OS grid reference SJ 457,506 Country England Website St Mary, Tilston Opened 1879 Phone +44 1829 250628 | Location Tilston, Cheshire Denomination Anglican Status Parish church Parish Tilston Architect John Douglas | |
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Address 19 Church Rd, Tilston, Malpas SY14 7HB, UK Similar St Edith's Church - Shocklach, St Mary's Church - Dodleston, St John the Baptist's Church - A, All Saints Church - Harthill, St Mark's Church - Antrobus Profiles | ||
St Mary's Church stands in an isolated position to the south of the village of Tilston, Cheshire, England. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building. It is an active Anglicanparish church in the diocese of Chester, the archdeaconry of Chester, and the deanery of Malpas. Its benefice is combined with that of St Edith, Shocklach.
Contents
History
An earlier church stood on the site of the present church and there is a list of rectors dating from 1301. The oldest part of the present church is the tower which dates from the 15th century. The chapel on the north side is dated 1659 and is known as the Leche Chapel, or the Stretton Hall Chapel. Most of the rest of the church, including the chancel, vestry and nave roof, was rebuilt by John Douglas between 1877 and 1879.
Exterior
The church is built in red sandstone with a steeply pitched tile roof. At the west end is the three-stage embattled tower. This has corner buttresses, a west doorway, a west window of three lights, belfry windows of three lights on all sides and ringers' windows, the one on the west face being placed north of the centre. The west door has a Tudor head. The tower leads into the nave through a fine arch. The original Elizabethan roof was dismantled in the 19th-century rebuild, and some of the timbers were used in the chancel roof. The south door has been blocked off, and entry is through the north porch. In the north porch is part of a curved beam taken from a gallery which was dismantled in 1879, and which bears the arms of Peter and Ann Warburton. The beam is dated 1618.
Interior
The altar rails are dated 1677, and the holy table is from the same period. The octagonal pulpit is early Georgian in style, and it stands on a stone base from a later period. Most of the glass dates from the 19th century, but some painted medieval glass remains. There is a ring of four bells, cast in 1924 by John Taylor and Company. The parish registers date from 1558 but are incomplete. The churchwardens' accounts are from 1688.