---
title: "St Mary the Virgin, Fawsley"
description: "Located in Fawsley, Northamptonshire. Built 13th–16th centuries; chancel rebuilt 1690. Diocese of Peterborough. Grade I. Medieval Gothic; chancel of 1690 style."
category: "Church"
tags: ["Church","Church of England","Northamptonshire","Fawsley","Grade I","Knightley","Ironstone"]
canonical: "https://thebritishgazette.com/post/st-mary-virgin-fawsley"
pubDate: "2026-09-06T01:41:06.790Z"
dateModified: "2026-09-08T16:00:06.382Z"
location: "Fawsley, Northamptonshire"
country: "England"
county: "Northamptonshire"
town: "Fawsley"
address: "Knightley Way, Fawsley, Northamptonshire, NN11 3BS"
postcode: "NN11 3BS"
built: "13th–16th centuries; chancel rebuilt 1690"
denomination: "Church of England"
dedications: ["Mary"]
diocese: "Peterborough"
grade: "I"
style: "Medieval Gothic; chancel of 1690"
materials: "Coursed squared ironstone and coursed ironstone rubble with some limestone dressings; lead roofs"
website: "http://www.fawsleychurch.org.uk/"
openingHours: "Open 9.30am to 5pm daily (but may be closed in bad weather to prevent mud being carried in from field)."
parish: "Fawsley"
listEntryUrl: "https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1343552"
gridReference: "SP 565 567"
accessNotes: "Level access to the main areas. Accessible toilets nearby"
---

# St Mary the Virgin, Fawsley

St Mary’s is a Grade I parish church on Knightley Way, Fawsley, Northamptonshire, in the Diocese of Peterborough. It stands isolated in parkland after the Knightley family enclosed the medieval village.

## Overview

Historic England records a church of the thirteenth, fourteenth and sixteenth centuries, with the chancel rebuilt in 1690 (datestone DK/1690 over a blocked priest’s door). Fabric is coursed squared ironstone and ironstone rubble with some limestone dressings and lead roofs. The plan is chancel, nave, north and south aisles, south porch and a three-stage west tower with a Decorated west window and a canopied niche. The nave has a late medieval tie-beam roof and three-bay arcades with round columns. Late-eighteenth-century box pews incorporate sixteenth-century linenfold and tracery panels.

The listing highlights an outstanding series of brasses, wall monuments and a tomb chest with effigies to the Knightley family. Side windows retain sixteenth- and seventeenth-century painted glass. Wikipedia notes a tradition of a 1209 foundation on an earlier site, and that the church escaped demolition at enclosure because it held chantry land. Copper was stolen from the roofs in 2015.

## Further Information

- [Historic England list entry 1343552](https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1343552)
- [Fawsley Church](http://www.fawsleychurch.org.uk/)
- [Wikipedia: Church of St Mary the Virgin, Fawsley](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_St_Mary_the_Virgin,_Fawsley)