Description

BURNLEY

SD8432NE YORKSHIRE STREET
906-1/17/165 (South side)
29/09/77 Roman Catholic Church of St Mary,
with attached gate piers and
railings

GV II

Roman Catholic church. 1846-49. By Weightman and Hadfield.
Coursed squared sandstone, slate roofs. Decorated style.
PLAN: nave with west tower (uncompleted), north and south
aisles, north and south transepts, chancel with north vestry
and south chapel.
EXTERIOR: the 2-stage tower, with a moulded plinth,
angle-buttresses and a canted stair-turret near the north-east
corner, has a 2-centred arched west doorway with a deep
surround moulded in 2 orders and a hood-mould with figured
stops; a very large 2-centred arched 5-light west window with
Decorated tracery and a hood-mould with figured stops and
carved cresting which extends upwards to meet the carved
corbel of a canopied niche containing a statue; and a parapet
incorporating the bases of 2 intended windows in each side.
The 5-bay nave has segmental-pointed 2-light clerestory
windows with tracery, coupled in each bay except the
westernmost which has a single window. The aisles are
buttressed and have large 2-centred arched 3-light windows
with varied Decorated tracery and hood-moulds with figured
stops, except in the 2nd bay where each aisle has a gabled
porch with a 2-centred arched doorway, double-chamfered with
semi-columns which have carved caps. The transepts have angle
buttresses and differing windows: that on the north side has a
3-light window like those of the aisles, but that on the south
side has a circular window with elaborate and unusual tracery
including mouchettes. The north chapel has a moulded arched
doorway and a 2-light window. The chancel has a large
2-centred arched 5-light window with elaborate Decorated
tracery, and above this a tripartite niche with a statue of
the Virgin and a carved crocketed surround.
INTERIOR: spacious and well-proportioned: 5-bay aisle arcades
of alternately cylindrical and octagonal columns with
triple-moulded caps carrying double-chamfered 2-centred
arches; single hammerbeam roof with arch bracing and 3 tiers
of arched wind-bracing; tall double-chamfered transept arches
springing from semi-octagonal responds; large chancel arch
with clustered shafts and 3 orders of deep moulding; chancel
altered by relocation of altar and removal of reredos, but
retains fine stained glass east window of c1851-5; 2-bay
arcades to side chapels, each on a polished granite column
with vigorously carved natural foliation to the cap; Towneley
Chapel (north), commemorating Col. John Towneley (d.1878) and
his son Richard (d.1877) has good screens of mahogany, marble
and brass, elaborate carved wooden reredos, panelling.
SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: the attached railings, enclosing the
north and south sides of the plot, are of cast-iron, in simple
bar form with needle-eye tops above the rail, divided into
sections by twisted standards with fleur-de-lys heads; and
those on the north side have a gateway in line with the tower,
with a pair of square stone gate piers in Gothic style and
elaborate cast-iron gates.

Listing NGR: SD8460532520

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Church of St Mary of the Assumption, Burnley at Wikipedia
• Church of St Mary of the Assumption, Burnley official website
• Wikidata Q19587148

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

• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
• 
  Yorkshire: York and the East Riding (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
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  Old House Care and Repair
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  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Warwickshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)