StMary's, Market Drayton-geograph-771033-by-Geoff-Pick

St Mary's Church,

Market Drayton Market Drayton is a market town and electoral ward in the north of Shropshire, England, close to the Cheshire and Staffordshire borders. It is on the River Tern, and was formerly known as "Drayton in Hales" (c. 1868) and earlier simply as "Dray ...

, stands on the top of a prominent outcrop of red sandstone rock above the River Tern. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building.

History

The Domesday Book of 1086 mentions "a Priest in Drayton", and there was likely a wooden

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

church on the same site prior to the construction of the present

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

stone building, which dates to 1150. In 1201 Pope Innocent III forbade the weekly market which had traditionally taken place in the churchyard after the Sunday morning service. As a result, the market moved northwards a few hundred yards, to its present site in the town. In the 1320s major building work was undertaken in the church. In the

Georgian era The Georgian era was a period in British history from 1714 to , named after the Hanoverian Kings George I, George II, George III and George IV. The definition of the Georgian era is often extended to include the relatively short reign of Willi ...

galleries and box pews were added, but in the 1880s these were removed.

Internal features

The church boasts some fine stained glass. The west window, depicting Queen Victoria, is by

Shrigley and Hunt Shrigley and Hunt was an English firm which produced stained-glass windows and art tiles. History The business began in the 1750s when Shrigley's was a painting, carving and gilding firm in Lancaster, Lancashire. In 1868, control of Shrigley's ...

. The east window, showing the Resurrection of Jesus, is by Charles Eamer Kempe (1837–1907). Other Kempe windows are in the south west corner of the nave, depicting Jesus healing the blind near Jericho, raising Lazarus from the dead, and healing the paralytic at Bethesda, and at the north east corner: the

flight into Egypt The flight into Egypt is a story recounted in the Gospel of Matthew ( Matthew 2:13– 23) and in New Testament apocrypha. Soon after the visit by the Magi, an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream telling him to flee to Egypt with Mary and the i ...

and Presentation of Jesus at the Temple. The Corbet family, who were

lords of the manor Lord of the Manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England, referred to the landholder of a rural estate. The lord enjoyed manorial rights (the rights to establish and occupy a residence, known as the manor house and demesne) as well as seigno ...

and church patrons, are memorialised in several locations in the church. A brass plaque with the Corbet coat of arms serves as a monument to Rowland Corbet (died 1560). Above this is a monument to Dame Alice Corbet (died 1682), who bore twenty children. Her husband Sir John Corbet, the Puritan politician, was buried here in 1662. The original organ was installed in 1805, and was replaced after 1866. At one time the current organ blocked the view of the altar, but the pipes have since been moved to behind the reredos and the console to the north side of the chancel.

External features

The exterior of the church, largely rebuilt and restored in the late 19th century, consists of red sandstone

ashlar Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruv ...

with some grey sandstone in the tower.Church Of Saint Mary, Market Drayton
Shropshire History The angle-buttressed tower features battlements that were added in the 16th century and crocketed corner

pinnacle A pinnacle is an architectural element originally forming the cap or crown of a buttress or small turret, but afterwards used on parapets at the corners of towers and in many other situations. The pinnacle looks like a small spire. It was mainly ...

s from the 19th century. St Mary's has a peal of eight bells, the oldest of which dates to 1700. The tenor bell weighs and the treble . The

arch over the main west door is the only remaining part of the original stone church. Early in the 14th century the doorway was incorporated into the superstructure; the large west window above the door features ornate and elaborately patterned stonework typical of the period. The conqueror of India

Robert Clive Robert Clive, 1st Baron Clive, (29 September 1725 – 22 November 1774), also known as Clive of India, was the first British Governor of the Bengal Presidency. Clive has been widely credited for laying the foundation of the British ...

, who attended the nearby Old Grammar School in the 1730s, is said to have once climbed out onto one of the tower's carved gargoyles.

Buntingsdale Chapel

The chapel has been long associated with the owners of

Buntingsdale Hall Buntingsdale Hall is a historic country house in the parish of Sutton upon Tern, to the southwest of Market Drayton in Shropshire, England. It became a Grade II* listed building on 14 February 1979. History Buntingsdale Hall was first built for ...

– especially the Bulkleys, the Mackworths, the Tayleurs and again the Mackworths. The part converted into the choir vestry lies over the old family vaults. The paintings by Parry (late 20th century) depict ''Man's search for God'' and (on the reverse) ''Seasons of Faith''.

War memorials

The church contains a "Chapel of the Resurrection", a side chapel dedicated, refurbished and panelled in memory of the parish war dead of both of the 20th century's world wars. It has a huge brass memorial tablet unveiled after the First World War and a set of kneelers bearing service badges of the regiments in which those commemorated served. To the right of the main chancel arch are plaques to Major Charles Egerton Hugh Harding (died 1917) and Second Lieutenant John Alberic Everard Upton (killed in the

Battle of the Somme The Battle of the Somme ( French: Bataille de la Somme), also known as the Somme offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and French Third Republic against the German Empire. It took place bet ...

1916), while on the chancel's south wall is a plaque to Lieutenant Charles Henry Lycett Warren, killed at the

Siege of Lucknow The siege of Lucknow was the prolonged defence of the British Residency within the city of Lucknow from rebel sepoys (Indian soldiers in the British East India Company's Army) during the Indian Rebellion of 1857. After two successive relief att ...

in 1857.

References

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