Church Of St Mary The Virgin

The Church of St Mary the Virgin is a Grade I listed church located on Church Street in Church Fenton. It primarily dates from the 13th century, with additions and alterations from the 14th and 15th centuries, including a 15th-century tower and restorations completed in 1844. The church is constructed from magnesian limestone and features a stone slate roof.

The building has a three-bay nave with a south aisle, two-bay north and south transepts, a central tower, and a two-bay chancel. There are buttresses at the angles. On the south side, the entrance is through a pointed-arched south porch, which has roll-moulding on slender columns beneath hood-moulds. Inside the porch is a pointed plank door with a chamfered surround and imposts. The south side also features two lancet windows.

The west end of the church has a three-cinquefoil-light window with a two-light geometrical window above it. On the north side, there is a blocked pointed entrance within a moulded surround and under a hood-mould. This side also has two straight-headed, two-light windows with Perpendicular tracery in their heads. The south transept includes a two-light window with geometrical tracery under a hood-mould to the west, two lancet windows to the east, and a five-light window with curvilinear tracery to the south. The north transept has lancet windows on each side.

The two-stage tower features three-cusped-light bell-openings on each side, a band, and battlements. The chancel's south side has a four-centred plank priest's door within a chamfered surround, with two and three-cinquefoil-light, straight-headed windows on the sides. The east window has four lights with curvilinear tracery.

Inside, the nave has a double-chamfered, pointed-arched arcade supported by octagonal piers. The crossing features triple-chamfered arches, and a small pointed plank door within the west arch leads to the tower. The south transept contains an ogee-headed niche for an effigy.

Notable monuments include a 14th-century stone effigy of a recumbent woman in the chancel, a small, probably Roman coffin, and two medieval graveslabs with incised foliate crosses. There are remains of a wooden screen with single lights featuring panel tracery. Some fragments of 14th-century stained glass are incorporated into the east window, which otherwise contains 19th-century glass, including some by W and T Hodgson from 1859.