Building record 11089 - Church of St Mary's, Handbridge

<1> English Heritage, 2005, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, 1375848 (Digital Archive). SCH4666.

Grade II* Listed parish church. 1885-87. By FB Wade at the expense of the first Duke of Westminster. Squared snecked red sandstone with steep Westmorland green slate roofs.

PLAN: west tower and spire; 5-bay aisled nave; south-east chapel; 3-bay presbytery; organ chamber and loft and vestry; 2 south porches and north porch.

EXTERIOR: 3-stage tower with recessed octagonal spire: angle buttresses; canted baptistry with 3 lancets and hipped stone roof on west face; rose window; lancet with blank lancet to each side on north, west and south faces; clock-faces to north, west and south flanked by blank trefoils; paired louvred lancets as bell-openings on each face; machicolated parapet; 2 pinnacles diagonally-set at each corner; lucarne to each cardinal face of spire; weathervane; a 2-light window with plate tracery to west end of each aisle. Gabled porch on south face of tower added by PH Lockwood 1914 has boarded double doors of oak on ornate wrought-iron hinges. South aisle with triple lancets to each bay; gabled south-east porch with trefoil window to west and boarded door on ornate hinges; 5 triple cusped lancets in recessed arched panels to clerestory of nave; gutter on corbel-table. Pair of south gables to south-east chapel, each with a pair of lancets with trefoil above; 3-bay chancel clerestory has pairs of cusped lancets surmounted by trefoils; 3 cinquefoil windows to east end of chapel. East window of 3 lancets and 3 trefoils under moulded arch, with a lancet and trefoil to each side. 2 lancets and trefoils to east bay of north aisle; dual lancets to vestry and, above, to east end of organ loft; north side of vestry has gable chimney with dual lancet to each side. North porch in corner with vestry has rainwater head dated 1886; boarded oak door on ornate wrought-iron hinges; 4 triple lancets to north aisle; 5 triple cusped lancets to clerestory. All bays of the church have stepped buttresses gabled at the top.

INTERIOR: apsidal baptistry in tower has pillared stone font with oak cover; fine encaustic tiled floor; glass including Christ's baptism 1887 by Edward Frampton. Tower floor of encaustic tiles; portrait memorial tablet to Hugh Lupus first Duke of Westminster 1900; leaded oak glazed inner doors from porch; full-height tower arch; double half-column west responds and 4 concave-faced octagonal columns to each nave arcade; half-octagon east responds; armorial glass in aisle and clerestory windows; tall chancel arch with triple-shaft responds; wood-block nave floor; 3 steps up to chancel; mosaic floor; oak reading desk; oak pulpit with wrought-iron rail to steps; wrought-iron screen to south-east chapel; bay-shafts; stained glass clerestory, south; triforium to organ-loft, north; sedilia, stepping up eastward; height of sanctuary emphasised by tall shafts; altar rail of oak and wrought-iron; excellent reredos by Frederic Shields and Clement Heaton, centre-piece c1887, wings 1896; east window of Crucifixion, probably by Frampton. The south-east chapel has double cross-vaults of timber, richly coloured glass in east cinquefoil windows. A satisfying interior in proportions, spatial organisation, detailing and liturgical furnishing.

<2> Peter de Figueiredo (Independent Consultant), 2015, Church of St Mary-Without-The-Walls, Handbridge, Chester: Heritage Statement, R4570 (Client Report). SCH9169.

The earliest record of the Parish of St Mary-on-the-Hill dates from 1153, when the advowson (right of appointment of priests) was given to the Abbey of St Werburgh. From the 12th until the 19th century, the parish church adjoined Chester Castle. However, the parish included much land outside the City Walls, including land stretching south of the river towards Eccleston and Saltney, an area which experienced considerable growth during the 19th century. In 1883, the Archdeacon of Chester submitted a proposal to the Duke of Westminster (the advowson having passed to the Grosvenor family in 1819) for the reorganisation of parish boundaries.

The proposal was that the Parish of St Mary-on-the-Hill would retain a large area south of the river, but would release lands within the City Walls for transference to the parishes of St Bridget and St Michael. The 1st Duke, Hugh Lupus, not only supported these plans, but also promised to assist by building a new parish church (Church of St Mary's) at his own expense on the south side of the river. The site he chose was occupied by 29 small dwellings, several of which were court dwellings leading off Handbridge (now Overleigh Road) on the north side. These were cleared, and their occupants were re-housed in new dwellings built by the Duke in Brown Street and Hugh Street, just west of the church. The Duke gave not only the new church, but also a spacious rectory, and paid for the enlargement of the church school, which had been built in 1860. The foundation stone of the church was laid on 20 July 1885, and the service of consecration was held on 18 June 1887 by the Bishop of Chester.

Church of St Mary's, built in 1885-87, was designed by Fairfax Blomfield Wade-Palmer (1851- 1919). Wade was articled to the architect Sir Arthur Blomfield 1872-75, to whom he was related, and who was responsible for the restoration of Chester Cathedral from 1882-94. It consists of a nave, aisles and south transept , with vestries on the north side, a tall west tower and spire. The gabled porch on the south side of the tower was added in 1914 by P H Lockwood. The church is built of red sandstone from the Duke’s quarries at Waverton. On the north side is a porch set into an angle alongside the vestry, which has a rainwater head dated 1886. The interior is impressive for its lofty proportions, spatial qualities and fine furnishings, including stained glass by Edward Frampton, reredos designed by Frederic Shields and faced in cloisonné by Clement Heaton, encaustic tiled floors, mosaic and carved timberwork. A marble tablet commemorating the generosity of the Duke is prominently located on the inner wall of the tower facing the entrance.

The front boundary wall to Overleigh Road is contemporary with the church and was also designed by Wade. The wall is of rock-faced sandstone and the gates are of wrought iron. This low wall encloses the front edge of the churchyard, a formal area of grass and planted borders with tarmac paths that surrounds the church on all four sides. The north wall separating the churchyard from the car park, and the west wall, which runs at the rear of the properties on Greenway Street, are of red brick.