St Mary's Church, Tilston

St Mary's Church stands in an isolated position to the south of the village of Tilston, Cheshire, England. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building.[1] It is an active Anglicanparish church in the diocese of Chester, the archdeaconry of Chester, and the deanery of Malpas. Its benefice is combined with that of St Edith, Shocklach.[2]

St Mary's Church, Tilston
St Mary's Church, Tilston
St Mary's Church, Tilston
Location in Cheshire
OS grid referenceSJ 457,506
LocationTilston, Cheshire
CountryEngland
DenominationAnglican
WebsiteSt Mary, Tilston
History
StatusParish church
Architecture
Functional statusActive
Heritage designationGrade II*
Designated1 March 1967
Architect(s)John Douglas
Architectural typeChurch
StyleGothic, Gothic Revival
Completed1879
Specifications
MaterialsRed sandstone, tile roof
Administration
ParishTilston
DeaneryMalpas
ArchdeaconryChester
DioceseChester
ProvinceYork
Clergy
Priest(s)Revd Jane Stephenson
Laity
Reader(s)David Black
Churchwarden(s)Andrew Wilson, Penny Hearn

History

An earlier church stood on the site of the present church and there is a list of rectors dating from 1301. The oldest part of the present church is the tower which dates from the 15th century.[3] The chapel on the north side is dated 1659 and is known as the Leche Chapel,[1] or the Stretton Hall Chapel.[4] Most of the rest of the church, including the chancel, vestry and nave roof, was rebuilt by John Douglas between 1877 and 1879.[1]

Architecture

Exterior

The church is built in red sandstone with a steeply pitched tile roof.[1] At the west end is the three-stage embattled tower. This has corner buttresses, a west doorway, a west window of three lights, belfry windows of three lights on all sides and ringers' windows, the one on the west face being placed north of the centre. The west door has a Tudor head. The tower leads into the nave through a fine arch. The original Elizabethan roof was dismantled in the 19th-century rebuild, and some of the timbers were used in the chancel roof.[3] The south door has been blocked off, and entry is through the north porch.[4] In the north porch is part of a curved beam taken from a gallery which was dismantled in 1879, and which bears the arms of Peter and Ann Warburton.[3] The beam is dated 1618.[1]

Interior

The altar rails are dated 1677, and the holy table is from the same period. The octagonal pulpit is early Georgian in style, and it stands on a stone base from a later period.[3] Most of the glass dates from the 19th century, but some painted medieval glass remains.[3][5] There is a ring of four bells, cast in 1924 by John Taylor and Company.[6] The parish registers date from 1558 but are incomplete. The churchwardens' accounts are from 1688.[3]

External features

In the churchyard is a sundial with an octagonal shaft on the base of an ancient cross. The head is elaborately shaped.[3] The gates, gate piers and churchyard wall to the west of the church are listed at Grade II.[7] On the west side of the gate piers is the date 1687 and the initials "LP" and "LL". On the south side of the posts there are skull and crossbones symbols and on the east side is the inscription Memento Mori.[4] The churchyard also contains the war graves of a soldier of World War I, and another of World War II.[8]

See also

References
  1. Historic England, "Church of St Mary, Tilston (1129940)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 14 September 2012
  2. Tilston, St Mary, Church of England, retrieved 15 October 2009
  3. Richards, Raymond (1947), Old Cheshire Churches, London: B. T Batsford, pp. 330–332, OCLC 719918
  4. Thornber, Craig (2002), A Scrapbook of Cheshire Antiquities: Tilston, retrieved 1 September 2007
  5. Tilston, St Mary, Corpus Vitrearum Medii Aevi (CVMA) of Great Britain, retrieved 2 January 2011
  6. Tilston S Mary, Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers, retrieved 11 August 2008
  7. Historic England, "Gatepiers, gates and churchyard walls to west of Church of St Mary, Tilston (1106301)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 14 September 2012
  8. TILSTON (ST. MARY) CHURCHYARD, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, retrieved 4 February 2013
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