Roman Catholic Church Of Saint Mary

The Roman Catholic Church of Saint Mary, built in 1831, is constructed from coursed squared gritstone with a Westmorland slate roof. It features two storeys and five bays, with the central three bays slightly projecting and topped with a pediment. There is a 20th-century glazed door to the right. The ground floor includes a central single-storey porch, which has been blocked to form a chapel, flanked by six-pane sash windows with a 20th-century frame on the far right. To the left, there is a single-storey projecting bay. Above the porch, there is a round-arched niche containing a statue. The other windows are tall sashes with four panes, with the upper two being segmental-arched and featuring projecting sills. A sill band runs across the first floor of the central three bays, and there is a lintel band at the first floor level. The eaves cornice is present, along with a central triangular pediment that has a cross in relief. The roof has an ashlar coping and a conical ventilator. At the rear, the ground-floor windows are blocked, while the first-floor windows match those at the front.

Inside, the church has been redecorated and fitted in the 20th century. Two cast-iron columns with acanthus capitals support a balcony at the west end. The ceiling is divided into eight panels adorned with egg-and-dart mouldings, featuring a large roundel with a fan motif in the centre and roundels with flower and leaf motifs in the outer panels. An organ built in 1860 was installed in 1961. The church was designed to resemble a private house, shortly after the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829. It is said that the foundations were sourced from the ruins of St Hilda's Chapel in Rudfarlington, although no early stonework was visible during the resurvey.