Church Of St Cuthbert With St Mary

Church of St Cuthbert with St Mary

A Church of England church dated 1778 on its weather vane, built by Messrs Hayton, Lowthian and Lowrey on a medieval site. The church was constructed in coursed red sandstone ashlar with calciferous sandstone dressings throughout. The plinth is chamfered, and the building features V-jointed quoins, a string course, cornice and solid parapets. The roof is graduated green slate with coped gables, and a lead cupola sits on the tower.

The building comprises an 8-bay nave with a 3-storey west tower and porch, and a low single-bay chancel. The projecting tower has central 20th-century replacement west doors with a patterned fanlight in a quoined surround, and a similar surround sash window above with glazing bars. A vented belfry sits over a keyed oculus. The south face of the nave has left and right plank doors in quoined surrounds, with leaded casement windows on two levels; those on the ground floor contain stained glass, all set in stone surrounds. The north face formerly had similar doorways to the south, though one is now blocked and the western one is now inside an added vestry. Windows on the north match those on the south. The chancel features a Venetian east window. Around the outer walls are numerous gravestones, some attached, and wall plaques.

Interior features include a porch with flanking wooden stairs to galleries. The interior contains numerous white marble wall plaques, including one to Matthewman Hodgson Donald (died 1885) by James Hilton of Manchester with a portrait head. The nave has galleries on three sides supported on Tuscan columns, with an upper tier of similar columns each having entablature and triglyphs. The ceiling is flat plaster without embellishment. Late 18th-century box pews have been cut down. 1905 carved walnut choir stalls with carved angels and a panelled organ casing of the same date are present. The 1905 pulpit is on rails and was made by Cowans, Sheldon and Co, crane makers of Carlisle. Other white marble wall plaques include one to the Giles family with a veiled urn and pediment by Paul Nixson of Carlisle (1814), and another with a figure of a child holding an inverted torch and leaning on a wreathed urn to Elizabeth Connell by David Dunbar (1825). Additional plaques are signed by Nelsons, Carlisle (Thomas and James Nelson). One north window contains fragments of medieval glass from the original church, reassembled by the York Glaziers in 1961. South windows are 20th-century works depicting scenes from the life of St Cuthbert, by A.K. Nicholson Studios, London. A late 19th-century coloured marble font is present, and the Royal Arms of Victoria (1885) appear on the gallery. The chancel contains a wall plaque to Reverend John Fawcett (died 1851) with a portrait bust by William Jackson of Cockermouth and London. An 1880 stained glass east window commemorates Joseph Ferguson.

The church was one of two parish churches of Carlisle before the town's 19th-century expansion. Construction work is recorded in the Cumberland Pacquet (1778) and its opening in the Cumberland Pacquet (1779). Original drawings and specifications are held in Cumbria County Record Office, though the architect's name is not recorded. Further details can be found in the church guide compiled by Ivan Renwick.