Roman Catholic Church Of St Mary

The Roman Catholic Church of St Mary was built in 1853 and designed by Charles Hansom. It is constructed of regular coursed lias stone with moulded limestone cornices and dressings, and has old tile roofs with moulded stone coped gables and kneelers. The church is of Gothic Revival style, comprising a 4-bay nave, a 2-bay chancel, and a south porch.

The 2-storey porch has angle buttresses flush with the front wall, and an arched doorway of two chamfered orders with a hood mould. A 2-light window sits above the doorway. The interior south doorway has a moulded hood with head stops, and a plank door. The chancel has diagonal buttresses and three buttresses on the north side, alongside a 3-light east window. All other windows are of 2 lights with plate tracery featuring quatrefoils. The nave has buttresses and diagonal buttresses; the north side includes a protecting gabled north-west bay with a 2-light window featuring a transom and shouldered lower lights. The west front has trimmed 2-light windows with hood moulds, and lancets below. A central buttress sits against the canted sides of a stair turret, and the gable has a moulded trefoil window. A bellcote exists with an altered top, the bell having been removed. A single-storey link connects the church to the Presbytery to the south, featuring two small casements.

Inside, the chancel features a piscina recess with a shelf in place of a basin, and a painted and stencilled panelled wagon roof. A richly carved Decorated style stone altar is present, bearing arched niches, statues, and ogee canopies, along with two carved reliefs. The chancel arch consists of two chamfered orders without imposts, with a hood mould featuring foliage stops. Elaborate image niches flank the arch, featuring richly carved ogee canopies and angel corbels, with statues of the Virgin and Child to the left and St. Joseph to the right. The nave contains a panelled west gallery and late 20th-century glazed screens below. The roof is of an arched scissor braced design, supported on painted colonnettes and corbels, with a small side chapel beneath the gallery. A shouldered doorway leads to a winder stair turret. Fittings include an altar of four Early English style stone shafts, original pews, and a stained glass east window dating from 1860, designed by Hardman. The church forms part of a group with the attached Presbytery.