Church of St Mary is a Grade II* listed building in the Cumberland local planning authority area, England. First listed on 1 April 1967. A Georgian Church.
Church of St Mary
- WRENN ID
- calm-pilaster-azure
- Grade
- II*
- Local Planning Authority
- Cumberland
- Constituency
- Penrith and Solway MP: Markus Campbell-Savours (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 1 April 1967
- Type
- Church
- Period
- Georgian
- Address
- Church of St Mary, High Street, Wigton
- OS grid reference
- NY 255 482
- Coordinates
- 54.82376, -3.15954
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Church of St Mary is a parish church located on a medieval site in Wigton. It was built in 1788, as noted in the porch, by joiners Pattinson and Holmes and masons Nixons and Parkin. The design is similar to that of St Michael's in Workington, built in 1770, and St Cuthbert's in Carlisle, built in 1778. The church underwent restoration in 1881, also noted in the porch, by C.J. Ferguson, and features a vestry added in 1912. Constructed from red sandstone sourced from Shawk Quarry, the church has V-jointed quoins on a chamfered plinth, along with a string course, eaves cornice, and parapet. The roof is made of graduated greenslate.
The church has a two-storey, eight-bay nave, a three-storey west tower with a porch, a north vestry, and a lower single-bay chancel. The tower features a panelled west door beneath an intersecting-glazing bar fanlight within a quoined surround, with a similar style applied to the casement window above. There is a round window above that has patterned glazing bars, and a large painted clock face with a modillioned surround. The tower also includes round-headed bell openings with louvred vents and a modillioned battlemented parapet adorned with pinnacles.
In the nave, south panelled doors in round-headed quoined surrounds are positioned beside round-headed leaded-paned windows, some of which contain stained glass. Above these are similar gallery windows. The chancel features a Venetian east window. Inside, the church has a Tuscan and Doric columned gallery, with upper columns that have individual entablatures. The ceiling is decorated with oval and circular-moulded plaster panels. There is an early 20th-century baptistery with a carved oak screen, numerous white marble wall plaques, and late 19th and early 20th-century stained glass. The side chapel includes a reredos made from re-used Flemish carved oak panels, and there is a three-decker pulpit. An OS bench mark is located on the quoin stone to the left of the entrance.
Local climate
Church of St Mary sits in one of the wettest parts of the UK, with an average of 1,230 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 92% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 89% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 51 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 93% of listed buildings. Of these, 27 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
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