St Mary Church

Introduction

St Mary Church in Studley, within the Archdiocese of Birmingham, is a Grade II listed building, first listed on 23-Oct-1985. The church was built in 1853 and designed by Charles Hansom.

Architecture and furnishings

The church is built of regular coursed lias with moulded limestone cornice and dressings, and has old tile roofs with moulded stone coped gables and kneelers. The church has a nave, chancel and south porch in Gothic Revival style. The church has a 2-storey porch with angle buttresses flush with the front wall, an arched doorway of 2 chamfered orders with hood mould, and a 2-light window above. The chancel has diagonal buttresses and 2 buttresses to the north side, and a 3-light east window.

The church has plate tracery with quatrefoils throughout. The nave has buttresses and diagonal buttresses, and the north side has a protecting gabled north-west bay. The west front has trim 2-light windows with hood moulds, and lancets below, with a central buttress against canted sides of stair turret. The gable has a moulded trefoil window, and there is a bellcote with altered top; the bell has been removed.

On the south side is a single storey link to the Presbytery, with 2 small casements. The chancel has a piscina recess, with shelf in place of basin. The chancel has a painted and stencilled panelled wagon roof. The church has a richly carved Decorated style stone altar with arched niches, statues and ogee canopies, and 2 carved reliefs.

The chancel arch is of 2 chamfered orders without imposts, with a hood mould with foliage stops. The nave has a panelled west gallery, with late C20 glazed screens below. There is a small side chapel below the gallery. There is a shouldered doorway to a stair turret with winder stairs.

The fittings include an altar of 4 Early English style stone shafts. The church retains original pews. The stained glass East window dates from 1860 and was made by Hardman. Inside the church, a moulded south doorway features a hood mould with head stops and a plank door.