St Mary’s from the southeast
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St Mary’s is an active Roman Catholic church on St Mary’s Street, Crewe, Cheshire. It is in the parish of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception in the Diocese of Shrewsbury, and has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade II listed buildingStructure of particular architectural and/or historic interest deserving of special protection..[1][2]
Designed by Pugin & Pugin in the English Gothic style, St Mary’s was built between 1890 and 1891; the tower is a later addition.[3]
Irish workers began to arrive in Crewe to work on the railways from the 1820s, and from 1828 Mass was said in “various modest locations” in the growing town by priests from the surrounding areas. Fundraising for a new church began in 1887. The foundation stone was laid by Bishop Knight in August 1890, and St Mary’s was opened by him in July 1891. The cost of the building work was £4,500, equivalent to about £2.8 million as at 2024,[a]Calculated using the labour cost of the project.[4] with a further £2,000 for the tower.[5]
Architecture
Exterior
St Mary’s is constructed in red brick with red sandstone dressings and a slate roof. The plan consists of a five-bay naveCentral part of a church, used by the laiety. with a clerestoryUppermost range of windows in the wall of a church, or a row of windows above eye-level., north and south aisles, a chancelPart of a church containing the altar, used by the officiating clergy. with an apseSemicircular or polygonal termination of the chancel, which is typically situated at the eastern end of a Christian church., and a southwest tower. The tower has angle buttresses, and a pyramidal roof with lucarnes. In the bottom stage are windows with Geometrical tracery, in the stage above are niches containing statues and flanked by lancet windows
Tall, narrow window typically associated with the Gothic architectural style., and above these are paired lancets. The top stage contains louvred bell openings. The chancel and the gable of the nave contain windows with Geometrical tracery, the windows along the sides of the aisles have Perpendicular tracery, and the clerestory windows are paired quatrefoils.[2]
Interior
The arcades inside the church are carried on octagonal piers. The stone reredos
Large ornamented wall, screen, or other structure placed behind the altar in a Christian church. has much gilding and is decorated with Gothic motifs. The baldachin is supported by marble shafts. The main altar is flanked by side altars, and there are additional altars at the east ends of the aisles.[2]
Organ
The organ, built by Gray & Davison and installed in 1897, was acquired from St George’s Church in Hanover Square, London.[6]