St Mary's Church, Dalton-in-Furness facts for kids

Quick facts for kids St Mary's Church, Dalton-in-Furness
St Mary's Church, Dalton-in-Furness, from the southeast
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OS grid reference	SD 226,739
Location	Dalton-in-Furness, Cumbria
Country	England
Denomination	Anglican
Website	St Mary, Dalton-in-Furness
History
Status	Parish church
Architecture
Functional status	Active
Heritage designation	Grade II*
Designated	25 February 1950
Architect(s)	Paley and Austin
Architectural type	Church
Style	Gothic Revival
Groundbreaking	1883
Completed	1885
Construction cost	£11,553
Specifications
Materials	Sandstone, green slate roofs
Administration
Parish	Dalton-in-Furness and Ireleth-with-Askham
Deanery	Furness
Archdeaconry	Westmorland and Furness
Diocese	Carlisle
Province	York

St Mary's Church is a beautiful old church in Dalton-in-Furness, a town in Cumbria, England. It's an active Anglican church, which means it's part of the Church of England. This church is very important, so it's listed as a Grade II* building on the National Heritage List for England. This means it's a specially protected historic building. You can find it standing tall near Dalton Castle.

History of St Mary's Church

People have worshipped on this spot since at least 1138. The church you see today was built between 1884 and 1885. It was designed by a famous architectural firm called Paley and Austin from Lancaster. Building the church cost a lot of money back then, about £11,550.

Many people helped pay for it. The Duke of Devonshire gave £2,500, and the Duke of Buccleuch, Henry Schneider (a big industrialist), and the Barrow Hematite Steel Company each gave £1,000. The new church could seat around 700 people. It replaced an older church that stood there since 1825–26. A part of the old church, its east window, was moved and reused in the new church's north aisle. In 1979–80, a parish centre was added next to the church, connected by its south porch.

A famous painter named George Romney (painter) was buried here in 1802.

Church Architecture and Design

Exterior Features of the Church

St Mary's Church is built from red sandstone with smooth stone details and green slate roofs. The church has a long main part called a nave with six sections. On either side are north and south aisles, each with its own roof. There are also porches on the north and south sides. At the front, there's a two-section chancel with a room for the clergy (vestry) on the north and a small chapel on the south. A tall tower stands at the west end, right above the nave.

The church is built in a style called Decorated Gothic, which was popular in the 13th and 14th centuries. The tower has three levels and strong supports called buttresses. It has large windows with three sections for the bells. The top of the tower has a decorative wall called an embattled parapet. At one corner of the tower, there's an octagonal (eight-sided) staircase that goes even higher than the tower itself. You can see cool checkerboard patterns on the tops of the tower and south chapel, and above the main east and west windows.

Inside St Mary's Church

Inside, the main arcades (rows of arches) are held up by eight-sided piers (columns). Most of the church's furniture and decorations were designed by the architects, Paley and Austin. The reredos, which is a decorative screen behind the altar, has beautiful alabaster panels surrounded by sandstone.

The baptismal font, used for baptisms, is very old, dating back to the medieval period. It's eight-sided with a cup shape and is carved with patterns like quatrefoils (four-leaf shapes) and shields. You can find small pieces of stained glass from the early 16th century in the north porch. On the north side of the church, there's a window from the earlier church, made in 1862 by Heaton, Butler and Bayne. On the south side, there's newer stained glass from the 20th century by Shrigley and Hunt.

The church also has monuments, including one from the older church dated 1821, and others from the 18th century. The large organ, which has three keyboards, was built in 1905 and has been updated several times. The church has a ring of ten bells, all made in 1927. The heaviest bell weighs about 1,104 kilograms (2,434 pounds).

External Features and Memorials

In the churchyard, there's a special slate gravestone on a limestone base. It's a memorial to the artist George Romney (painter), who was born in the village and passed away in 1802. This gravestone is also a Grade II listed building, meaning it's historically important.

See also

• Grade II* listed buildings in Barrow-in-Furness (borough)
• Listed buildings in Dalton Town with Newton
• List of works by George Webster
• List of ecclesiastical works by Paley and Austin