St Mary's Church is in Church Avenue,

Penwortham Penwortham () is a town and civil parish in South Ribble, Lancashire, England, on the south bank of the River Ribble facing the city of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. The town is at the most westerly crossing point of the river, with major road ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, England. 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 A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), 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 com ...

in the deanery of Leyland, the archdeaconry of Blackburn, and the

diocese of Blackburn The diocese of Blackburn is diocese of the Church of England in North West England. Its boundaries correspond to northern Lancashire. The diocese contains 211 parishes and 280 churches. Blackburn Cathedral is the seat of the bishop of Blackburn ...

. 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, ...

as a designated Grade II*

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 oldest part of the church is the

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 ...

which dates from the 14th century. The west tower was built in the 15th century. 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 ...

and

aisle An aisle is a linear space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, in buildings such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, parliaments, courtrooms, ...

s were rebuilt in 1855–56 by the

Lancaster Lancaster may refer to: Lands and titles *The County Palatine of Lancaster, a synonym for Lancashire *Duchy of Lancaster, one of only two British royal duchies *Duke of Lancaster *Earl of Lancaster *House of Lancaster, a British royal dynasty ...

architect E. G. Paley. As part of the restoration the roof was raised, and the north and west galleries were removed. Between 2009 and 2011 the church was reordered, under-floor heating was installed, and the pews were replaced by chairs.

Architecture

Exterior

St Mary's is constructed in stone and has a

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

roof. Its plan consists of a four-

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...

nave with north and south aisles, a south porch, a chancel, and a west tower. The tower has diagonal

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 (typically Gothic) buildings, as a means of providing support to act ...

es and a

battlement A battlement, in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at intervals ...

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an upward extension of a 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/brea ...

with

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 main ...

s. On its west side is a doorway, above which is a three-light window with

Perpendicular In geometry, two geometric objects are perpendicular if they intersect at right angles, i.e. at an angle of 90 degrees or π/2 radians. The condition of perpendicularity may be represented graphically using the '' perpendicular symbol'', � ...

tracery Tracery is an architectural device by which windows (or screens, panels, and vaults) are divided into sections of various proportions by stone ''bars'' or ''ribs'' of moulding. Most commonly, it refers to the stonework elements that support th ...

. Over the window is a niche with an

ogee An ogee ( ) is an object, element, or curve—often seen in architecture and building trades—that has a serpentine- or extended S-shape (Sigmoid curve, sigmoid). Ogees consist of a "double curve", the combination of two semicircle, semicircula ...

head and

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

ed pinnacles. The bell openings have two lights and are louvred. On the sides of the nave are five two-light windows. There is a blocked priest's door in the south wall of the chancel, above which is a stone inscribed with the date 1653.

Interior

Features

Inside the church, the arcades are carried on alternate round and octagonal

piers Piers may refer to: * Pier, a raised structure over a body of water * Pier (architecture), an architectural support * Piers (name), a given name and surname (including lists of people with the name) * Piers baronets, two titles, in the baronetages ...

. An ancient

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a ''typeface'', defined as the set of fonts that share an overall design. For instance, the typeface Bauer Bodoni (shown in the figure) includes fonts " Roman" (or "regul ...

inscribed "T.R. 1667", stood in the church until the 19th century. In the 18th century, this font was replaced by a marble font, with a

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

inscription, indicating that it was gifted by H. Fleetwood in 1725. The current font is octagonal and of

Caen stone Caen stone () is a light creamy-yellow Jurassic limestone quarried in north-western France near the city of Caen. The limestone is a fine grained oolitic limestone formed in shallow water lagoons in the Bathonian Age about 167 million years ...

and was given in 1856 by a Churchwarden, Mr Norris who requested the 1667 font for use in his garden. The Fleetwood font was moved to the cellar of the Old Chapel at Longton, and in 1886 it was transferred to the present Church of St. Andrew's in 1886. The 1667 font was offered for auction in 1872, but was not sold and instead taken to the auctioneer's house in Preston. It later passed to local antiquarian, T. H. Myers of

Ashton-on-Ribble Ashton-on-Ribble is a suburb in the West of Preston, Lancashire, England. The population at the 2021 Census was 8,700. Ashton-on-Ribble was recorded in the ''Domesday Book''. Ashton-on-Ribble contains the historic Preston Docks, once the largest ...

who restored it to Penwortham Church in 1906. The memorial tablets include one to the cotton manufacturer and politician John Horrocks who died in 1804 and who was buried in a railed tomb behind the church. There are fragments of early stained glass in the chancel windows. Before the reordering of 2009–11 there were

box pew A box pew is a type of church pew that is encased in panelling and was prevalent in England and other Protestant countries from the 16th to early 19th centuries. History in England Before the rise of Protestantism, seating was not customary in c ...

s of 1855 in the church, those in the aisles being arranged to face the centre of the church, rather than to the east end. The organ is in the west gallery, and was installed there in 1959 by Jardines of

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

. The tower contains eight bells, all of which were cast in 1965 by Mears & Stainbank at the

Whitechapel Bell Foundry The Whitechapel Bell Foundry was a business in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. At the time of the closure of its Whitechapel premises, it was the oldest manufacturing company in Great Britain. The bell foundry primarily made church bells ...

replacing an earlier octave comprising bells cast in 1712, 1891 and 1926.

Recent re-ordering

Between 2009 and 2011 the church interior underwent significant re-ordering to install

underfloor heating Underfloor heating and cooling is a form of Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning, central heating and cooling that achieves indoor climate control for thermal comfort using hydronics, hydronic or electrical heating elements embedded in a fl ...

, as the old oil-fired boiler and associated hot water pipes were in a poor state of repair. The work involved the excavation of the entire floor in both nave and chancel, to allow installation of the new heating matrix. Before this could be done all fixtures and fittings, including pews, pulpit and choir stalls, were also removed. It was discovered, during excavation, that during the 19th century the nave had been extended to allow more room for the increasing population of Penwortham. The enlarged area extended over graves some of which were collapsed graves which and thus threatened to undermine the new floor foundations. Three

crypt A crypt (from Greek κρύπτη (kryptē) ''wikt:crypta#Latin, crypta'' "Burial vault (tomb), vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, Sarcophagus, sarcophagi, or Relic, religiou ...

s, containing the mortal remains of parishioners buried before 1856, were also discovered and were investigated by an archaeological team. Skeletal remains were removed for examination and were eventually re-interred in the largest of the crypts before the new floor was laid. The crypts had lain undiscovered since the destruction of records in a fire of 1856. To overcome the problem of collapsed graves in the nave, piling and concrete frames were installed to support the new floor. The heating matrix was installed and covered by stone

flags A flag is a piece of fabric (most often rectangular) with distinctive colours and design. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term ''flag'' is also used to refer to the graphic design employed, and flags have ...

. All of the flooring, both in the nave and the chancel, is now on one level. The pews were replaced by chairs and the church now has a light and airy interior, which allows more flexibility of use. During the re-ordering services were held in St. Mary's Church Hall on Cop Lane in the town. Following completion of the work a service of celebration was held on 19 June 2012.

External features

In the churchyard are four structures that have been designated as Grade II listed buildings. One of these is a gravestone dated 1682, and another is a gravestone dated 1686. To the south of the church is a

sundial A sundial is a horology, horological device that tells the time of day (referred to as civil time in modern usage) when direct sunlight shines by the position of the Sun, apparent position of the Sun in the sky. In the narrowest sense of the ...

dated 1815. John Horrocks has a second memorial, this being his tomb chest in the churchyard which is also a memorial to other members of his family. The tomb is Grade II listed. The churchyard also contains the

war graves A war grave is a burial place for members of the armed forces or civilians who died during military campaigns or operations. Definition The term "war grave" does not only apply to graves: ships sunk during wartime are often considered to b ...

of nine service personnel of

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 ...

, and 13 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

{{DEFAULTSORT:Penwortham, St Mary's Church Church of England church buildings in Lancashire Diocese of Blackburn Grade II* listed churches in Lancashire English Gothic architecture in Lancashire Gothic Revival architecture in Lancashire E. G. Paley buildings Churches completed in 1856 Buildings and structures in South Ribble