Church Of St Mary

The Church of St Mary is a Grade II* listed church located on Bushbury Lane in Wolverhampton. It dates back to the 14th century, with a 15th-century tower, but underwent significant restoration in the mid-19th century by Edward Banks. The church is constructed of ashlar stone and features tiled roofs.

Architecturally, it has a three-bay chancel and a lower five-bay nave, which includes a lean-to north aisle and a gabled south aisle. There is also a north vestry and a south aisle that contains the southeast Hordern chapel, along with a west tower. The building is adorned with coped gables and weathered buttresses. The chancel features a 19th-century three-light east window, as well as three-light windows on the north and south sides, and an ogee-headed entrance on the north side. The south aisle has 19th-century three-light windows and four-light east and west windows with Decorated tracery. A gabled porch with a pointed entrance and gabled buttresses leads into the south aisle, which also has a small gabled projection at the southeast angle, complete with an ashlar roof, light, and gable cross. The north aisle is topped with a coped parapet and has 19th-century two-light windows on the east and west sides, as well as three-light windows flanking the parallel gabled vestry. There is a round-headed entrance with a tympanum and additional 19th-century two-light windows in the vestry. The tower features a moulded plinth, a four-light window with Perpendicular tracery, a clock face above, two-light louvred bell openings, a top cornice, and an embattled parapet with pinnacles.

Inside, the church boasts a 15th-century hammer-beam chancel roof with double wind braces, along with an ogee-headed sedilia and piscina, and a north Easter sepulchre. The nave has arcades supported by octagonal piers and a 19th-century deep-arch-braced roof. There are two ogee arches leading to the vestry and organ loft, and a tower arch with imposts. The reredos features arcading with flanking boards for the Commandments and Creed. The pulpit and lectern are richly carved from ashlar stone, while the font is a round late Norman design adorned with palmettes and has been recarved in the 17th century. The church also contains notable late 17th and early 18th-century wall tablets, including those for the Whitgreaves and Gough families, a 17th-century brass plate for Thomas Leacrofte, and a Gothic Revival tablet for the Corser family from the 1820s onwards, located in the north aisle. Early 19th-century busts can be found in the Hordern chapel, and there are fragments of 14th-century stained glass in the chancel, along with some 19th-century glass, including the east window by C. Winton.