Roman Catholic Church of St Mary

Roman Catholic church of 1815-16 in a Gothic style, with mid-C19 and mid-C20 alterations.

MATERIALS: constructed of red brick, with rendered gable ends and stone dressings, under a slate tiled, gabled roof with stone coping and kneelers to the south-east end.

PLAN: it is rectangular on plan, with a small mid-C20 porch at the north-east end and a nave and chancel of five bays under one roof. The sacristy is situated within the attached presbytery (separately listed at Grade II) which was built as a house in the C17 and was extended in the early C19.

EXTERIOR: the church is in a rural setting. Its entrance front (south-east) has a mid-C20 gabled porch with stepped corner buttresses. There is a pair of wooden doors in the porch, set within a pointed-arched, moulded, stone surround with a hoodmould and label stops. Above the entrance is a small, narrow light, and the side walls each has a single lancet window. In the gable apex of the church itself is an early-C20 statue of Our Lady set in a niche under a hoodmould. There are stepped buttresses to the corners which were originally surmounted by pinnacles. The side elevations are divided into five bays by buttresses and each bay has a two-light lancet window with leaded lights under a pointed-arched lintel of header bricks with stone stops.

INTERIOR: the interior is plain, with painted walls and ceiling. The organ gallery is supported by a pair of quatrefoil cast-iron columns and its front has a mid-C20 painted panel with scenes from the life of Christ. The upper level is accessed by a gothick timber staircase. Most of the fittings are C20, but there are some earlier features including a stained glass Annunciation window of 1848 by A W N Pugin and manufactured by Hardman; several wall-mounted memorials of the late C18 and early C19, some re-located from Paynsley; and a brass memorial set into the floor. Within the porch is a mid-C19, Romanesque-style stone font. It has previously been attributed to Pugin, but it is now considered that its design and rather crude carvings are not typical of his work (Architectural History Practice, see Sources). The sanctuary (south-west) has a C20 marble altar with mosaic and opus sectile (a type of mosaic work using stone, tile or shell cut into shapes) panels. In the sanctuary wall are two doorways with pointed heads and timber doors with cusp-headed mouldings to the panels. One leads into the confessional; the other to the sacristy which is situated within presbytery.

SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: the modern access ramp to the front of the church is lined with low brick walls surmounted with metal railings.