The Church of St Mary at Temple,

Corsley Corsley is a hamlet and Civil parishes in England, civil parish west of Warminster in Wiltshire, England. The parish is on the county border with Somerset; the Somerset town of Frome is about to the northwest. The largest settlement in the pari ...

, Wiltshire, England is a

chapel-of-ease A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church architecture, church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently, generally due to trav ...

dating from the very early 20th century. It was commissioned and paid for by Mary Barton, of Corsley House, in memory of her husband and son. Designed in the

Arts and Crafts The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the Decorative arts, decorative and fine arts that developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles and subsequently spread across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and ...

style, the church is now in the care of the

Friends of Friendless Churches Friends of Friendless Churches (FoFC) is a registered charity formed in 1957, active in England and Wales, which campaigns for and rescues redundant historic places of worship threatened by demolition, decay, or inappropriate conversion. As ...

. It is a

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, H ...

History and description

The Bartons had owned land at Corsley since the 18th century, and built Corsley House in a Neoclassical style in 1814. In her will of 1899, Mary Barton left £10,000 to establish the Barton Trust, which was to build a church in memory of her husband and son. A little less than half the amount was spent on construction, with the remainder being invested to maintain the church and pay for the holding of services. The Wiltshire Pevsner describes the church as "

Gothic" in style. Julian Orbach, in his revision of Pevsner's volume, calls the church "charming". It is constructed of

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

with a tiled roof, and has a gabled north porch and a small

bell-cote A bellcote, bell-cote or bell-cot is a small framework and shelter for one or more bells. Bellcotes are most common in church architecture but are also seen on institutions such as schools. The bellcote may be carried on brackets projecting from ...

over the east end. St Mary's was dependent on the parish church, St Margaret's at Corsley. In the 21st century, St Mary's was declared a

redundant church A redundant church, now referred to as a closed church, is a church building that is no longer used for Christian worship. The term most frequently refers to former Anglican churches in the United Kingdom, but may also be used for disused churche ...

and passed into the care of the

. Infrequent services are held by the team ministry for the area, Cley Hill Churches.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Corsley, Saint Mary Grade II listed churches in Wiltshire Gothic Revival church buildings in England Gothic Revival architecture in Wiltshire Churches preserved by the Friends of Friendless Churches Churches completed in 1903 20th-century Church of England church buildings