of Martha Botevyle, who died on 13 February 1781 at the age of 80.