St Mary's Church is in the West Bank area of

Widnes Widnes ( ) is an industrial town in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England, which at the 2011 census had a population of 61,464. Historically in Lancashire, it is on the northern bank of the River Mersey where the estuary narrows to form th ...

, Cheshire, England. 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, a ...

as a designated 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 ...

. 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 Liverpool The Diocese of Liverpool is a Church of England diocese based in Liverpool, covering Merseyside north of the River Mersey, part of West Lancashire, part of Wigan in Greater Manchester, Widnes and part of Warrington and in Cheshire (it was origi ...

, the archdeaconry of Warrington and the deanery of Widnes. Together with the churches of St Paul, Widnes, and St Mary, Hale, it forms the South Widnes Team. It has been described as "the last great church masterpiece" created by the Lancaster architects

Austin and Paley Sharpe, Paley and Austin are the surnames of architects who practised in Lancaster, Lancashire, England, between 1835 and 1946, working either alone or in partnership. The full names of the principals in their practice, which went under vario ...

History

The first church in West Bank, known as Widnes Dock Church and dedicated to St Mary, was opened in 1858. This church was never completed and consisted only of 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 ...

. It had been built on chemical waste which subsided, leading to bulging of the walls and twisting of the roof. In the early 1900s a new site was obtained near the promenade, and money was raised for a new church. The foundation stone was laid on 14 May 1908 and the church was opened on 12 November 1910. The church was designed by Austin and Paley, cost £16,669 in total (equivalent to £ in ), which included £5,400 for the site, and provided seating for 770 people.

Architecture

Exterior

The church is built in red flecked

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 ...

, and the nave roof is in Ruabon tiles. The

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 ...

roofs are in lead. Its plan consists of a five- bay nave with a clerestory, north and south aisles which embrace a west tower, and north and south

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 wi ...

s, a

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. Ov ...

. The northwest porch is set at an angle to the church and the south porch is perpendicular to it. The church is built in

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 ca ...

style. The north transept is in one bay and includes the organ. The south transept is in three bays and forms a

Lady chapel A Lady chapel or lady chapel is a traditional British English, British term for a chapel dedicated to "Our Lady", Mary, mother of Jesus, particularly those inside a cathedral or other large church (building), church. The chapels are also known as ...

. The tower has a projecting octagonal staircase on the southeast corner and

buttress A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient buildings, as a means of providing support to act against the lateral ( ...

es on the southeast corner. An inscribed

frieze In architecture, the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Paterae are also usually used to decorate friezes. Even when neither columns nor ...

of the ''

Te Deum The "Te Deum" (, ; from its incipit, , ) is a Latin Christian hymn traditionally ascribed to AD 387 authorship, but with antecedents that place it much earlier. It is central to the Ambrosian hymnal, which spread throughout the Latin Ch ...

'' runs around the tower and below the

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). ...

of the south and east sides of the church.

Interior

The furnishings are of oak and were designed by the architects. The font is made of

Darley Dale Darley Dale, also known simply as Darley, is a town and civil parish in the Derbyshire Dales district of Derbyshire, England, with a population of 5,413. It lies north of Matlock, on the River Derwent and the A6 road. The town forms part ...

stone. The stained glass in the east window depicts the Ascension and an Apocalyptic Vision and was designed 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' ...

. The three- manual organ was built by Wm. Hill and Son in 1902 and restored and enlarged between 1936 and 1947 by

Henry Willis & Sons Henry Willis & Sons is a British firm of pipe organ builders founded in 1845. Although most of their installations have been in the UK, examples can be found in other countries. Five generations of the Willis family served as principals of th ...

External features

An octagonal wayside pulpit is set into the boundary wall of the church. Also designed by Austin and Paley, it is constructed in red sandstone and approached by six steps. The text "Go out into the highways and compel them to come in that my house may be filled" (from ) is cut into its masonry. It is listed at Grade II.

References

Notes Citations Sources * * *

External links

St. Mary's on YouTubeSt. Mary's on TwitterSt. Mary's on FacebookSt. Mary's on A Church Near You
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Mary's Church, Widnes Church of England church buildings in Cheshire Grade II* listed churches in Cheshire Churches completed in 1910 20th-century Church of England church buildings Gothic Revival church buildings in England Gothic Revival architecture in Cheshire Austin and Paley buildings Buildings and structures in Widnes Anglican Diocese of Liverpool