St Mary's Church is the oldest

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 town of

Stockport Stockport is a town and borough in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt and Tame merge to create the River Mersey here. Most of the town is within ...

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority, combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: City of Manchester, Manchester, City of Salford, Salford ...

, England. It stands in Churchgate overlooking the market place. The church is recorded in the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, an ...

as a designated Grade I

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 ...

. 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 ...

in the

diocese of Chester The Diocese of Chester is a Church of England diocese in the Province of York covering the pre-1974 county of Cheshire and therefore including the Wirral and parts of Stockport, Trafford and Tameside. History Ancient diocese Before the si ...

, the archdeaconry of Macclesfield and the deanery of Stockport.

History

A church was on the site by 1190. A sandstone church was built during the incumbency of Richard de Vernon, 1306- 1320 and only its

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 ...

remains. The rest of the present church was built between 1813 and 1817 to the design of

Lewis Wyatt Lewis William Wyatt (1777–1853) was a British architect, a nephew of both Samuel and James Wyatt of the Wyatt family of architects, who articled with each of his uncles and began practice on his own about 1805. Lewis Wyatt is known primarily f ...

. There was a further

restoration Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to: * Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage ** Audio restoration ** Film restoration ** Image restoration ** Textile restoration * Restoration ecology ...

in 1848 to replace weathered masonry. Further restoration was carried out in 1882. The tower originated in the 14th century and was rebuilt in 1612–16 and again in 1810.

Architecture

Structure

The chancel is built in local red

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

in the decorated style. The rest of the church is

Runcorn Runcorn is an industrial town and cargo port in the Borough of Halton in Cheshire, England. Its population in 2011 was 61,789. The town is in the southeast of the Liverpool City Region, with Liverpool to the northwest across the River Mersey. ...

sandstone in the

perpendicular In elementary geometry, two geometric objects are perpendicular if they intersect at a right angle (90 degrees or π/2 radians). The condition of perpendicularity may be represented graphically using the ''perpendicular symbol'', ⟂. It can ...

style. Its plan consists of a west tower, a wide nave with galleries, a south porch, and a chancel with a vestry to its north.

Fittings and furniture

The roof of the chancel is the original single-framed timber roof. In the sanctuary is a double

piscina A piscina is a shallow basin placed near the altar of a church, or else in the vestry or sacristy, used for washing the communion vessels. The sacrarium is the drain itself. Anglicans usually refer to the basin, calling it a piscina. For Roman ...

, a large triple

sedilia In church architecture, sedilia (plural of Latin ''sedīle'', "seat") are seats, usually made of stone, found on the liturgical south side of an altar, often in the chancel, for use during Mass for the officiating priest and his assistants, the ...

and, in a recess, the damaged effigy of Richard de Vernon, who was rector of Stockport from 1306 to 1334. In the church are a number of monuments, including one dated 1753 by Daniel Sephton to the memory of William Wright. Other memorials include one to Sir George Warren who died in 1801 by Sir

Richard Westmacott Sir Richard Westmacott (15 July 17751 September 1856) was a British sculptor. Life and career Westmacott studied with his father, also named Richard Westmacott (the elder), Richard Westmacott, at his studio in Mount Street, off Grosvenor ...

depicting a standing female figure by an urn on a pillar, to Rev Charles Prescott who died in 1820, also by Westmacott, showing a seated effigy, to James Antrobus Newton who died in 1823 by Bacon junior and S. Manning showing a kneeling female figure, and to Mrs Hawall who died in 1852 by Latham of Manchester showing angels hovering over her body. On the chancel arch are the

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...

George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...

in plaster. The

parish register A parish register in an ecclesiastical parish is a handwritten volume, normally kept in the parish church in which certain details of religious ceremonies marking major events such as baptisms (together with the dates and names of the parents), ma ...

s begin in 1584. There is a

ring Ring may refer to: * Ring (jewellery), a round band, usually made of metal, worn as ornamental jewelry * To make a sound with a bell, and the sound made by a bell :(hence) to initiate a telephone connection Arts, entertainment and media Film and ...

of ten bells. Seven of these were cast by John Rudhall in 1817 and the other three by

John Taylor & Co John Taylor Bell Foundry (Loughborough) Limited, trading as John Taylor & Co and commonly known as Taylor's Bell Foundry, Taylor's of Loughborough, or simply Taylor's, is the world's largest working bell foundry. It is located in Loughborough, ...

in 1897.

External features

The gateway to the church and a nearby drinking fountain are listed at Grade II*. The gateway was designed by Lewis Wyatt and consists of three pointed archways, with

crocket A crocket (or croquet) is a small, independent decorative element common in Gothic architecture. The name derives from the diminutive of the French ''croc'', meaning "hook", due to the resemblance of crockets to a bishop's crosier. Description ...

finial A finial (from '' la, finis'', end) or hip-knob is an element marking the top or end of some object, often formed to be a decorative feature. In architecture, it is a small decorative device, employed to emphasize the Apex (geometry), apex of a d ...

s above the centre arch. A rectory was built for the church in 1744 to replace an earlier

timber-framed Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden ...

building of 16th-century origin. It was the home of rectors, and later bishops of Stockport, until the 1950s. It is now part of a

Travel Inn Travel is the movement of people between distant geographical Location (geography), locations. Travel can be done by Pedestrian, foot, bicycle, automobile, train, boat, bus, airplane, ship or other means, with or without luggage, and can be ...

and is a Grade II* listed building. The old ice house still exists within the grounds.

Gallery

Image:St._Mary's_Church,_Stockport_01.jpg, The bell tower of St. Mary's Church Image:St._Mary's_Church,_Stockport_02.jpg, St. Mary's Church, with the historic glass market in the foreground on the left Image:St._Mary's_Church,_Stockport_03.jpg, St. Mary's Church File:St Mary's church drinking fountain, Stockport.jpg, The drinking fountain Image:the gate of St. Mary's church.jpg, The gate of St. Mary's church Image:St. Mary's church from Millgate, Stockport.jpg, St. Mary's church from Millgate, Stockport Image:Mary's church from High street, Stockport.jpg, St. Mary's church from High street, Stockport Image:The bell tower of St. Mary's church, Stockport.jpg, The bell tower of St. Mary's church, Stockport Image:One of the pinnacles of St. Mary's church, Stockport.jpg, One of the pinnacles of St. Mary's church, Stockport Image:The eastern window of St. Mary's church, Stockport.jpg, The eastern window of St. Mary's church, Stockport Image:One of the remaining graves around St. Mary's church, Stockport.jpg, One of the remaining graves around St. Mary's church, Stockport Image:St. Mary's church from Upper Brook Street, Stockport.jpg, St. Mary's church from Upper Brook Street, Stockport

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Mary's Church, Stockport Church of England church buildings in Greater Manchester Grade I listed churches in Greater Manchester English Gothic architecture in Greater Manchester

Saint Mary's Church Diocese of Chester