Church Of St Mary

The Church of St Mary is an Anglican parish church with origins around 1200. The west tower was built in the 15th century and the church was heavily restored between 1865 and 1867 by A.W. Blomfield. A south aisle was added in 1836 by J. Pinch Jr. and altered in 1892. The church is constructed of ashlar and rubble stone with stone slate roofs and coped gables. It comprises a tower, nave, aisles, a south porch, a chancel, and a north east vestry.

The fine three-stage west tower features diagonal buttresses, a moulded plinth and string courses, angle pinnacles, and an embattled parapet. A depressed-arched west door is set within a shallow ashlar porch, reminiscent of the design at Burton, with carved spandrels. Above the door is a Perpendicular three-light pointed window. The second stage has a canopied niche containing a Virgin and Child statue (added 1912) on the west side, and a two-light pointed window on the south. The bell stage has flat-headed, two-light bell openings with hoodmoulds – three to the west and east, and two to each side. Carved gargoyles are located under the parapet.

The gabled south aisle is ashlar, with a three-light pointed window at the east end and two-light windows on the south side, one to the left and two to the right of the gabled porch, which has a pointed arched entry and earlier 19th-century iron gates. The gabled north aisle has a three-light west window and three two-light north windows, separated by buttresses, all dating from the 19th century.

The entirely 19th-century chancel has a plinth, sill course, and moulded eaves. It features Decorated-style windows with quatrefoil heads, two two-light windows to the south, and a three-light east window. The north east vestry is similar in style, likely dating from around 1865-7, with a three-light east window.

Inside, the nave has four-bay arcades in the style of around 1200, with circular piers and bases, carved octagonal caps, and two-chamfer pointed arches. The north arcade is original, while the south arcade is a copy from 1836, unusually accurate. The nave has a 19th-century roof. A wave-moulded 15th-century tower arch is separated by an ornate 19th-century stone screen. There is a carved stone pulpit, originally from Leigh Delamere church. A thin Gothic font from 1836 by J. Pinch Jr. is located in the south aisle, and at the east end are twelve continental carved wood oval panels that were formerly part of the Neeld family pew. A 19th-century chancel arch, a tiled sanctuary floor, and a glass mosaic reredos are also present. The west window is from 1871. A fine chancel south window dates from 1865 and is in the style of R.T. Bayne. The south aisle east window is from around 1892, and the south west windows are by Heaton, Butler and Bayne, circa 1900. A plaque to Rev T. Pollock (died 1801) by Reeves & Son is located in the north aisle.