Church Of St Mary Magdalene

The Church of St Mary Magdalene is a High Victorian Gothic church built between 1867 and 1878, designed by G E Street. A crypt chapel dedicated to St Sepulchre was added in 1895 by Sir Ninian Comper. The church is constructed of red brick with ashlar dressings, banding, and a spire, covered by a Welsh slate roof. Its unusual plan and orientation were dictated by the constraints of the site.

The church comprises a six-bay nave with a south aisle and a quasi-aisle to the north, a south-west porch, a south transept, an apsidal chancel, and a tower with a tall spire to the east of the transept. The nave features lancet windows with trefoil heads, a continuous sill band, and a hoodmould. The clerestory has three-light windows under a continuous hoodmould. The south transept has a gable-ended porch, and a trefoil niche above the doorway contains a relief carving of "Noli Me Tangere”. A rose window is positioned above. The five-stage tower has ashlar banding and a staircase turret. The spire has lucarnes. The chancel has three-light windows with intersecting tracery, and the apse has two-light windows with Y tracery and Geometrical tracery to the east window, all with continuous sill and hoodmoulds, and ashlar banding to the jambs.

Inside, the west wall is arcaded with roundels in the spandrels. The upper wall is banded with ashlar. Two two-light windows with Geometrical tracery, each with a roundel above and grouped under a hoodmould, are punctuated by clustered columns on waterholding bases with moulded capitals, supporting a pointed arcade of two orders with dogtooth moulding. A similar arcade appears on the north wall, featuring octagonal piers and slender columns supporting paired narrow arches with roundels above. Relief roundels on the west and north walls depict the Stations of the Cross. Canopies, each containing a statue, are set within the spandrels of the north and south arcades. Decorative marble inlay and encaustic tiles are present on the aisle walls below the windows. The clerestory has three-light windows with intersecting tracery in two layers; the outer layer is glazed, while the inner layer is supported on freestanding coloured marble shafts. A pointed barrel vault is adorned with a painted scheme by Daniel Bell. The chancel arch rests on dark marble shafts with stiff-leaf corbels. Arrangements at the east end were raised to the present level in the 1920s. The walls feature diaperwork set with hexagonal mosaic panels by Salviati of Venice, with alabaster panelling above. Shafted windows, dark marble shafts, a groin vault, sedilia, a piscina, and a reredos by Earp are also present. Stained glass designs are the work of Henry Holiday. The Crypt Chapel is groin vaulted with highly decorated Perpendicular and Flamboyant tracery, and retains original fittings including a screen and altar with a tester.