Church Of St Mary Magdalene

Church of St Mary Magdalene

This is an Anglican parish church with a complex building history spanning from the 13th century to the 20th century. The church comprises a nave, west tower, north and south transepts, a chancel, and a vestry attached to the east wall of the north transept.

The earliest parts are the 13th-century tower and chancel arch, followed by a 14th-century rebuilding of the tower. Major reconstructions occurred around 1750 and again in 1765, the latter probably influenced by Sanderson Miller (who was associated with nearby Adlestrop Park). The south transept dates probably to the 18th century, while the north transept is dated 1860 by a trefoil datestone in its gable end. The chancel was altered in 1824, and general restoration work was undertaken in the early 1860s.

The building is constructed principally of limestone and sandstone. The nave south wall and north and south transepts are built of coursed squared and dressed limestone, the nave north wall of ashlar sandstone, the chancel of coursed squared and dressed sandstone, and the south transept of ashlar sandstone. The roof is of stone slate.

Fenestration is predominantly 19th-century in date. The nave north wall contains two two-light windows with tracery and hoodmoulds with stops in the form of heads; similar windows have been inserted into the south wall and in the gable end of the north transept. A 19th-century lancet window lights the west wall of the north transept. The vestry has a two-light stone-mullioned window with a quatrefoil above in its east wall. The south transept contains a 19th-century pointed-arched window within the blocking of a former south door and a two-light early 18th-century window with Tudor-arched lights and a narrow central mullion in its east wall. The chancel contains a two-light 19th-century stone-mullioned window with a quatrefoil in the north wall, a three-light window with tracery and hood with head stops at the east end, a two-light 19th-century stone-mullioned window with a quatrefoil in the south wall, and a 19th-century lancet also in the south wall.

The three-stage tower has strings between the stages and diagonal buttresses. Lancet windows light the second stage on the north side, with a single rectangular light on the south. The west face of the tower has a 19th-century double plank door with decorative hinges within a 19th-century segmental-pointed arched surround, and a two-light 19th-century pointed stone-mullioned window with a stopped hood above. The clock faces on the north and east faces of the second stage are dated 1887 and commemorate Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee. The third stage has two-light bellcote windows with trefoil heads, quatrefoils, stopped hoods, and limestone louvres on each face, beneath an embattlemented parapet. A 19th-century plank door to the vestry is positioned to the left within a pointed-arched surround.

The interior walls are plastered. The 13th-century pointed arch from the nave to the tower has piers comprising three engaged columns with foliate capitals. The chancel arch is of double-chamfered pointed 13th-century form, as are the double-chamfered pointed arches to the transepts. The floor of the nave is of flags, while the chancel floor is of red and black tiles.

The nave has an elaborate heavy-timber king post roof with decorative cusping, and braces to the soffit of the tie beam rise from corbels decorated with faces or foliate ornaments. The chancel has a wooden barrel roof with bosses.

An octagonal 15th-century font stands at the west end of the nave. A finely carved wood pulpit dated 1927 features carved figures in relief and fine pierced tracery with intertwined vine at the top. A 19th-century octagonal stone pulpit with a foliate upper margin, stone steps, and marble inlay at the base is also present. Nineteenth-century pews and a 20th-century communion rail are present.

The church contains numerous monuments. The nave south wall has a white on grey marble monument to James Leigh (died 1823) and his wife Julia (died 1843), with an urn and heraldic shield, and a white on black marble monument to Lady Caroline Leigh (died 1804), with an urn. The nave north wall contains two hatchments, all hatchments commemorating members of the Leigh family (associated with Adlestrop Park and Adlestrop House). A marble monument to Elizabeth Wentworth (died 1788) and her niece is positioned left of the chancel arch, and a marble monument to James Leigh (died 1744), featuring a female figure leaning on an urn, is positioned right of the chancel arch. A large white marble monument to Reverend Thomas Leigh (died 1813) and his wife Mary (died 1797) is located on the west wall of the south transept. Two 19th-century marble monuments on the north wall of the chancel include a monument towards the east end to Theophilus Leigh, former pastor (died 1785) and his wife. The chancel contains a rectangular limestone monument set into the wall left of the north window to Anthony Green (died 1596), with margins decorated with scrollwork and a triangular pediment enclosing a skull. Two large 19th-century metal pointed-arched plaques flank the altar, one with biblical text and one with the Commandments. Three 18th-century recumbent ledger slabs are set into the floor of the nave, one bearing a Latin inscription. Nineteenth-century stained glass is present in the windows of the chancel, transepts, and west window.