---
title: "St Mary, Willoughby Waterleys"
description: "Located in Willoughby Waterleys, Leicestershire. Built Partly 13th century; mainly 14th century; restored 1875 (chancel rebuilt). Diocese of Leicester. Grade II*. Decorated Gothic style."
category: "Church"
tags: ["Church","Church of England","Leicestershire","Willoughby Waterleys","Grade II*","Decorated Gothic","Diocese of Leicester"]
canonical: "https://thebritishgazette.com/post/st-mary-willoughby-waterleys"
pubDate: "2026-09-06T03:06:55.188Z"
dateModified: "2026-09-08T00:33:08.038Z"
location: "Willoughby Waterleys, Leicestershire"
country: "England"
county: "Leicestershire"
town: "Willoughby Waterleys"
address: "Main Street, Willoughby Waterleys, Leicestershire, LE8 6UF"
postcode: "LE8 6UF"
built: "Partly 13th century; mainly 14th century; restored 1875 (chancel rebuilt)"
denomination: "Church of England"
dedications: ["Mary"]
diocese: "Leicester"
grade: "II*"
style: "Decorated Gothic"
materials: "Rubble or cobble; coursed and squared rubble tower; leaded nave and aisle roofs; Swithland slate to chancel"
website: "https://www.standrewscountesthorpe.co.uk/willoughby-waterleys-"
openingHours: "Open by appointment by contacting the church warden via the website."
parish: "Willoughby Waterleys St Mary"
listEntryUrl: "https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1180279"
gridReference: "SP 575 924"
accessNotes: "Ramp or level access available on request"
---

# St Mary, Willoughby Waterleys

St Mary’s is a Grade II* parish church on Main Street in Willoughby Waterleys, Leicestershire, in the Diocese of Leicester.

## Overview

Historic England records a parish church that is partly thirteenth century, though most dateable features are fourteenth century or were renewed in a fourteenth-century style during a thorough restoration in 1875. The fabric is rubble or cobble, with a west tower of coursed and squared rubble, leaded nave and aisle roofs, and Swithland slate on the chancel. The three-stage tower has a plinth, angle buttresses, paired pointed lights to the bell chamber, a renewed two-tier west window and an embattled parapet. The south wall has windows renewed in reticulated tracery, the middle one with ball-flower in the hoodmould.

The chancel is entirely of 1875, steeply roofed with ridge cresting, a three-light east window in fourteenth-century style, and a small lean-to vestry to the north. The north aisle has a steeply gabled porch around an early fourteenth-century doorway. Inside, a late thirteenth-century tower arch springs from corbels; the four-bay north arcade is largely fourteenth century, with earlier keeled east and west responds. The fifteenth-century nave roof has moulded tiebeams with carved face bosses and braces from stone corbel heads. Furnishings from the 1875 restoration include encaustic tiles, a wood pulpit and screens; the thirteenth-century font has a shallow chamfered round basin on a tall cylindrical base. A wooden reredos of 1919 has carved figures.

## Further Information

- [Historic England list entry 1180279](https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1180279)
- [British Listed Buildings: Church of St Mary](https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/101180279-church-of-st-mary-willoughby-waterleys)