St Mary's Church, Warrington
Encyclopedia
St Mary's Church, Warrington is in the town centre of Warrington
, Cheshire
, England. It has been designated by English Heritage
as a Grade II listed building, and is an active Roman Catholic church. The parish was established from St Alban's Church, Warrington
by Benedictine
monks from Ampleforth Abbey
who still serve as Parish Priests. The church is sometimes referred to as 'St.Mary's Priory'.
and its construction started in 1875, just before Pugin's death. It was completed by Peter Paul Pugin
in 1877, and the tower was added by Peter Paul in 1907. A northeast chapel, the First World War Memorial Chapel, was added in 1923. The architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner
considered it to be one of their best churches.
sandstone
. The church is in Decorated style. Its plan consists of a southwest tower, a six-bay
nave
with a clerestory
, north and south aisle
s, a short chancel
, and short transept
s. The tower is slender and the parapet
spells out "AVE MARIA". There is a west porch. To the north of the chancel is the Sacred Heart Chapel and to the south is the English Martyrs (formerly Lady) Chapel. The interior is "airy and spacious". The confessional
s are integrated into the north wall. The arcade
spandrel
s contain carvings of angels supporting busts
of English saints.
The fittings were all designed by Peter Paul Pugin and the carving was executed by Boulton. The High Altar and the chapel altars are in Portland
and Bath stone
. The pulpit
and communion rail are in marble
, and the choir stalls in oak. The pews are benches with cast iron
frames. The Stations of the Cross
are recessed, and are in Caen stone
. The sculptures are of St Benedict
and St Scholastica
against the chancel arch, of Our Lady of Lourdes
by Philip Lindsay Clark in the north aisle, and of the Holy Family
by Josefina de Vasconcellos
in the south transept. In the chancel are Minton tiles with a lily design by C. W. Pugin. Above the reredos
is a rose window
. The church contains two organs. The main organ in the west gallery has two manuals
and was built by Rushworth and Dreaper
in 1927. It was rebuilt in 1963 by Henry Willis
, reducing it from three to two manuals. The smaller single-manual organ was built in 1995 by A. Hypher, and rebuilt in 2009 by Peter Hindmarsh.
Warrington
Warrington is a town, borough and unitary authority area of Cheshire, England. It stands on the banks of the River Mersey, which is tidal to the west of the weir at Howley. It lies 16 miles east of Liverpool, 19 miles west of Manchester and 8 miles south of St Helens...
, Cheshire
Cheshire
Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...
, England. It has been designated by English Heritage
English Heritage
English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
as a Grade II listed building, and is an active Roman Catholic church. The parish was established from St Alban's Church, Warrington
St Alban's Church, Warrington
St Alban's Church, Warrington is in Bewsey Street near to the centre of the town of Warrington, Cheshire, England. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II listed building, and is an active Roman Catholic parish church.-History:...
by Benedictine
Benedictine
Benedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...
monks from Ampleforth Abbey
Ampleforth Abbey
Ampleforth Abbey is a monastery of Benedictine Monks in North Yorkshire, England, part of the English Benedictine Congregation. It claims descent from the pre-Reformation community at Westminster Abbey through the last surviving monk from Westminster Sigebert Buckley.The current Abbot is Fr...
who still serve as Parish Priests. The church is sometimes referred to as 'St.Mary's Priory'.
History
The church was designed by E. W. PuginE. W. Pugin
Edward Welby Pugin was the eldest son of Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin and Louisa Barton. His father, A. W. N. Pugin, was a famous architect and designer of Neo-Gothic architecture, and after his death in 1852 Edward took up his successful practice...
and its construction started in 1875, just before Pugin's death. It was completed by Peter Paul Pugin
Peter Paul Pugin
Peter Paul Pugin was an English architect, son of Augustus Welby Pugin by his third wife Jane Knill. He was the half-brother of architect and designer Edward Welby Pugin....
in 1877, and the tower was added by Peter Paul in 1907. A northeast chapel, the First World War Memorial Chapel, was added in 1923. The architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner
Nikolaus Pevsner
Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner, CBE, FBA was a German-born British scholar of history of art and, especially, of history of architecture...
considered it to be one of their best churches.
Architecture
It is built in pale Pierpoint stone and red RuncornRuncorn
Runcorn is an industrial town and cargo port within the borough of Halton in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. In 2009, its population was estimated to be 61,500. The town is on the southern bank of the River Mersey where the estuary narrows to form Runcorn Gap. Directly to the north...
sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
. The church is in Decorated style. Its plan consists of a southwest tower, a six-bay
Bay (architecture)
A bay is a unit of form in architecture. This unit is defined as the zone between the outer edges of an engaged column, pilaster, or post; or within a window frame, doorframe, or vertical 'bas relief' wall form.-Defining elements:...
nave
Nave
In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...
with a clerestory
Clerestory
Clerestory is an architectural term that historically denoted an upper level of a Roman basilica or of the nave of a Romanesque or Gothic church, the walls of which rise above the rooflines of the lower aisles and are pierced with windows. In modern usage, clerestory refers to any high windows...
, north and south aisle
Aisle
An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of seats on both sides or with rows of seats on one side and a wall on the other...
s, a short chancel
Chancel
In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar in the sanctuary at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building...
, and short transept
Transept
For the periodical go to The Transept.A transept is a transverse section, of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In Christian churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform building in Romanesque and Gothic Christian church architecture...
s. The tower is slender and the parapet
Parapet
A parapet is a wall-like barrier at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony or other structure. Where extending above a roof, it may simply be the portion of an exterior wall that continues above the line of the roof surface, or may be a continuation of a vertical feature beneath the roof such as a...
spells out "AVE MARIA". There is a west porch. To the north of the chancel is the Sacred Heart Chapel and to the south is the English Martyrs (formerly Lady) Chapel. The interior is "airy and spacious". The confessional
Confessional
A confessional is a small, enclosed booth used for the Sacrament of Penance, often called confession, or Reconciliation. It is the usual venue for the sacrament in the Roman Catholic Church, but similar structures are also used in Anglican churches of an Anglo-Catholic orientation, and also in the...
s are integrated into the north wall. The arcade
Arcade (architecture)
An arcade is a succession of arches, each counterthrusting the next, supported by columns or piers or a covered walk enclosed by a line of such arches on one or both sides. In warmer or wet climates, exterior arcades provide shelter for pedestrians....
spandrel
Spandrel
A spandrel, less often spandril or splaundrel, is the space between two arches or between an arch and a rectangular enclosure....
s contain carvings of angels supporting busts
Bust (sculpture)
A bust is a sculpted or cast representation of the upper part of the human figure, depicting a person's head and neck, as well as a variable portion of the chest and shoulders. The piece is normally supported by a plinth. These forms recreate the likeness of an individual...
of English saints.
The fittings were all designed by Peter Paul Pugin and the carving was executed by Boulton. The High Altar and the chapel altars are in Portland
Portland stone
Portland stone is a limestone from the Tithonian stage of the Jurassic period quarried on the Isle of Portland, Dorset. The quarries consist of beds of white-grey limestone separated by chert beds. It has been used extensively as a building stone throughout the British Isles, notably in major...
and Bath stone
Bath Stone
Bath Stone is an Oolitic Limestone comprising granular fragments of calcium carbonate. Originally obtained from the Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines under Combe Down, Somerset, England, its warm, honey colouring gives the World Heritage City of Bath, England its distinctive appearance...
. The pulpit
Pulpit
Pulpit is a speakers' stand in a church. In many Christian churches, there are two speakers' stands at the front of the church. Typically, the one on the left is called the pulpit...
and communion rail are in marble
Marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite.Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone; however stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone.Marble is commonly used for...
, and the choir stalls in oak. The pews are benches with cast iron
Cast iron
Cast iron is derived from pig iron, and while it usually refers to gray iron, it also identifies a large group of ferrous alloys which solidify with a eutectic. The color of a fractured surface can be used to identify an alloy. White cast iron is named after its white surface when fractured, due...
frames. The Stations of the Cross
Stations of the Cross
Stations of the Cross refers to the depiction of the final hours of Jesus, and the devotion commemorating the Passion. The tradition as chapel devotion began with St...
are recessed, and are in Caen stone
Caen stone
Caen stone or Pierre de Caen, is a light creamy-yellow Jurassic limestone quarried in northwestern France near the city of Caen.The limestone is a fine grained oolitic limestone formed in shallow water lagoons in the Bathonian Age about 167 million years ago...
. The sculptures are of St Benedict
Benedict of Nursia
Saint Benedict of Nursia is a Christian saint, honored by the Roman Catholic Church as the patron saint of Europe and students.Benedict founded twelve communities for monks at Subiaco, about to the east of Rome, before moving to Monte Cassino in the mountains of southern Italy. There is no...
and St Scholastica
Scholastica
Scholastica is a saint of the Eastern Orthodox Churches and the Roman Catholic Church. Born in Italy, she was the twin sister of St. Benedict of Nursia....
against the chancel arch, of Our Lady of Lourdes
Our Lady of Lourdes
Our Lady of Lourdes is the name used to refer to the Marian apparition said to have appeared before various individuals on separate occasions around Lourdes, France...
by Philip Lindsay Clark in the north aisle, and of the Holy Family
Holy Family
The Holy Family consists of the Child Jesus, the Virgin Mary, and Saint Joseph.The Feast of the Holy Family is a liturgical celebration in the Roman Catholic Church in honor of Jesus of Nazareth, his mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and his foster father, Saint Joseph, as a family...
by Josefina de Vasconcellos
Josefina de Vasconcellos
Josefina Alys Hermes de Vasconcellos was an English sculptor of Brazilian origin. She was at one time the world's oldest living sculptor. She lived in Cumbria much of her working life...
in the south transept. In the chancel are Minton tiles with a lily design by C. W. Pugin. Above the reredos
Reredos
thumb|300px|right|An altar and reredos from [[St. Josaphat's Roman Catholic Church|St. Josaphat Catholic Church]] in [[Detroit]], [[Michigan]]. This would be called a [[retable]] in many other languages and countries....
is a rose window
Rose window
A Rose window is often used as a generic term applied to a circular window, but is especially used for those found in churches of the Gothic architectural style and being divided into segments by stone mullions and tracery...
. The church contains two organs. The main organ in the west gallery has two manuals
Manual (music)
A manual is a keyboard designed to be played with the hands on a pipe organ, harpsichord, clavichord, electronic organ, or synthesizer. The term "manual" is used with regard to any hand keyboard on these instruments to distinguish it from the pedalboard, which is a keyboard that the organist plays...
and was built by Rushworth and Dreaper
Rushworth and Dreaper
Rushworth and Dreaper was a firm of organ builders based in Liverpool, England Upon its bankruptcy, its archives were mostly destroyed, and the Victorian clock in the works tower was removed...
in 1927. It was rebuilt in 1963 by Henry Willis
Henry Willis & Sons
thumb|250px|St Bees Priory organ, the last major instrument to be personally supervised by "Father" Henry Willis, 1899Henry Willis & Sons is a British firm of pipe organ builders founded in 1845 in Liverpool. Although most of their installations have been in the UK, examples can be found in other...
, reducing it from three to two manuals. The smaller single-manual organ was built in 1995 by A. Hypher, and rebuilt in 2009 by Peter Hindmarsh.
Bells
The church possesses a chime of eight bells that were cast by Gillett & Johnston, Croyden, in 1906. They were totally restored in 1962 by the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, with further work done in 2005.| Bell | Diameter | Strike Note |
|---|---|---|
| Tenor | 3'-5 | 391 c.p.s |
| 7th | 3'-1.5 | 440 c.p.s |
| 6th | 2'-11 | 489 c.p.s |
| 5th | 2'-9 | 521 c.p.s |
| 4th | 2'-6.75 | 586 c.p.s |
| 3rd | 2'-4.5 | 656 c.p.s |
| 2nd | 2'-2.75 | 742 c.p.s |
| Treble | 2'-1.75 | 790 c.p.s |