St Mary's Church is on a site overlooking the villages of Penny Bridge and

Greenodd Greenodd is a village in the Furness area of the county of Cumbria, England, but within the historical county of Lancashire. For local government purposes the village is also within the area of South Lakeland District. It is located 3 miles (5& ...

, in the parish of

Egton with Newland Egton with Newland, sometimes written as "Egton-with-Newland", is a civil parish in the South Lakeland district of the English county of Cumbria. It includes the villages of Greenodd and Penny Bridge, and the hamlets of Arrad Foot, Newland and ...

, Cumbria, England. It is an active

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

in the deanery of Furness, the archdeaconry of Westmorland with Furness, and the diocese of Carlisle. Its

benefice A benefice () or living is a reward received in exchange for services rendered and as a retainer for future services. The Roman Empire used the Latin term as a benefit to an individual from the Empire for services rendered. Its use was adopted by ...

is united with those of St Andrew, Coniston, St Luke, Torver, St Luke, Lowick, and Holy Trinity, Colton.

History

The first church on the site was built before 1786. It was a

chapel of ease A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church architecture, church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently. Often a chapel of ea ...

to Ulverston parish church. The church was built in

roughcast Roughcast or pebbledash is a coarse plaster surface used on outside walls that consists of lime and sometimes cement mixed with sand, small gravel and often pebbles or shells. The materials are mixed into a slurry and are then thrown at the wor ...

stone; it was a long low building with a large west tower. This church had round-headed windows. A new, larger church was built in 1831. The

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ove ...

was added in 1855–56, designed by Miles Thompson. In 1864–65 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 ...

was rebuilt by the Lancaster architect E. G. Paley, and the south

aisle An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, certain types of buildings, such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, parl ...

was added. This work cost £1,000 (), and was paid for by Countess Blücher von Wahlstadt. A

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building withi ...

was added in about 1890. The tower was demolished in 1893, and a replacement designed by Frearson was erected in 1969.

Architecture

The church is constructed in

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

rubble, with red stone dressings. The west front is rendered. Its plan consists of a nave, a south aisle, a chancel, a south transept, with a tower at the northwest corner, and a west porch. The tower has a

saddleback roof A saddleback roof is usually on a tower, with a ridge and two sloping sides, producing a gable at each end. See also * List of roof shapes * Saddle roof A saddle roof is a roof form which follows a convex curve about one axis and a concave cur ...

. Inside the church, the arches of the arcade are in brick. The carved wooden

reredos A reredos ( , , ) is a large altarpiece, a screen, or decoration placed behind the altar in a church. It often includes religious images. The term ''reredos'' may also be used for similar structures, if elaborate, in secular architecture, for ex ...

dates from 1908. Also in the church is a painting of the ''Descent from the Cross''. The stained glass is by

William Wailes William Wailes (1808–1881) was the proprietor of one of England's largest and most prolific stained glass workshops. Life and career Wailes was born and grew up in Newcastle on Tyne, England's centre of domestic glass and bottle manufacturing. ...

. The two

manual Manual may refer to: Instructions * User guide * Owner's manual * Instruction manual (gaming) * Online help Other uses * Manual (music), a keyboard, as for an organ * Manual (band) * Manual transmission * Manual, a bicycle technique similar to ...

organ was built in 1866 by Wilkinson, and was moved from the west end to the chancel in 1890. The lychgate is a First World War memorial.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Penny Bridge, St Mary's Church Church of England church buildings in Cumbria Diocese of Carlisle Gothic Revival church buildings in England Gothic Revival architecture in Cumbria 19th-century Church of England church buildings E. G. Paley buildings