Church Of St Mary

Church of St Mary, Lichfield

This is the medieval guild church, now adapted to house a heritage centre and old people's day centre. The building was substantially rebuilt in 1868–70 by James Fowler of Louth, with the tower casing and steeple added in 1853 by George Gilbert Street. Further adaptation took place in 1979–81. The church is constructed of rock-faced stone with ashlar dressings and tile roofs, designed in the Decorated style.

The plan comprises a 3-bay chancel with a 2-bay north Dyott chapel and south vestry and organ loft, a 5-bay nave with lean-to aisles, and a west tower and spire. The building features plinth and coped gables with geometrical tracery to the windows.

The chancel is distinguished by clasping buttresses with pinnacles and a 7-light window on a weathered sill, topped by a gable cross. 2-light clerestory windows to north and south sit above the lean-to chapel and vestry. The chapel and vestry have angle buttresses with pinnacles and display symbols of the Evangelists (John and Luke), with coped parapets. The chapel contains a 3-light east window and two north windows of 2 lights each; the vestry has a 2-light window to the left of its entrance with beast stops to breaks in the sill course, and a 20th-century entrance was inserted to the east end.

The clerestory has two 2-light windows to each bay between shallow buttresses. The aisles have coped parapets and 3-light windows between gabled buttresses; the west angle buttresses feature pinnacles and symbols of the Evangelists (Matthew and Mark), with 3-light windows. The north entrance comprises three orders in a shallow gabled porch with blind plate tracery to the gable and fine carved foliage to the capitals and hood stops. 20th-century doors were installed, and a 20th-century entrance and west window were inserted.

The ashlar tower has gabled angle buttresses with blind tracery panels at the top. The west entrance of three orders features a crocketed gable with pinnacles and a cinquefoil inner arch, with paired doors displaying rich strap hinges and a trefoil in the gable. The 4-light west window sits on a deep weathered sill, with upper triangular-headed blind tracery panels and paired 2-light louvred bell-openings topped with crocketed gables. A quatrefoil frieze and pinnacles complete the tower design. The spire has three tiers of lucarnes of 3, 2, and 1 lights respectively.

The interior is now subdivided but retains significant original features. The chancel has a 2-bay arcade to the chapel with fine foliate capitals and a chancel arch of one order with a corbelled inner arch; the roof is arch-braced on corbelled wall shafts. 20th-century glazing has been introduced to the arcade and infill to the chancel arch. The nave arcades feature foliate capitals, and the roof comprises arch-braced scissor trusses with double purlins and wind braces. The tower contains blocked 3-light windows to north and south, with a deeply splayed tower arch.

Notable fittings include a richly carved altar, reredos and panelling to the east wall, a sedilia recess with deep canopy to the south, a vestry door of two orders, and a fine organ case. A war memorial stands to the north of the altar, alongside timber stalls and an altar rail. The north aisle contains a triptych in an alabaster frame depicting the Adoration of the Magi.

The church preserves several 18th and 19th-century wall tablets to members of the Dyott family in the chapel. A particularly fine monument records Civil War service by 17th-century members of the family, dated 1662. It is fashioned as a banner in a slate border with an eared architrave, a broken pediment with armorial bearing, and an apron with festoon and cherub.

The stained glass includes some notable 19th and 20th-century examples, with an especially fine east window possibly by Clayton and Bell, and grisaille glass to the tower window.

Although altered, the church remains important to Lichfield's history and preserves many original features. The steeple is a prominent landmark in the city.