Church Of St Mary

The Church of St Mary is a Roman Catholic church built between 1886 and 1887. It was designed by Albert Vicars. The church is constructed from coursed and squared rock-faced rubble with ashlar dressings, and has Welsh slate roofs with ridge-cresting.

The plan includes a high nave with two aisles, a sanctuary of the same height, and a south-east tower with a spire. The tower has clasping buttresses and a moulded arched doorway on the south side, with a statue set within a canopy supported by an angel corbel in the east wall. The upper stage of the tower has arcaded triple lancet windows, and a rose window above. The brooch spire features tall pinnacles on each side, with the shafts forming blind arcading below a frieze. There are louvred lucarnes between the pinnacles, and a second tier of lucarnes above. A gabled porch with a deeply moulded arch carried on short engaged shafts is located on the southwest side. The south aisle has two bays, with the eastern extent obscured by projecting gabled vestries, a confessional and associated areas. The uninterrupted north aisle continues as a side chapel to the east. The bays are divided by buttresses, with a three-light Decorated window in each bay. There are paired, foiled clerestory windows. The east front has a five-light Decorated window, set high up, and blind arcading in the apex of the gable. A rose window is situated on the west front, with smaller windows below.

Inside, the nave arcade has five bays, supported by octagonal sandstone columns with heavy foliate capitals and double chamfered arches. Wall posts on corbels carry the cusped principal trusses of the roof. A western gallery occupies the western-most bay, with a pitch pine spiral staircase towards the rear. High sandstone shafts define the sanctuary arch, and there are two-bay arcades on each side, separating side chapels. A low stone screen with a cast-iron and wood rail sits before the sanctuary. The wood panels incorporate cast-iron traceried scrollwork. A stone reredos is present on the main altar and in the side chapels, with flanking statues and low reliefs set beneath traceried canopies. An altar piece in the north chapel is dated 1884. A stone and marble pulpit has a cast-iron and wood rail. Most windows contain stained glass, primarily by Mayer and Co. of Munich and London, dating from around 1894 to around 1907. Other windows are by Daniels and Fricker, of London.