St Mary's Church is in the village of Acton Burnell, Shropshire, England, and stands near the ruins of Acton Burnell Castle. It is an active

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

parish church in the deanery of Condover, the archdeaconry of Ludlow, and the diocese of Hereford. Its benefice is united with those of St Andrew and St Mary, Condover, St Mark, Frodesley, and St Michael and All Angels, Pitchford. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

History

The church was built between about 1275 and 1280 for Robert Burnell, who became Lord Chancellor of England, and then Bishop of Bath and Wells. It was restored in 1887–89 by Fairfax B. Wade, during which a small tower was added.

Architecture

Exterior

St Mary's is constructed in

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

with tiled roofs. It has a cruciform plan, consisting of a ten- bay nave with a north porch, a five-bay

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

, north and south chapels (acting as transepts), and a tower in the angle between the chancel and the north transept. The tower is in three stages with clasping buttresses. It has a pyramidal roof with a weathervane, and a gabled dormer window on the west side. There are two trefoil-headed louvred bell openings in the top stage, quatrefoil openings in the middle stage, and a lancet window and a doorway in the bottom stage. At the west end of the church are buttresses, and a doorway with a steep arch, above which are three stepped lancet windows. Along the eaves of the nave and transepts is a corbel table, some of the corbels being carved with heads. Above the outer doorway of the north porch is a niche. To the east of the porch, at a high level, is a circular window. On the south side of the church is a blocked doorway. The windows in the gable-ends of the transepts are stepped lancets. The chancel is at a lower level, and is more richly decorated. On its north and south sides are lancet windows in different groupings. There is a priest's door on the south side and a hagioscope on the north. The four-light east window is elaborate, with Purbeck marble shafts.

Interior

The chancel roof is dated 1571, and the nave roof 1598. All the chancel windows internally are shafted in Purbeck marble. In the chancel is a large double piscina, and a trefoil-headed aumbry. There is also a large piscina in each of the transepts. The font is octagonal and dates from the 13h century. The pulpit was created in the 19th century from Jacobean pieces. The north transept is floored with

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

tiles. The walls of the south transept are decorated with 13th-century painted red rosettes. In the north wall of the chancel is a stained glass window of 1927 designed by A. K. Nicholson. In the north transept are monuments, the oldest of which is dated 1382. A later monument dated 1632 is by Nicholas Stone. The two- manual pipe organ is located in a chamber to the north of the chancel. It was built in 1973 by Ward and Shutt. A marble plaque in the north transept commemorates Lieutenant Walter Smythe, who was killed at the siege of Mentz when serving in the Austrian army in the

French Revolutionary Wars The French Revolutionary Wars () were a series of sweeping military conflicts resulting from the French Revolution that lasted from 1792 until 1802. They pitted French First Republic, France against Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain, Habsb ...

(1794), with carved figures of cannon, cannonball, drum, flags and a castle. Also inside the church is a plaque listing parish men who died serving in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

while in the north porch a painted wooden plaque lists all who served in the same war, with indications of those who were wounded or died. There is a ring of four bells. The oldest is dated 1650, and the other three were cast in 1912 by James Barwell and Company.

External features

In the churchyard to the north of the church is a former font dating from the 15th or 16th century. It is in sandstone, and consists of a bowl standing on a stem with an octagonal base. The font is said to have been moved from a chapel at Acton Pigott, which had become disused by about 1730. The font is listed at Grade II. The churchyard also contains two war graves, both located in its south-west corner, of a Canadian soldier of

, and a British soldier of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

References