The present church was built in 1869–70 on the site of a previous medieval church, which had itself been rebuilt in 1811 and extended in 1843.[2] The architects were the Lancaster partnership of Paley and Austin.[3] The church cost about £2,000 (equivalent to £230,000 as of 2023).[4][5]
Architecture
Exterior
St Mary's is constructed in red sandstone on an ashlarchamferedplinth. It has quoins, a string course, and slate roofs with copedgables, a cross finial, and decorative ridge tiles. The plan consists of a four-baynave, a north aisle, a three-bay chancel, and a tower incorporating a porch at the northwest. On the west wall of the tower is a stair turret. The entrance to the porch is through a pointed doorway on the north side.[2] The bell openings are also pointed, they contain louvres, and are Early English in style.[2][6] On top of the tower is a pyramidal roof with small louvres. The sides of the church differ. The south side contains tall lancet windows and one quatrefoil. The north side has a catslide roof extending from the ridge to the edge of the aisle.[6] It contains smaller lancet windows.[2] At the west end are a pair of lancet windows and a rose window. At the east end are three equal-sized lancet windows with a quatrefoil above.[2][6]
Interior
The pews and all the furnishings date from the 19th or early 20th century. At the base of the font is a fragment of a cross from the 10th or 11th century. On the walls are marble memorial plaques moved from the earlier church.[2] The reredos dates from 1899 and consists of a mosaic framed in alabaster. The stained glass in the east window is by William Wailes and is dated 1869. In the north aisle is a window by Heaton, Butler and Bayne from about 1912.[6] The age of the single-manual organ is not known, but it thought to have been built by Samuel Renn of Manchester.[7]
External features
In the churchyard is a hearse house dating from the early 19th century. It is constructed in calciferous sandstone and has a slate roof. It has been listed at Grade II.[8] It is probable that its round-arched window comes from the 1813 church.[6]
^Price, James (1998), Sharpe, Paley and Austin: A Lancaster Architectural Practice 1836–1942, Lancaster: Centre for North-West Regional Studies, p. 88, ISBN1-86220-054-8
^Brandwood, Geoff; Austin, Tim; Hughes, John; Price, James (2012), The Architecture of Sharpe, Paley and Austin, Swindon: English Heritage, pp. 223–224, ISBN978-1-84802-049-8