- St Mary's Church, Tilston
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St Mary's Church, Tilston 
St Mary's Church, TilstonLocation in Cheshire
St Mary's Church, TilstonCoordinates: 53°02′59″N 2°48′39″W / 53.0497°N 2.8109°W OS grid reference SJ 457 506 Location Tilston, Cheshire Country England Denomination Anglican Website St Mary, Tilston Architecture Status Parish church Functional status Active Heritage designation Grade II* Designated 1 March 1967 Architect(s) John Douglas Architectural type Church Style Gothic, Gothic Revival Completed 1879 Specifications Materials Red sandstone, tile roof Administration Parish Tilston Deanery Malpas Archdeaconry Chester Diocese Chester Province York Clergy Priest(s) Revd Jane Stephenson Laity Reader David Black Churchwarden(s) Andrew Wilson, Penny Hearn St Mary's Church, Tilston stands in an isolated position to the south of the village of Tilston, Cheshire, England. The church has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II* listed building.[1] It is an active Anglican parish 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]
Contents
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-storey 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 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] The ring consists of four bells, which are 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 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]
See also
- List of church restorations, amendments and furniture by John Douglas
References
- ^ a b c d e "Church of St Mary, Tilston", The National Heritage List for England (English Heritage), 2011, http://list.english-heritage.org.uk/resultsingle.aspx?uid=1129940, retrieved 2 May 2011
- ^ Tilston, St Mary, Church of England, http://www.achurchnearyou.com/tilston-st-mary/, retrieved 15 October 2009
- ^ a b c d e f g Richards, Raymond (1947), Old Cheshire Churches, London: B. T Batsford, pp. 330–332
- ^ a b c Thornber, Craig (2002 & 2005), A Scrapbook of Cheshire Antiquities: Tilston, http://www.thornber.net/cheshire/htmlfiles/tilston.html, retrieved 1 September 2007
- ^ Tilston, St Mary, Corpus Vitrearum Medii Aevi (CVMA) of Great Britain, http://www.cvma.ac.uk/jsp/location.do?locationKey=561&mode=COUNTY, retrieved 2 January 2011
- ^ Tilston S Mary, Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers, http://dove.cccbr.org.uk/detail.php?searchString=tilston&Submit=++Go++&DoveID=TILSTON, retrieved 11 August 2008
- ^ "Gatepiers, gates and churchyard walls to west of Church of St Mary, Tilston", The National Heritage List for England (English Heritage), 2011, http://list.english-heritage.org.uk/resultsingle.aspx?uid=1106301, retrieved 2 May 2011
Categories:- Church of England churches in Cheshire
- Grade II* listed churches
- Grade II* listed buildings in Cheshire
- English Gothic architecture
- Gothic Revival architecture in Cheshire
- 15th-century architecture
- 19th-century architecture
- Diocese of Chester
- John Douglas buildings
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