St Mary, Little Birch
St Mary, Little Birch
St Mary’s is a Grade II* High Victorian Gothic parish church on Ruff Lane, Little Birch, Herefordshire, in the Diocese of Hereford and the Wormelow Hundred Benefice.
- Location
- Little Birch, Herefordshire
- Country
- England
- County
- Herefordshire
- City / town
- Little Birch
- Address
- Ruff Lane, Little Birch, Herefordshire, HR2 8BB
- Postcode
- HR2 8BB
- Built
- 1868–69; third church on the site
- Consecrated
- 1869
- Architect
- William Chick of Hereford; built by Coleman of Churchill, Gloucester
- Denomination
- Church of England
- Dedication
- Mary
- Diocese
- Hereford
- Parish
- Little Birch
- Grade
- II*
- Style
- High Victorian Gothic (Geometrical)
- Materials
- Squared rock-faced sandstone and sandstone ashlar with limestone dressings; tiled roofs
- Grid reference
- SO 511 311
- Opening hours
- Always open.
Overview
Historic England records an entire rebuild of 1869 by William Chick: a four-bay nave with north aisle, north porch and south organ chamber, and a one-bay chancel with polygonal apse, in Geometrical High Victorian Gothic. The fabric is squared rock-faced sandstone and sandstone ashlar with limestone dressings, tiled roofs and a western bellcote. The parish history states that Coleman of Churchill, Gloucester, built the church in 1868 as the third on the site, slightly longer than its predecessor, and that it was consecrated in 1869. Dressed stone includes material from Ham Hill and Bath stone; most woodwork is deal, with oak in the chancel.
The Royal Commission noted that the 1869 church retains a twelfth-century font and other fittings from the medieval building. Pevsner records Elizabethan communion plate. The listing highlights an ensemble of wrought ironwork. The church stands in a pentagonal churchyard south of Hereford.