Church Of Saint Mary

This parish church comprises a 14th-century tower incorporating a 12th-century doorway, with remnants of 14th-century work surviving in the nave and chancel. The church was extensively restored and largely rebuilt between 1881 and 1889 by the architects Carpenter & Ingelow at a cost of £7,747 10s 10d. It is constructed of red sandstone ashlar, with some grey sandstone in the tower and 20th-century tile patching. The roofs are concealed behind parapets. The plan consists of a five-bay nave, seven-bay aisles, four-bay chancel with north vestry, and west tower.

Tower

The tower has three stages with large angle buttresses featuring chamfered offsets, a hollow-chamfered plinth, moulded string course to the belfry stage, and a coved parapet string with carved gargoyles. The battlemented parapet has moulded coping and crocketed corner pinnacles, topped with a weathervane. A canted stair turret projects from the north-west corner, fitted with two small rectangular windows and capped by a pyramidal roof with finial. At the base is a 19th-century Caernarvon-arched boarded doorway, reached by nine stone steps with a low coped wall.

The belfry openings feature two ogee trefoil-headed lights with quatrefoil tracery, double-chamfered reveals and hoodmoulds. Below these, in the second stage, are small chamfered trefoil-headed openings. The second-stage west window dates from the 15th or 16th century and comprises three ogee trefoil-headed lights with transoms, cinquefoil-headed lower lights, flowing tracery with quatrefoils, double-chamfered reveals and a returned hoodmould. A small carved head appears in the wall at the window's apex.

The west doorway is a round-arched 12th-century feature of two orders of former shafts with chevron ornament to the outer arch, a hoodmould, and a pair of 19th-century nail-studded boarded doors with strap hinges. Clock faces appear above each belfry opening.

Nave and Aisles

The nave has an eight-bay clerestory with windows of two ogee trefoil-headed lights featuring moulded arches and hoodmoulds. Each window sits in a recess flanked by buttresses with chamfered offsets and carved fleurons along the top edge. The battlemented parapet has moulded coping and carved gargoyles, with a parapeted gable end. A small square bellcote crowns the east gable, featuring gabled ogee trefoil-headed openings, chamfered offsets, corner shafts and a crocketed canopy with finials.

The aisles have a chamfered plinth, cill string, parapet string and parapet with moulded coping and carved corner gargoyles. Windows contain two or three ogee trefoil-headed lights with cusped Y, intersecting and reticulated tracery, moulded reveals and hoodmoulds with scrolled stops. The west window of the south aisle has three ogee trefoil-headed lights with reticulated tracery, moulded reveals and a hoodmould with scrolled stops. The east and west windows of the north aisle each have three lights with intersecting tracery—the east with cusping—and chamfered reveals with hoodmoulds.

The south doorway, located in the second bay from the east, has a chamfered and moulded arch with broach stops, quarter shafts with moulded capitals and bases, a hoodmould with carved foliated stops, and a boarded door with strap hinges. The corresponding north doorway in the second bay from the east features a chamfered arch, hoodmould with carved stops, and a boarded door with strap hinges. Both south and north aisles contain rectangular recesses beneath the second and third windows from the west respectively—the southern recess having moulded reveals and the northern one chamfered reveals.

Chancel and Vestry

The chancel has a chamfered plinth and flush buttresses flanking the east end with chamfered offsets. A moulded parapet string with carved gargoyles supports a battlemented parapet with moulded coping and a carved lion at the west end. Square clerestory windows contain two cinquefoil-headed lights with chamfered reveals. Restored 14th-century windows on the north and south sides each have three trefoil-headed lights with intersecting tracery and hollow-chamfered reveals.

The large east window comprises four trefoil-headed lights with intersecting tracery, blind panels below a low transom, chamfered reveals and a hoodmould with carved heads as stops. A circular quatrefoil opening sits in the apex of the gable above.

The vestry features a chamfered string, parapet string and parapet with moulded coping and gargoyles. Its square-headed east window has two ogee trefoil-headed lights with chamfered reveals. A projecting wing to the left contains a square-headed window of two ogee trefoil-headed lights with chamfered reveals. The set-back section to the right has a chamfered-arched boarded door with strap hinges.

Interior

The restored interior features five-bay arcades of circular piers with hollow-chamfered bases (those to the south with broach stops), moulded capitals to the north (except the second from the west, which has 15 carved heads), and waterleaf capitals to the south, all supporting double-chamfered arches. The clerestory has a moulded cill and wall plate.

The four-bay nave roof consists of tie-beams, brackets with pierced spandrels springing from carved head corbels at cill level, king posts and subsidiary struts with carved cusped panels between, and pairs of purlins. The nave roof timbers also spring from five carved stone corbels on the west wall. Tower arches on three sides comprise half-octagonal piers with moulded capitals and bases. The eastern arch has 19th-century moulded imposts and an arch with roll moulding and inner and outer chamfers, with the moulding and outer chamfers dying into the responds.

The west wall retains remains of a possible former clerestory doorway high up to the left with chamfered reveals. A small chamfered ogee-headed blocked opening appears above the tower arch, along with evidence of a former steeper roof pitch. The west door has a round rear arch, and windows have chamfered rear arches.

The chancel arch consists of half-octagonal piers with moulded capitals and hollow-chamfered bases, supporting an arch with inner chamfer and outer roll moulding. A former rood-screen doorway survives high up to the right as a four-centred archway. A small chamfered opening above the chancel arch and evidence of a former steeper roof pitch are also visible.

The four-bay chancel roof features moulded tie-beams and pierced braces springing from carved wooden winged angels. Five stone winged-angel corbels adorn the east wall, and four moulded stone corbels appear on the west wall with a round arch over an opening at the apex. Chamfered north and south arches at the east ends of the aisles (the north one containing the organ) have half-octagonal shafts.

The doorway to the north vestry has chamfered reveals, a hoodmould with carved stops, and a boarded door with strap hinges. The south doorway features a moulded arch and pierced wooden screen. A square aumbry to the north has a pierced wooden door incorporating reticulated tracery. A 14th-century piscina to the south has a continuous moulded arch, ribbed soffit, moulded bowl with eight flutes and moulded cill. The chapel in the east end of the south aisle contains a chamfered square-headed piscina and a segmental tomb recess in the north wall (neither noted at time of survey in June 1986). A blocked former doorway to the tower stair has chamfered reveals.

Fittings

The church contains rich fittings dating from circa 1879–84, including traceried chancel panelling with cresting. The carved and painted wooden altar and reredos feature pierced ogee-headed panels, vine trails, crocketed buttresses and heraldic crests, complemented by brass altar rails and carved wooden choir stalls. The carved wooden chancel screen was made by Kempe, along with screens to the organ chamber and two-bay south aisle chapel, each with pierced ogee tracery, carved frieze and cresting. Other furnishings include a brass lectern and an octagonal stone pulpit with moulded base, ogee panels with marble colonnettes, crockets and finials, and a carved band at the top.

The carved wooden altar in the south aisle chapel has three panels inscribed "BEHOLD THE LAMP OF GOD", with a large carved wooden triptych above displaying figures of saints in canopied niches. Low stone walls with traceried panels and moulded copings separate the east and north tower arches. An octagonal wooden font in the north aisle has trefoiled panels to stem and bowl with a plain wooden cover. The church also contains a late 17th-century parish chest, two smaller chests, and encaustic tiles.

Stained Glass and Monuments

The stained glass in the east window dates from 1895, with windows in the south aisle from 1901 and 1903 and the north aisle from 1904, all by Kempe. The west window glass is by Shrigley and Hunt.

Monuments include a stone tablet in the south aisle to William Church (died 16 June 1632) and his son Richard (died 24 October 1651), with flanking scrolls and segmental pediment with shield. In the chancel, a stone tablet to Dame Anne Corbet (died 24 October 1682) consists of a cartouche with swags, flanking putti and a winged angel at the base. A tablet in the south aisle to Sir John James Markham (died 10 December 1778), signed by Joseph Wilton, features a mourning female figure to the right and an urn to the left. On a tower pier is a tablet to John Smallwood (died 7 April 1771) and Catherine his wife (died 22 December 1765).

Historical Context

Old photographs kept in the church show the interior before restoration with galleries and box pews. An engraving of circa 1875 depicts the exterior with late 18th-century hipped-roofed aisles. The 18th-century work commenced in 1786. Local tradition holds that Robert Clive (1725–74), later Lord Clive of India, climbed the church tower and sat astride a gargoyle when attending the nearby grammar school.