Description

ELLAND CHURCH STREET
SE 108211 1
2/21 Church of St Mary
24.1.68
I

Church, mainly Cl3 and C14 with chancel arch c.118O, tower c.1490 and other
additions and alterations. Nave, chancel, west tower embraced by aisles, south
porch and vestry. Rubble and some ashlar with stone slate roofs. Chancel has
late Cl5 windows with depressed arched heads. East window of 5-lights; the side
windows of the chancel and east windows of the aisles are similar and of
3-lights. Otherwise most of the windows are flat headed and of 2-lights, mainly
dating from W. H. Crossland's restoration of 1856, but the west window of the
tower is of 3-lights with simple tracery. Tower is of 3 stages with diagonal
buttresses and embattled parapet. The belfry windows are of 2-lights. South
porch of 1696 with round arch and gable surmounted by reset sundial of 1648.
C19 gates to porch. On nave gable is a weathered sanctus bellcote. The chancel
has angle buttresses with goblets and gargoyles, and the angle buttresses at the
east end of the aisles have the Savile Owl carved on an offset.

Interior: Chancel arch perhaps c.1180 (c.f. Kirkstall Abbey Church), but altered
to a steeper angle. Nave arcade of 4 bays with octagonal piers. Nave has collar
rafter roof. Chancel of 2 bays with Cl5 slightly cambered panelled ceiling with
moulded ribs. Tower bay with semi-octagonal engaged piers with arch of 3
chamfers. The chancel aisles were originally built as chantry chapels dedicated
to St Nicholas and St John.

Furnishings: the east window is high quality Cl5 work which depicts the life of
the Virgin restored and slightly rearranged by William Wailes of Newcastle c.185O
who also designed the west window in 1866. Parclose screens of Cl6 or early C17
of simple design with tracery at heads, and rood screen designer by Fellowes
Prynne c.1920 in florid German Gothic. Plain octagonal font said to be of C17.
4 miserere seats are loose in the church. Monuments on walls to William Horton
of Howroyd and Mary Horton c.1750 with good portrait medallion, others to the
Thornhills of Fixby dating from 1669 to 1758, and to Northend Nicholas, 1818, by
Walsh and Dunbar of Leeds. N. Pevsner, 'Yorkshire West Riding', (revised 1979),
p.192. L. Hamerton, 'Olde Eland' (Elland 1901), p.143. D. and A. Greenwood,
'St Mary's Church, Elland', (Huddersfield 1954) .

Listing NGR: SE1080521167

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• St Mary The Virgin Church at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q17527236

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  For the Record
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)