St Mary, Wreay
St Mary, Wreay
St Mary’s is a Grade II* parish church at Wreay, Cumbria, in the Diocese of Carlisle: a highly personal Lombard-revival church designed and paid for by Sarah Losh.
- Location
- Wreay, Cumbria
- Country
- England
- County
- Cumbria
- City / town
- Wreay
- Address
- Wreay, Cumbria, CA4 0RL
- Postcode
- CA4 0RL
- Built
- 1840–42, on or near the site of a demolished medieval church
- Consecrated
- 1 December 1842
- Architect
- Sarah Losh; sculptural stonework by William Hindson
- Denomination
- Church of England
- Dedication
- Mary
- Diocese
- Carlisle
- Parish
- Wreay
- Grade
- II*
- Style
- Lombard / Romanesque revival
- Materials
- Dressed sandstone walls and stone-slate roof
- Grid reference
- NY 435 489
- Opening hours
- Open each day, we welcome visitors from around the country and abroad, offering a place of peace and inspiration. Suitable for all ages, the exhibition is open from 10am to 4pm each day, free of charge.
- Access
- Accessible toilets nearby
- Website
- http://www.stmaryswreay.org/
Overview
Historic England records a church of 1840–42 by Sarah Losh, with sculptural stonework by William Hindson, built by estate workers at her own expense. Walls are dressed sandstone under a stone-slate roof. The plan is a four-bay nave with a semicircular apse, in a Romanesque style showing French and Italian influence. Nave windows are round-headed with triple clerestory lights above; reptile gargoyles project from each side. The west doorway has a roll-moulding of formalised water-lilies and pine-cone motifs, with a stone bellcote surmounted by a carved eagle.
The interior is on three levels, with a sunken nave and steps up to an apse surrounded by an arcade of fourteen columns with carved capitals. Seating is oak and Spanish chestnut; pulpit and lecterns are of carved bog oak, ebony and chestnut. The alabaster font is by Sarah Losh and W. S. Losh; the altar is green Italian marble on brass eagles. Wikipedia calls it the earliest known British revival of Lombard architecture and dates consecration to 1 December 1842. A medieval church on or near the site was demolished, except for a font now in the churchyard. The church is open daily from 10am to 4pm.