Church Of St Mary

The Church of St Mary was built between 1871 and 1878 by William Burges for the first Marchioness of Ripon. It is a remarkable example of High Victorian architecture in an elaborate Early English style. The church is constructed of fine-grained grey limestone from the Morcar quarry near Markenfield Hall, with creamy white limestone used internally from Lord Ripon's own quarries. The roof is covered in grey slate.

The building consists of a two-stage west tower with a spire, a four-bay nave with a clerestory, aisles, a south porch, and a two-bay chancel. The south and west doors feature extravagant scrolled and figured ironwork; the west door is recessed under an unusual segmental arch. The west window is of four lights with a rose, similar to the east window which is flanked by sculpted groups and surmounted by a crucifix, all under elaborate crocketed hood-moulds. The tower's belfry windows have gables extending into the spire; polygonal spirelets, lucarnes, and a weathercock adorn the summit.

Inside, the church is lavishly decorated with colored stone and marbles. Carved details are painted and gilded, and flat surfaces depict saints, angels, stars, and symbols, reflecting the themes of Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained. The nave arcade features circular piers with four Purbeck shafts, and the chancel arch has seven shafts on each side. The chancel is a pinnacle of Burges’ eclecticism, incorporating blue, red, and green marble shafts. A lion supports a shaft above the sedilia. The floor is of polychrome tiles and mosaics, with walls lined in alabaster. The chancel features a waggon roof and a domed east bay with trefoil-headed panels and painted angels. Contemporary features include an organ accessible by a stone spiral staircase in the north aisle, and a font of Tennessee marble with figures of gilded bronze representing the four ages of man. A white marble effigy of the first Marchioness of Ripon (died 1909) is located in the south aisle, on a chest tomb. Stained glass was designed by F Weeks and made by Saunders and Co., and sculpture was created by T Nicholls.

The church was built at the western end of the long drive and vista laid out by John Aislabie, replacing an obelisk as the focal point, and was designed to be viewed from all sides, particularly the west side, the principal entrance. The same team of architect, sculptor, and designer collaborated on the Church of Christ the Consoler in the grounds of Newby Hall in 1871-72, for Lady Mary Vyner, a relative of Lord Ripon.