Church of St Mary
CHURCH OF ST MARY, LOW GREEN
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- I
- List Entry Number:
- 1121114
- Date first listed:
- 14-Sept-1966
- List Entry Name:
- Church of St Mary
- Statutory Address:
- CHURCH OF ST MARY, LOW GREEN
Location
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Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2001-07-28
- Reference:
- IOE01/04933/20
- Rights:
- © Mr Alan Bradley. Source: Historic England Archive
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- I
- List Entry Number:
- 1121114
- Date first listed:
- 14-Sept-1966
- List Entry Name:
- Church of St Mary
- Statutory Address 1:
- CHURCH OF ST MARY, LOW GREEN
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- CHURCH OF ST MARY, LOW GREEN
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- County Durham (Unitary Authority)
- Parish:
- Gainford
- National Grid Reference:
- NZ 16971 16683
Details
NZ 1616 - 1716 GAINFORD LOW GREEN (South side, off)
9/116 Church of St. Mary 14.9.66 I
Parish church. Early C13 with C15 north vestry and later west stair turret; organ chamber and north porch added during restoration by J.A. Cory in 1864. Dressed sandstone with graduated green slate roofs. West tower with stair turret; aisled nave with aisles engaging tower, north and south porches; chancel with north vestry and attached organ chamber to west. Mainly C19 Perpendicular-style fenestration.
3-stage tower; belfry has corbelled parapet with 4 corner pinnacles of 1786. Full-height stair turret has spiral stone stair within. 4-bay nave has tall aisles with C19 2- and 3-light windows and an original 2-light window with Perpendicular tracery on south aisle to west of porch. Porch has restored outer arch and contains 2 medieval stone benches and oak door under pointed roll-moulded arch of 2 orders; door has pair of possibly C13 iron C-hinges with elongated straps. Upper aisle windows have ogee heads of C18 appearance. East return of south aisle has lancet with vesica above. North wall has similar upper aisle windows. North porch has built-in grave slabs and similar medieval door and hinges. Narrower 2-bay chancel, heightened in 1864, has continuous chamfered sill band; south wall has 2 lancets and Cl9 priest's door; east end has 3 stepped lancets under individual hoodmoulds and restored vesica above. Single-storey north vestry has lancet in north wall and -diagonal buttress to north-east. 2-storey gabled organ chamber has truncated end chimney.
Interior: nave has wide double-chamfered pointed arches under hoodmoulds on cylindrical piers with circular moulded bases and capitals, the south-western with nailhead; octagonal north-western capital. Semicircular- east and west responds, the former with early stiff-leaf ornament. Tower on rectangular piers has similar transverse arch. Similar pointed chancel arch, on semi-octagonal mid-wall corbels with nailhead, has been raised about one metre. Cl9 nave roof. Chancel: east end has 3 lancets with splayed roll-moulded rear-arches separated by detached shafts; continuous roll-moulded band corresponds to external sill band; remnant of piscina behind wainscoting in south wall; Minton encaustic- tiled floor; C19 arch-braced roof.
Fittings: C13 circular font with Jacobean-style wood cover. 3 medieval brasses in chancel. Elaborate wall monument, in western bay of south aisle, to John Middleton died 1709: tablet in segmental pedimented aedicule with Corinthian columns, cartouche above and draped apron below, with skull and flanking putti. Two C10-ll cross shafts attached to internal west wall.
(Procedings of the Society of Antiguaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 3rd series, Vol II, 1907)
Listing NGR: NZ1697016680
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 111069
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle Upon Tyne in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle Upon Tyne, Vol. 2, (1907)
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 27-Jun-2026 at 19:25:47.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
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