St Mary's Church, Eccleston

St Mary's Church, Eccleston

St Mary's Church, Eccleston, from the south
St Mary's Church, Eccleston
Coordinates: 53°09′27″N 2°52′46″W / 53.1576°N 2.8794°W
OS grid reference SJ 412 626
Location Eccleston, Cheshire
Country England
Denomination Anglican
Website St Mary, Eccleston
Architecture
Status Parish church
Functional status Active
Heritage designation Grade I
Designated 1 June 1967
Architect(s) G. F. Bodley
Architectural type Church
Style Gothic revival
Completed 1899
Construction cost £40,000
Specifications
Materials Red sandstone
Administration
Parish Eccleston and Pulford
Deanery Chester
Archdeaconry Chester
Diocese Chester
Province York
Clergy
Rector Revd Ian M. Thomas

St Mary's Church is in the village of Eccleston, Cheshire, England, on the estate of the Duke of Westminster south of Chester. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building.[1] It is an active Anglican parish church in the diocese of Chester, the archdeaconry of Chester and the deanery of Chester. Its benefice is combined with that of St Mary, Pulford.[2] The Dukes of Westminster are buried in the church grounds.

History

There was a medieval church on the site which was entirely rebuilt in 1809 by William Porden for Earl Grosvenor. A chancel was added in 1853. This was replaced by the present church in 1899, designed by G. F. Bodley for the 1st Duke of Westminster at a cost of £40,000 (£3.93 million today).[3][4]

Architecture

Exterior

The church is built in red ashlar sandstone. Its plan consists of a west tower, a continuous six-bay nave, a chancel with a clerestory, north and south aisles, and north and south porches.[1] A long vestry block projects to the north. The tower has long bell-openings, irregular buttresses and an embattled top. Canopied niches above the south door contain statues.[5] The church is considered to be an example of Bodley's mature style anticipating features of Liverpool Cathedral.[1]

Interior

The authors of the Buildings of England series are impressed by the furnishings of the church, in particular the reredoses by Farmer and Brindley, the chancel screens, the organ case and the bench ends. All the stained glass is by Burlison and Grylls.[5] The font is made from Thessaly marble, and has a lifting oak cover decorated with the carvings of eight saints. In the baptistry is part of a memorial to the Grosvenor family dated 1624 that has been moved from the old church. The east end of the south aisle is occupied by the Grosvenor Chapel. Above its altar are the carved figures of Jesus, Saint Augustine and Saint Paulinus.[6] In the church is a monument to the memory of the 1st Duke of Westminster dated 1901, which consists of a tomb-chest and canopy designed by Bodley with an effigy by Farmer and Brindley, sculpted by Léon-Joseph Chavalliaud.[5] Opposite on the south wall is a bronze bust to the 2nd Duke. Elsewhere in the church are memorials to the 4th Duke, and to Captain Hugh William Grosvenor, who was killed in the First World War.[6] The organ was built in 1899 by Gray & Davison. It was modified around 1910 by Henry Poyser and further modified in 1984.[7] There is a ring of eight bells which were cast by John Taylor & Co in 1899.[8]

External features

The churchyard has an avenue of lime trees. The gates date from the early 18th century. They were made by the Davies Bros., and were originally at Emral Hall, Flintshire. In the northeast part of the old churchyard is a fragment of Porden's former church on the site which was retained as a "picturesque feature".[5] This consists of a sandstone wall with the lower parts of two windows measuring about 60 feet (18 m) long by 18 feet (5 m) high. It is designated as a Grade II listed building.[9] Also listed at Grade II are the walls and gates between the old churchyard and Old Church Lane.[10]

The churchyard contains ten CWGC registered war graves, seven from World War I and three from World War II,[11] and besides the grave of the Boer War Victoria Cross recipient, Farrier Sergeant Alfred Ernest Ind (died 1916).[12]

Persons buried here

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Historic England, "Church of St Mary, Eccleston (1138410)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 13 May 2012
  2. ↑ Eccleston, St Mary, Church of England, retrieved 21 April 2011
  3. ↑ Salter, Mark (1995), The Old Parish Churches of Cheshire, Malvern: Folly Publications, p. 35, ISBN 1-871731-23-2
  4. ↑ UK CPI inflation numbers based on data available from Gregory Clark (2014), "What Were the British Earnings and Prices Then? (New Series)" MeasuringWorth.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Hartwell, Clare; Hyde, Matthew; Hubbard, Edward; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2011) [1971], Cheshire, The Buildings of England, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, pp. 352–353, ISBN 978-0-300-17043-6
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Anon. (1977), A Guide to the Parish Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Eccleston, Chester, Eccleston, Cheshire: St Mary's Church, Eccleston
  7. ↑ Eccleston St. Mary, British Institute of Organ Studies, retrieved 14 August 2008
  8. ↑ Eccleston S Mary, Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers, retrieved 14 August 2008
  9. ↑ Historic England, "Remains of former Church of St Mary, Eccleston (1138376)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 13 May 2012
  10. ↑ Historic England, "Walls and gates between Old Church Lane and the old churchyard, Eccleston (1138375)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 13 May 2012
  11. ↑ Eccleston (St Mary) Churchyard, Chester, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, retrieved 14 September 2012
  12. ↑ Grave location for the holders of the Victoria Cross in the County of Cheshire, retrieved 14 September 2012

External links