- St Mary's Church, Cheadle
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St Mary's Church, Cheadle 
St Mary's Church, Cheadle, from the southeastLocation in Greater Manchester
St Mary's Church, CheadleCoordinates: 53°23′39″N 2°13′03″W / 53.3942°N 2.2175°W OS grid reference SJ 856 887 Location High Street, Cheadle,
Greater ManchesterCountry England Denomination Anglican Website St Mary's, Cheadle Architecture Status Parish church Functional status Active Heritage designation Grade I Designated 24 March 1950 Architectural type Church Style Perpendicular Specifications Materials Sandstone, slate roof Administration Parish Cheadle Deanery Cheadle Archdeaconry Macclesfield Diocese Chester Province York Clergy Rector Rev Dr Rob Munro Curate(s) Rev Glyn Lucas Laity Churchwarden(s) Mark Arthur,
Steve Whitaker,St Mary's Church, Cheadle, is in High Street, Cheadle, Greater Manchester, England. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade I listed building.[1] It is an active Anglican parish church in the diocese of Chester, the archdeaconry of Macclesfield and the deanery of Cheadle. Its benefice is united with that of St Cuthbert, Cheadle.[2]
Contents
History
A church has been on this site since at least 1200, but the present church was built mainly between 1520 and 1550.[3] The south chapel was completed in 1530, the nave in 1541, and the tower was built between 1520 and 1540.[1] The chancel was built between 1556 and 1558 for Lady Katheryn Bulkeley, who had formerly been the Abbess of Godstow.[4] The south porch is dated 1634, but this was the date it was repaired rather than the date of its building.[5] The church was rebuilt and restored between 1859 and 1862, and there was a further restoration by J. Medland Taylor in 1878–80.[6] In the 20th century, a cloakroom was added.[1]
Architecture
Exterior
The church is built in grey sandstone and is entirely in the Perpendicular style.[5] Its plan consists of a tower centrally at the west, a four-bay nave with clerestory, a south porch and north and south aisles. At the east end of each aisle is a chapel. The chancel is wider than the nave, and to its north is a vestry.[4] The tower is in three stages with diagonal buttresses, a clock in the second stage, four-light bell openings, and a castellated parapet with gargoyles. The parapet of the nave is also castellated. The porch has angle buttresses which terminate in crocketed pinnacles.[1] The doorway is of Tudor pattern with panels of carved tracery. At the west end of the chancel gable is a bellcote.[5]
Interior
The roof is camber beam in type with gilded bosses. The chancel screen incorporates parts of the earlier rood screen.[5] The choir stalls date from the 19th century, and are elaborately carved with scenes and poppyheads. The sedilia dates from 1862, and the pulpit from the 1870s. Both chapels have carved screens containing original material from the 15th and 16th centuries in their lower parts.[6] The baluster font is dated 1837 and is by George Smith.[6] On display in the church is an 11th-century stone cross,[7] discovered during the construction of the nearby Barnes Hospital in 1874.[8] In the south chapel are three recumbent effigies. Two are in alabaster and are thought to represent members of the Hondford (or Handford) family, Sir John, who died in 1461 and his son, also named John. The third is in sandstone and represents Sir Thomas Brereton of Handforth who died in 1673.[5] The church contains brasses dating from the 17th and 18th centuries. There is also a tablet dated 1817 by John Bacon junior.[6] In a south aisle window is a fragment of ancient glass with the Stanley arms.[9] This has been incorporated in a window of 1917 designed by Christopher Whall. On the south side of the church is a window of 1921 by Veronica Whall. There are windows in the sides of the chancel dating from the 1860s by Charles Gibbs, and windows elsewhere by Mayer of Munich.[6] The organ was built in 1881 by Hill and Son of London.[10] The ring is of eight bells. Six of these by Abel Rudhall are dated 1749 and the other two by John Taylor and Company date from 1882.[11] The parish registers begin in 1558.[5]
External features
In the churchyard are the base of a medieval cross shaft which has been converted into a sundial,[12] the base of another cross in red sandstone dating from the 14th or 15th century which was restored to form a memorial in 1873,[13] and the 18th-century chest tomb of the Crosier family.[14] These are all listed Grade II. Also listed Grade II is the lych gate erected in 1883.[15]
See also
References
- ^ a b c d "Church of St Mary, Cheadle", The National Heritage List for England (English Heritage), 2011, http://list.english-heritage.org.uk/resultsingle.aspx?uid=1241643, retrieved 13 May 2011
- ^ St Mary, Cheadle, Church of England, http://www.achurchnearyou.com/cheadle-st-mary/, retrieved 13 May 2011
- ^ Basic History, Cheadle Parish Church, http://www.cheadle.org/histintro.htm, retrieved 16 December 2007
- ^ a b Salter, Mark (1995), The Old Parish Churches of Cheshire, Malvern: Folly Publications, pp. 28–29, ISBN 1-871731-23-2
- ^ a b c d e f Richards, Raymond (1947), Old Cheshire Churches, London: Batsford, pp. 91–93
- ^ a b c d e Hartwell, Claire; Hyde, Matthew; Hubbard, Edward; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2011) [1971], Cheshire, The Buildings of England, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, pp. 204–205, ISBN 978-0-300-17043-6
- ^ The Cheadle Cross, Cheadle Parish Church, http://www.cheadle.org/cross.htm, retrieved 16 December 2007
- ^ Cheadle Conservation Area Character Appraisal, Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council, March 2006, http://www.stockport.gov.uk/2013/2978/8803/9020/12299/cheadlevillageapp, retrieved 5 April 2010
- ^ Cheadle, St Mary, Corpus Vitrearum Medii Aevi (CVMA) of Great Britain, http://merlin.cch.kcl.ac.uk:8080/cvma/servlet/site?countyCode=CH&place=Cheadle&site=%20St%20Mary&LocationID=612&-querytype=2&county=Cheshire, retrieved 16 December 2007
- ^ Cheadle, St. Mary, British Institute of Organ Studies, http://www.npor.org.uk/cgi-bin/Rsearch.cgi?Fn=Rsearch&rec_index=N04427, retrieved 10 August 2008
- ^ Cheadle S Mary, Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers, http://dove.cccbr.org.uk/detail.php?searchString=cheadle&Submit=++Go++&DoveID=CHEADLEMAN, retrieved 10 August 2008
- ^ "Sundial to east of Church of St Mary, Cheadle", The National Heritage List for England (English Heritage), 2011, http://list.english-heritage.org.uk/resultsingle.aspx?uid=1241726, retrieved 13 May 2011
- ^ "Cross to south of Church of St Mary, Cheadle", The National Heritage List for England (English Heritage), 2011, http://list.english-heritage.org.uk/resultsingle.aspx?uid=1241644, retrieved 13 May 2011
- ^ "Crosier family chest tomb north of Church of St Mary, Cheadle", The National Heritage List for England (English Heritage), 2011, http://list.english-heritage.org.uk/resultsingle.aspx?uid=1241709, retrieved 13 May 2011
- ^ "Lychgate to Church of St Mary, Cheadle", The National Heritage List for England (English Heritage), 2011, http://list.english-heritage.org.uk/resultsingle.aspx?uid=1260363, retrieved 13 May 2011
Categories:- 1558 architecture
- Church of England churches in Greater Manchester
- Grade I listed churches
- Grade I listed buildings in Greater Manchester
- English Gothic architecture
- Buildings and structures in Stockport
- Diocese of Chester
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