Saint Mary Crowned, Glossop

Introduction

Saint Mary Crowned in Glossop is a Roman Catholic church in the Diocese of Nottingham, and it is a Grade II listed building first listed on 22 May 2000.

History

In a letter to the Duke of Norfolk dated 31 January 1852, Father Fauvel and Francis Sumner sought permission to build a new Catholic church. Canon Tasker became the resident priest at Saint Mary's after the death of Father Fauvel on 9 January 1865.

Architecture and furnishings

The church has a nave with aisles, a bell tower, a west baptistry, a south-west porch, and an apsidal east end. The interior has a nave of eight bays with circular piers and responds with moulded square-section capitals. The church has a three-bay stone reredos and a sanctuary marked by a sentry arch on corbelled double shafts. The church contains an octagonal stone font and a decorated iron screen to the western baptistry.

The apse has stained glass with scenes from the life of Mary. The church has a complete set of contemporary open benches to the nave.

This church is the largest non-cathedral church in the north of England. The church is built of coursed millstone grit with ashlar dressings and Welsh slate roofs with coped gables and cross finials. A prominent polygonal bell tower stands at the south-east corner of the nave, supported by massive buttresses with outsize set-offs. The church has a scissor braced roof with arched braces, and aisles with stone transverse strainer arches.

The chancel has stone parcloses of five open bays with trefoil headed arches surmounted by angels. The altar features the Last Supper in relief. A triple arched sedilia sits under an elaborate traceried canopy. The internal porch is screened.

Parish life

The parish runs a Glossop Rosary group. The parish offers adult courses including Sycamore. The parish offers a three-part introduction to the Catholic Faith from the Catholic Truth Society.

The parish has a pastoral council. The parish has a New Testament Greek reading group. The parish holds a joint parish coffee morning at Bradbury House.