Church Of St Mary

Church of St Mary

Parish church built in 1768-9 by James Rose on a new site, with a restoration carried out in 1894. The building is constructed in ashlar with partly hipped slate roofs behind embattled parapets, and is designed in the Gothick style.

The church consists of a west tower, two-bay nave, transepts, and short chancel. The west tower has three stages with strings and a chamfered plinth that continues around the entire building. Diagonal corner buttresses with offsets rise to the top of the second stage. The main entrance is a pointed west doorway. The second stage features glazed quatrefoils in arches on both the south and west elevations. The belfry stage has louvred Y-traceried bell chamber openings with hood moulds and returns. A deeply moulded cornice surmounts the bell stage, above which sits an original pierced embattled parapet, now replaced by a blocking course. The east side of the north elevation contains a loophole on each stage serving the tower stairs. The porch in the tower base is octagonal in plan with a plaster ceiling. The pointed doorway into the nave is flanked by small doorways, both providing access to the tower stairs.

The nave has two north windows and a south-west window with cusped Y-tracery, whilst the south-east window has had its tracery removed. The north transept contains a cusped Y-traceried window in its north end and a late 18th-century pedimented wall memorial on its west side to Johnathan Harris (died 1775) and Elizabeth Jenkins (died 1774). The south transept has had the tracery removed from its south end window and features a 4-centred doorway in its west elevation. The chancel is gabled at its east end and contains a 3-light east window with intersecting tracery.

The interior is plastered throughout, including the ceilings. The nave ceiling is coved and features a large centrepiece with flower and feather mouldings. The chancel retains a moulded cornice. Arches into the transepts are 4-centred. The fittings—octagonal font, pulpit, altar rails, and pews—are all late 19th-century work. The vestry, situated in the north transept, contains an 18th-century altar table with turned legs.

The church contains significant memorials. In the north-east corner of the chancel is a late 15th-century alabaster table tomb with recumbent effigies of Sir Humphrey Salwey (died 1493) and his wife, Joyce, removed from the old church and positioned with their feet pointing west. The sides are decorated with crocketted and finialled ogee-arched blind arcading with pinnacled pilasters and kneeling male figures beneath each archway. A group of three female figures is recorded on the west side. Early 18th-century memorials to the Winnington and Salwey families flank the east window. Against the south chancel wall stands a large monument to Thomas Winnington (died 1746), comprising a plinth with large side scrolls supporting a sarcophagus with lion's feet, surmounted by a bust possibly by Roubiliac. The nave contains several further memorials to the Winnington family, including two large brasses with kneeling figures to Edith Winnington (died 1864) and Thomas Edward Winnington (died 1869), and two late 18th-century memorials to the King family and to Dr George Butt (died 1795), as well as a mid-19th-century memorial to the Campbell family. The south transept also contains numerous wall memorials to the Winnington family dating from the late 18th to mid-19th century.

The site of the original church lies beneath the lake in Stanford Park. The Winnington family agreed to build a new church when they had the park landscaped. Despite the loss of some detailing, the church represents an interesting example of Gothick style and contains several fine memorials.