Church Of St Mary

The Church of St Mary is a parish church located in Patshull Park, built around 1743 with late 19th-century additions. It was designed by James Gibbs for John Astley, with further work by W.C. Banks. The church is constructed of sandstone ashlar and features rusticated quoins, leaded roofs with raised verges, and a moulded eaves cornice. It consists of a single bay chancel, a three-bay nave, a north aisle, a west tower, and a north vestry. The east gable is pedimented and includes a Venetian window with corbelled sills and Tuscan pilasters, while the nave and chancel have round-headed windows, with the central window being circular. The main entrance features a central door with a Tuscan porch.

The west tower is divided into three stages, with a first-floor band and a second-floor cornice. The bell chamber, added in 1877, has round-headed louvred openings adorned with Tuscan pilasters and an entablature, topped by a leaded cupola. Inside, the north arcade from 1877 has square piers with bracketed capitals and round arches, alongside semi-elliptical arches for the chancel and tower. The ceiling is coved and plastered.

Notable fittings include a marble baluster font from the 1740s, a communion rail, an altar table, and two chairs of the same style and date, featuring twisted balusters and legs. There is also a gilded wrought iron screen created in 1893 by Banks. The church contains several monuments: one for Sir John Astley, who died in 1532, features a recumbent couple with small figures on the tomb chest; another for Sir Richard Astley, who died in 1687, depicts a standing figure with two seated wives, with a frieze of horsemen between them; and monuments for Lord Pigot and Sir Robert Pigot, both of whom died in 1795 and 1796, respectively, created by P.F. Chance, showing a standing female figure by an urn. Additionally, there is a medieval coffin lid positioned against the south wall of the nave.