St Mary the Virgin, High Hesket

St Mary’s is a Grade II* parish church at High Hesket, Cumbria, in the Diocese of Carlisle, the church of Hesket-in-the-Forest, rebuilt in the early eighteenth century on a medieval site.

Overview

Historic England records an early eighteenth-century parish church incorporating parts of the medieval church. The fabric is roughcast over red and calciferous sandstone rubble, under a graduated greenslate roof with coped gables and kneelers. The plan is a six-bay nave with a west twin bellcote, north aisle and two-storey west porch, and a single-bay chancel with north vestry. The porch has double doors in a round-headed quoined surround under a round-headed window, and external dog-leg stone steps to an upper north door. Nave and aisle have eighteenth-century round-headed leaded casements with hinge brackets for shutters. The chancel has blank walls and a three-light east window.

Inside are a twentieth-century three-bay north aisle, a late medieval open timber roof and a late medieval chancel arch. Wall plaques include Bernard Kirkbride, 1677, and John Brown, 1765. Early twentieth-century stained glass is by Shrigley and Hunt of Lancaster. The chancel has the Royal Arms of Queen Victoria, 1856, and memorials to the James family of Barrock Park. Co-Curate dates the rebuild to about 1720. The Parker family vault (1828) in the churchyard is separately listed.

Further Information

• Historic England list entry 1326696
• British Listed Buildings: Church of St Mary