St Mary's Church Steeple - Astbury, Cheshire, UK. - Unique Steeples on Waymarking.com

St Mary's Church is an Anglican parish church in the diocese of Chester, the archdeaconry of Macclesfield and the deanery of Congleton.

It is a Grade I listed building dating from the C12 with late C13 and early C14 and C15 additions and alterations, and has been a place of worship for over a 1000 years. The description by Historic England can be seen at the following link: (visit link)

The church has a number of interesting features; its trapezoidal shape, an exceptionally wide nave for a village church, and a tower that is separate from the body of the church and joined to it by a passage with a porch.
Inside the church there are many memorials and medieval fittings and furniture.

In the churchyard there are numerous 17th century gravestones including a canopied tomb, some of which are listed structures. The the base of a stone cross possible of a pre-Norman date, the war graves of 16 British servicemen, 15 of World War I, and one of World War II, and a yew tree that is over 2,000 years old can also be found in the churchyard.

St Mary's Church has an unusual design with its steeple standing apart from the main church, they are joined by a passage with a porch. The north western millstone grit tower was constructed towards the end of the thirteenth century. The lofty spire, that is visible from miles around, was rebuilt in 1838 after it was struck by lightning.

The description of the church /steeple/tower is described by Historic England as follows;
"South western porch of two storeys and western tower/porch of three stages. The north western tower has diagonal buttresses with offsets to the north western and north eastern corners and an angle buttress and a setback buttress to the south western corner with no buttressing to the south eastern corner. The west face has at ground floor level a Romanesque doorway with simple moulded surround and crescent shaped stone to the tympanum. Above this is a band on which rests a window, probably originally of two lights with weathered Decorated tracery, a hood mould and label stops. Above this is a C17 or C20 circular clock face on an octagonal metal plate and above this is the louvred belfry opening which has a double chamfered reveal and curvilinear tracery with a quatrefoil to the top. The parapet has a moulded jetty and coping with a gargoyle to right of centre. To the top of the tower is an octagonal spire divided by two projecting bands on which rest lucarnes to the northern, southern, western and eastern faces. The southern face of the tower connects with the church at its lower level and has a similar belfry opening to that on the western front. The northern side has an ogee-headed lancet to the ground floor and a similar lancet to the stage above which rests on a projecting band. Above this is a similar belfry opening to that in the western front. The eastern front has a Perpendicular porch at left. The stage above this has an ogee-headed lancet light and above this is a similar belfry opening to those seen on the other faces." SOURCE: (visit link)

A YouTube video - 'St Mary's of Astbury - A Medieval Treasure, History Walk,' can be seen at the following link: (visit link)

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Location of the Steeple: Peel Lane, Astbury, Congleton, Cheshire, CW12 4RQ, UK. Approximate Date of Construction: Late 13th century Website: Not listed

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