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

• 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.

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