St Mary's Ecumenical Church is a Church of England / Methodist Local Ecumenical Project in the village of Weaverham, Cheshire, England. The church is the parish church of Weaverham and Acton Bridge and part of the Methodist Northwich and Winsford Circuit. The vision of the church is to share the light and hope of Jesus with the local community. The church building 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, a ...

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

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

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 An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in the Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, St Thomas Christians, Eastern Orthodox churches and some other Christian denominations, above that of mo ...

of Chester and the deanery of

Middlewich Middlewich is a town in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, east of Chester, east of Winsford, southeast of Northwich and northwest of Sandbach. The population at the 2011 Census was 13,595 ...

History

A church was present on the site at the time of the

Norman conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Norman, Breton, Flemish, and French troops, all led by the Duke of Normandy, later styled William the Con ...

. Edward I gave the advowson of the vicarage to

Vale Royal Abbey Vale Royal Abbey is a former medieval abbey and later country house in Whitegate England. The precise location and boundaries of the abbey are difficult to determine in today's landscape. The original building was founded c. 1270 by the Lord ...

. After the dissolution of the monasteries, this was given by Henry VIII to the Bishop of Chester. The west tower dates from the middle of the 15th century and the rest of the church from the 16th century. Restorations were carried out in 1855 by

Anthony Salvin Anthony Salvin (17 October 1799 – 17 December 1881) was an English architect. He gained a reputation as an expert on medieval buildings and applied this expertise to his new buildings and his restorations. He restored castles and country h ...

, and in 1877 by John Douglas, when the porch and vestry were added.

Architecture

Exterior

The church is built in 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 ...

ashlar with a Welsh slate roof. The plan of the church consists of a tower at the west end leading to a five- bay

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 ...

and chancel with no architectural division, and north and 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, par ...

s terminating in chapels. The church is wider at its west end than at the east end. The chapel at the east end of the south aisle is the Wilbraham (formerly Grange) chapel and that at the east end of the north aisle is the Heath (formerly Crowton) Chapel.

Interior

Both chapels contain memorials to local families, and both chapels have screens dated 1636. In the chancel is an 18th-century chandelier. The octagonal font stands on a plain column and has an ornate Jacobean wooden cover. The chancel panelling has linenfold carving. The altar table is by Chippendale and has

cabriole leg A cabriole leg is one of (usually) four vertical supports of a piece of furniture shaped in two curves; the upper arc is convex, while lower is concave; the upper curve always bows outward, while the lower curve bows inward; with the axes of the ...

s and claw feet. The altar rails, originally in the church, were moved to become the back staircase of Hefferston Grange, but have now been restored in the church. The parish chest is early Georgian. The

sanctuary A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred place, such as a shrine. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This secondary use can be categorized into human sanctuary, a sa ...

chairs come from the

William and Mary William and Mary often refers to: * The joint reign of William III of England (II of Scotland) and Mary II of England (and Scotland) * William and Mary style, a furniture design common from 1700 to 1725 named for the couple William and Mary may ...

period. The sidesmen's pew re-used wood from the previous three-decker pulpit which was dated 1774. In the church is a stained glass window presented by John Douglas to commemorate his parents and his sisters. The two- manual organ was made by Walker in 1951. There is a ring of six bells. Two bells dated 1718 are by Abraham Rudhall II, two dated 1796 are by Thomas & James Bilbie and the other two dated 1875 are by Mears & Stainbank of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry. 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 1576 and the

churchwarden A churchwarden is a lay official in a parish or congregation of the Anglican Communion or Catholic Church, usually working as a part-time volunteer. In the Anglican tradition, holders of these positions are ''ex officio'' members of the parish b ...

s' accounts in 1630.

External features

In the churchyard are fragments of a Roman road. It also contains the war graves of nineteen Commonwealth service personnel, ten of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and nine of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

References