St Mary's Church, Dodleston facts for kids
Quick facts for kids St Mary's Church, Dodleston |
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St Mary's Church, Dodleston
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| OS grid reference | SJ 362,610 |
| Location | Dodleston, Cheshire |
| Country | England |
| Denomination | Anglican |
| Website | St Mary, Dodleston |
| History | |
| Status | Parish church |
| Architecture | |
| Functional status | Active |
| Heritage designation | Grade II |
| Designated | 1 June 1967 |
| Architect(s) | John Douglas (rebuilding) |
| Architectural type | Church |
| Style | Gothic Revival |
| Completed | 1870 |
| Specifications | |
| Materials | Red sandstone, Grey slate roofs |
| Administration | |
| Parish | Dodleston |
| Deanery | Chester |
| Archdeaconry | Chester |
| Diocese | Chester |
| Province | York |
St Mary's Church is a beautiful old church in the village of Dodleston, Cheshire, England. It is a very important building, officially protected as a Grade II listed building. This means it has special historical or architectural value. St Mary's is an active Anglican parish church, which means it is part of the Church of England and still holds services today. It belongs to the diocese of Chester.
Contents
Church History: St Mary's Story
There has been a church on this spot for a very long time, since the Middle Ages. It is right next to where an old motte and bailey castle used to stand. A motte and bailey castle was an early type of castle, built on a raised earth mound (the motte) with a walled courtyard (the bailey).
Only the bottom part of the church's tower remains from the early 1500s. Most of the church was rebuilt in 1870. The new design was in the Perpendicular style, which is a type of Gothic Revival architecture. The famous architect John Douglas from Chester designed the rebuilding.
Church Design: What It Looks Like
The church is built from red sandstone, and its roofs are made of grey slate.
Outside the Church
The church has a main area called a nave with a smaller section on the north side called an aisle. It also has a chancel, which is the part of the church where the altar is, and a small room next to it called a vestry. There is a half-timbered porch on the north side with a pointed roof (a gable).
The tower has two levels and a short spire on top. Around the top of the tower is a crenellated parapet, which looks like the top of a castle wall. The tower has strong supports called buttresses at its corners. On the west side, there is a large window with four sections. There is also a small window for the bell ringers on the south side. The windows where the bells are have two sections. The main window at the east end of the church has five sections and fancy stone patterns called tracery.
On the outside north wall of the tower, you can see pitted marks. People say these marks were made by muskets fired during the Civil War.
Inside the Church
Inside St Mary's Church, you can find a piece of a medieval coffin. On the west wall, there is a royal coat of arms from King Charles II, dated 1660.
The tomb of Thomas Egerton, 1st Viscount Brackley, who passed away in 1617, and his wife, Elizabeth, who died in 1588, is located under the tower. The font, which is used for baptisms, has eight sides and likely dates back to the 1600s. The beautiful stained glass in the east window was added in the late 1800s.
The church has a ring of six bells. The oldest bells date from around 1500, 1618, and 1681. Two bells from 1870 were made by John Warner and Sons. The newest bell was cast by Gillett & Johnston in 1929. The church's parish registers, which record births, marriages, and deaths, started in 1570, but some parts are missing.
Outside the Church: Special Features
The lych gate canopy and its side walls are also protected as Grade II listed structures. A lych gate is a roofed gateway at the entrance to a churchyard, where a coffin could be placed before a burial service. This lych gate has an oak frame on a sandstone base. Its roof is half-hipped and made of Westmorland slate with red tiles on the ridge. The side walls are made of red sandstone. In the churchyard, there is also a sundial that is dated 1732.
See also
- Listed buildings in Dodleston
- List of church restorations, amendments and furniture by John Douglas
