Roman Catholic Church of St Mary With Attached Gate Piers and Railings

Details

BURNLEY

SD8432NE YORKSHIRE STREET 906-1/17/165 (South side) 29/09/77 Roman Catholic Church of St Mary, with attached gate piers and railings

GV II

Roman Catholic church. 1846-49. By Weightman and Hadfield. Coursed squared sandstone, slate roofs. Decorated style. PLAN: nave with west tower (uncompleted), north and south aisles, north and south transepts, chancel with north vestry and south chapel. EXTERIOR: the 2-stage tower, with a moulded plinth, angle-buttresses and a canted stair-turret near the north-east corner, has a 2-centred arched west doorway with a deep surround moulded in 2 orders and a hood-mould with figured stops; a very large 2-centred arched 5-light west window with Decorated tracery and a hood-mould with figured stops and carved cresting which extends upwards to meet the carved corbel of a canopied niche containing a statue; and a parapet incorporating the bases of 2 intended windows in each side. The 5-bay nave has segmental-pointed 2-light clerestory windows with tracery, coupled in each bay except the westernmost which has a single window. The aisles are buttressed and have large 2-centred arched 3-light windows with varied Decorated tracery and hood-moulds with figured stops, except in the 2nd bay where each aisle has a gabled porch with a 2-centred arched doorway, double-chamfered with semi-columns which have carved caps. The transepts have angle buttresses and differing windows: that on the north side has a 3-light window like those of the aisles, but that on the south side has a circular window with elaborate and unusual tracery including mouchettes. The north chapel has a moulded arched doorway and a 2-light window. The chancel has a large 2-centred arched 5-light window with elaborate Decorated tracery, and above this a tripartite niche with a statue of the Virgin and a carved crocketed surround. INTERIOR: spacious and well-proportioned: 5-bay aisle arcades of alternately cylindrical and octagonal columns with triple-moulded caps carrying double-chamfered 2-centred arches; single hammerbeam roof with arch bracing and 3 tiers of arched wind-bracing; tall double-chamfered transept arches springing from semi-octagonal responds; large chancel arch with clustered shafts and 3 orders of deep moulding; chancel altered by relocation of altar and removal of reredos, but retains fine stained glass east window of c1851-5; 2-bay arcades to side chapels, each on a polished granite column with vigorously carved natural foliation to the cap; Towneley Chapel (north), commemorating Col. John Towneley (d.1878) and his son Richard (d.1877) has good screens of mahogany, marble and brass, elaborate carved wooden reredos, panelling. SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: the attached railings, enclosing the north and south sides of the plot, are of cast-iron, in simple bar form with needle-eye tops above the rail, divided into sections by twisted standards with fleur-de-lys heads; and those on the north side have a gateway in line with the tower, with a pair of square stone gate piers in Gothic style and elaborate cast-iron gates.



Listing NGR: SD8460532520

Legacy

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Legacy System number:

467250

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LBS

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