St Mary's Church, Bolsterstone is situated in the village of

Bolsterstone Bolsterstone is a village in South Yorkshire, England, south of Stocksbridge, and 8.5 miles to the northwest of the City of Sheffield and within the city borough. It lies on the border of the Peak District national park. Bolsterstone had a pop ...

, within the boundary of the City of

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a ceremonial and metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of Doncaster and Sheffield as well as the boroughs of Barnsley and Rotherham. In N ...

, England. The church dates from 1879 although there is evidence that a place of worship has existed on the site since the 12th century. It is located north-west of the city centre and is a grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

History

There are unsubstantiated claims that a chapel existed in the village of Bolsterstone in the 12th century. However the first documented place of worship on the site of St Mary's was established by Sir Robert de Rockley in 1412. This took the form of a private

chantry A chantry is an ecclesiastical term that may have either of two related meanings: # a chantry service, a Christian liturgy of prayers for the dead, which historically was an obiit, or # a chantry chapel, a building on private land, or an area in ...

with Richard of Westhall as the first

incumbent The incumbent is the current holder of an official, office or position, usually in relation to an election. In an election for president, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the office of president before the election, whether seek ...

. At that time Bolsterstone was within the large parish of Ecclesfield and the chantry soon turned into a public chapel as it became a popular place of worship for the local population because of the large distance to travel to the parish church of St Mary's, Ecclesfield or its sister church St Nicholas, Bradfield. From its early days the chapel was also used as a day school for local children, this practice stopped in 1686 because the building was deemed unsuitable and a new free day school was built nearby. Throughout the 18th century, the chapel was extended with the addition of a gallery, roof loft and a peal of bells. However, by the later part of the 18th century it had fallen into disrepair and was deemed unsafe, with the congregation unable to assemble ''“for the public worship of Almighty God without manifest danger to their lives”''.Stocksbridge Council website
Gives these quotes and mentions bolster stones. Reverend Thomas Bland replaced the chapel with a new church in 1791. The new building was unpopular from an architectural point of view with the local historian Gatty saying it was “more like a factory than a church”, other sources call it “plain but substantial”. It was consecrated in 1796 and had sash windows and spacious galleries. A vicarage was added in 1862, in 1870 Bolsterstone became a parish in its own right and included nearby

Stocksbridge Stocksbridge is a town and civil parish, in the City of Sheffield, in South Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it lies just to the east of the Peak District. The town is located in the steep-sided valley of th ...

and Deepcar. Bland's church remained unpopular and lasted barely 80 years before the vicar William Reginald Wilson decided to replace it in 1872. Wilson was vicar between 1867 and 1914, a tenure of 47 years, making him the longest serving incumbent in the church's history. The new church was built in stages between 1872 and 1879. The foundation stone was laid in August 1878 by the lord of the manor Rimington Wilson and the construction was completed in May 1879 by local builder John Brearley at a total cost of £7,200. The stained glass windows for the east and south walls were a gift from Rimington Wilson. The church was opened in June 1880 by William Thomson,

Archbishop of York The archbishop of York is a senior bishop in the Church of England, second only to the archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and the metropolitan bishop of the province of York, which covers th ...

. A series of important changes were made to the church before the turn of the 20th century, a new organ was installed in July 1885, a new peal of eight bells was fitted in 1892 from the bellmakers

John Taylor John Taylor, Johnny Taylor or similar may refer to: Academics *John Taylor (Oxford), Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University, 1486–1487 *John Taylor (classical scholar) (1704–1766), English classical scholar *John Taylor (English publisher) (178 ...

Loughborough Loughborough ( ) is a market town in the Charnwood borough of Leicestershire, England, the seat of Charnwood Borough Council and Loughborough University. At the 2011 census the town's built-up area had a population of 59,932 , the second larg ...

and in June 1897 a

lychgate A lychgate, also spelled lichgate, lycugate, lyke-gate or as two separate words lych gate, (from Old English ''lic'', corpse), also ''wych gate'', is a gateway covered with a roof found at the entrance to a traditional English or English-style ch ...

was erected to mark the diamond jubilee of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

. The graveyard contains two large rectangular stones of unknown origin; these are known as the Bolster Stones. In 1921 a war memorial was erected by the side of the lychgate; it takes the form of a

Celtic cross The Celtic cross is a form of Christian cross featuring a nimbus or ring that emerged in Ireland, France and Great Britain in the Early Middle Ages. A type of ringed cross, it became widespread through its use in the stone high crosses er ...

and records the names of 48 people of the parish who were killed in conflicts in the 20th century. In the early 1950s thieves stole an amount of

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...

off the church roof and the ensuing flawed repairs done with

asphalt Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term a ...

sealed in damp and led to problems with

dry rot Dry rot is wood decay caused by one of several species of fungi that digest parts of the wood which give the wood strength and stiffness. It was previously used to describe any decay of cured wood in ships and buildings by a fungus which resul ...

in the roof timbers. The timbers and roof slates were replaced throughout the 1960s. However the problem returned in the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

roof and the church had to be closed temporarily on 1 May 1974, with weddings and burials being moved elsewhere. Financial aid from the Diocesan pastoral committee enabled the damp problems to be addressed and the church re-opened.''“The History of the Parish of St Mary, Bolsterstone"'', Pamela Crossland, no ISBN, Gives most of history for this article. A new stained glass window was unveiled in the church in July 1997 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of a coach crash which killed nine people on a coach transporting the Bolsterstone Male Voice Choir to a music festival in

Holmfirth Holmfirth is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England, on the A635 and A6024 in the Holme Valley, at the confluence of the River Holme and Ribble, south of Huddersfield and west of Barnsley. It mostly consist ...

.Bolsterstone Male Voice Choir website
Gives details of 1997 window and events.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Mary's Church, Bolsterstone Bolsterstone, St Mary's Church Bolsterstone, St Mary's Church Bolsterstone, St Mary's Church Bolsterstone, St Mary's Church Churches completed in 1879 19th-century Church of England church buildings Bolsterstone, St Mary's Church

History

See also

References