Church Of St Mary Magdalene

Church of St Mary Magdalene

This is an Anglican parish church of 15th-century Perpendicular design, located at Uckington in Elmstone Hardwicke. The building was substantially restored between 1871 and 1878 by the architect John Middleton, with a 19th-century porch and vestry added during this period.

The exterior is constructed primarily of limestone. The nave was refaced in the 19th century with coursed squared and dressed stone, while the south aisle and chancel are built of random blue lias and limestone. The porch is of coursed squared and dressed limestone, and the tower is constructed of ashlar limestone.

The plan comprises a nave with a south aisle (itself restored in the 19th century) and a projecting 19th-century porch. A Perpendicular tower rises at the west end. The nave's north wall features buttresses, with four 19th-century pointed windows set between them. Similar windows appear on the south wall of the south aisle. A 19th-century three-light window at the west end incorporates reused carved stone heads—one of a man and one of a lamb. The most significant window is a 14th-century example at the east end, retaining its flowing tracery and hood with head stops.

The main entrance is a 19th-century double door obscured by the porch, positioned within a segmental-headed flat-chamfered surround with a single stone lintel. Carved heads flank the lintel. The chancel and vestry have 19th-century pointed two-light windows in both north and south walls, with a three-light east window. A plank door on the south side, within a flat-chamfered round-headed surround, features a reused lintel decorated with fine diaper work on one half.

The tower is a fine Perpendicular structure in two stages, with a moulded plinth and diagonal buttresses. Its west side contains an early plank door with strap hinges, set within a moulded Tudor-arched surround with moulded hood and square stops. Above this is a three-light Perpendicular window with hood featuring crudely carved head stops. Three-light belfry windows with stone louvres and hoods bearing crudely carved figural stops light the belfry. A niche below the west-facing belfry window contains an eroded figure, probably of Our Lady. The south wall displays a stone slab sundial with a metal gnomon. The tower is topped by a battlemented parapet with moulded string and corner gargoyles. The 19th-century porch has a pointed entrance with quatrefoils in the return walls. Stepped capping runs along the south aisle and nave, with flat coping to the vestry and porch. Upright cross finials crown these features.

The interior comprises a plastered nave and a scraped chancel. The nave is four bays long with a south aisle, chancel, and west tower. The nave arcade contains five bays. The two western bays date to the 12th century and feature plain arches—one wide with a round head and one narrow and pointed—set on rectangular piers with chamfered imposts. The remaining three arches are 19th-century pointed arches with octagonal piers. A pointed arch with deep flat chamfers connects the nave to the chancel. A tall double-chamfered Perpendicular tower arch spans between the nave and tower.

The south aisle roof comprises early 19th-century trusses with king posts from the collar. The chancel roof consists of seven-facetted trusses. The nave floor is laid in coloured tiles except at the south-west corner, where flagstones and ledgers are used. The chancel has a stone flag floor.

Two 13th-century piscinas survive: one in the chancel with a pointed surround featuring deep flat chamfers, and another in the sanctuary. A massive elaborately carved stone reredos, erected in 1886, dominates the chancel. It features eight saints beneath crocketed canopies with pinnacles and a central tabernacle.

Furnishings include a 15th-century screen with finely carved five-petal flowers and a 15th-century pulpit with panels decorated in blind Perpendicular tracery. The font is a 15th-century octagonal limestone example with panels containing quatrefoils with four-petal flowers and roses at each centre.

A remarkable 9th-century carved octagonal stone stands beneath the west end of the nave arcade. Standing 0.7 metres in height, it features a double spiral motif on three sides, with the upper part chamfered inwards and a square mortice hole at the top. The stone appears to have been taller originally and may not have been originally octagonal. It parallels a similar stone at Deerhurst Church. Nineteenth-century pews and a communion railing complete the interior.

Monuments are numerous throughout the church. The south aisle contains seven 19th-century white on black marble monuments and one 18th-century grey marble monument, with many ledgers dated to the 18th and 19th centuries. Nearly all south aisle monuments commemorate members of the Buckle family. A single simple marble monument in the nave honours Captain Byron, who died in 1878, and other family members. The chancel contains a marble monument to John Buckle Esquire of the Moat House, died 1858.