Church Of St Mary

The Church of St Mary in Atherstone on Stour was built in 1876 by J Cotton, incorporating materials from a demolished medieval church on the same site. It is a Grade II listed building of group value. The exterior is constructed of rock-faced dressed squared limestone with ashlar dressings, topped with a steeply pitched slate roof and tile crest, with ornamental detailing to the chancel.

The church plan comprises a two-bay chancel, a three-bay nave, and a south-west steeple. The chancel features a coped gable with a relief cross below a three-light east window with Decorated tracery and a hood with stops. Ashlar banding appears on the gable, and four 19th-century wall memorials, sculpted as obelisks with flames, commemorate members of the Smith family. The north side has a two-light window to the left of a gabled vestry, with a further two-light window and a canted porch in the re-entrant angle, topped with a parapet and a four-centred head entrance. The south side has two two-light windows on a sill course, with a relief cross below.

The north side of the nave features large offset buttresses with gablets and a lateral stack with octagonal shafts. There is an arched recess (now obscured by ivy), and two single-chamfered two-light windows. The south side has an offset buttress and a large buttress to the east end culminating in a pinnacle, along with two two-light windows, one with a repaired 14th-century head and a flank traceried lancet with a hood and re-cut 14th-century head. The west end has clasping buttresses, a consecration cross, and three small lancets above a rose window, the hood having head stops.

The three-stage steeple has string courses and pilaster buttresses. The entrance has continuous moulding and a hood, alongside beast carvings; two carved crosses sit above a small gablet. The second stage features narrow lancets, a round clock recess to the south, and quatrefoils to the other sides. The bell stage has two-light traceried and louvred bell openings below gablets with gargoyles. A modillioned cornice supports a crocketed pyramidal spire topped with a weathercock. The inner entrance has a plank door.

Inside, the chancel has a collar-rafter roof with ashlar detailing. Seat recesses flank the eastern windows, and a piscina is located to the north. The chancel arch has corbelled inner mouldings and low walls, some of which have been demolished. The nave has arched deep-arch-braced collar trusses and a collar purlin. A double-chamfered pointed recess is present in the north-east corner, and a two-light traceried tower opening is visible, accompanied by a balustrade.

Fittings include an altar rail constructed on braced stop-chamfered posts. The nave holds plain pews and a timber pulpit with arches over pierced panels. An octagonal 19th-century font with trefoil panels stands alongside a simpler round former font.

Memorials include a marble wall slab dedicated to William Thomas (d. 1710), featuring a top urn, side drapes, and an apron with cherubs. A grave slab for Thomas Copto (likely Compton) is also recorded. Numerous 19th- and 20th-century wall memorials are present throughout the church.