St Mary's Church, Eccleston

St Mary's Church is in the village of

St Mary's Church as it appears today is a red sandstone building which dates from the 19th century. It was built between 1897 and 1899 to a design by G. F. Bodley for the 1st Duke of Westminster at a cost of £40,000 (£4.79 million today).^[3][4] The new church was consecrated on Ascension Day 1900.^[5]

The present building is the third parish church to have been built in Eccleston.^[5] It stands some 100 metres (330 ft) southwest of the site occupied by its predecessors, which stood in what is known today as the Old Churchyard. A church was certainly in existence in Eccleston in 1188, and in the late 18th century a print was made of a dilapidated medieval church which dates back to the 14th century. The medieval church was entirely replaced in 1809 by one of similar size, built on the site by William Porden for the Earls Grosvenor. A chancel was added in 1853, but by the end of the 19th century the 1st Duke of Westminster decided to replace Porden's church with an entirely new structure. After the new church had been completed, Porden's church was demolished, although the south wall of its nave was retained as a "picturesque feature"^[6] and remains in the Old Churchyard.^[7]

Architecture

Exterior

The church is built in red

• 
  The high altar
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  The nave, looking south-east
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  Tablet in the north aisle with list of Grosvenors buried in the old church (now part of the Old Churchyard)
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  Tablet commemorating the foundation of the church by the 1st Duke of Westminster

South aisle and Grosvenor Chapel

The east end of the south aisle, next to the church's chancel, is occupied by the Grosvenor Chapel. Above its altar are the carved figures of Jesus, Saint Augustine and Saint Paulinus.^[9]

Separating the Grosvenor Chapel from the church's chancel is a monument to the memory of the 1st Duke of Westminster dated 1901, which consists of a tomb-chest and canopy designed by Bodley with an

• 
  Grosvenor Chapel, interior
• 
  Cenotaph for the 1st Duke of Westminster
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  Memorial to the 2nd Duke of Westminster
• 
  Memorial to the 3rd Duke of Westminster
• 
  Memorial to the 4th Duke of Westminster
• 
  Memorial to the 5th Duke of Westminster
• 
  Memorial to Captain Lord Hugh William Grosvenor
• 
  Grosvenor Chapel, exterior
• 
  Dedication stone on the eastern facade

Tower and baptistry

In the tower there is a

Under the tower is the baptistry with a font. The font is made from Thessaly marble, and has a lifting oak cover decorated with the carvings of eight saints.

In the

• 
  View of the Baptistery
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  Grosvenor memorial (1624) in the Baptistery
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  Grosvenor memorial (1894) in the Baptistery
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  Grosvenor memorial (2003) in the Baptistery
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  The nave, looking east towards chancel
• 
  Floor of the chancel with Grosvenor arms

Other features

The authors of the Buildings of England series were impressed by the furnishings of the church, in particular the reredoses by Farmer and Brindley, the chancel screens, the organ case and the bench ends. All the stained glass is by Burlison and Grylls.^[6]

Precincts

St Mary's Church is accessed from Church Road through a set of wrought-iron gates bearing the

A footpath leads from St Mary's Church past the Old Coaching House to the Old Churchyard, which is about 100 metres (330 ft) northeast of the church. The walls and gates between Old Church Lane and the Old Churchyard are Grade II listed.[11]

Old Churchyard

Description

[[

|thumb|Monument to Gerald 6th Duke of Westminster]]

With its many tall trees, the Old Churchyard has features of a woodland. In its centre are the remains of Porden's old parish church, which consist of a sandstone wall with the lower parts of two windows measuring about 60 feet (18 m) long by 18 feet (5 m) high. It is designated as a Grade II listed building.^[7]

Along the south side of the remaining wall of Porden's old church are the graves of the Dukes of Westminster, other members of the Grosvenor family and their relatives. A square enclosure in the northeast part of the Old Churchyard, now covered with gravel and surrounded by a low wall with crosses in the corners, marks the spot where the Grosvenor family vault was located within Porden's church. The names of those ancestors of the Dukes of Westminster who are interred here are recorded on a brass plaque inside the present church building. The gravestone of Edward George Hugh, Earl Grosvenor (1904–1909), by Detmar Blow and Fernand Billerey, sculpted by Emile Madeline, is a Grade II listed building.^[12]

The churchyard contains ten CWGC registered war graves. Of these, seven are from World War I and three from World War II.^[13] There is also the grave of a Victoria Cross recipient, Alfred Ernest Ind.^[14]

Burials and monuments

Westminster plot along old wall

• The Rev. John Gibbons-Longueville, rector of Eccleston 1854 to 1880, and his wife [1]
• Beatrice Charlotte Elizabeth (née Vesey, died 1876), daughter of 3rd Viscount de Vesci, wife of Lord Richard Grosvenor, brother of the 1st Duke of Westminster [2]
• Constance Gertrude (née Leveson-Gower, 1834–1880), daughter of the 2nd Duke of Sutherland, wife of the 1st Duke of Westminster [3]
• Lord Robert Edward Grosvenor (1869–1888), son of the 1st Duke of Westminster [4]
• Dora Mina (née Erskine-Wemyss, 1856–1894), wife of Lord Henry George Grosvenor (1861–1914) and mother of the 3rd Duke of Westminster [5]
• Hugh Grosvenor, 1st Duke of Westminster (1825–1899) [6] (ashes, cremated in Woking Crematorium)
• Lord Edward George Hugh Grosvenor (known as Earl Grosvenor, 1904–1909), only son of the 2nd Duke of Westminster [7]
• Richard Grosvenor, 1st Baron Stalbridge (1837–1912), brother of the 1st Duke of Westminster
• Lord Henry George Grosvenor (1861–1914), son of the 1st Duke and father of the 3rd Duke [8]
• Lord Arthur Hugh Grosvenor (1860–1929), son of the 1st Duke of Westminster [9]
• Lord Edward Arthur Grosvenor (1892–1929), son of the 1st Duke of Westminster [10]
• Lord Gerald Richard Grosvenor (1874–1940), son of the 1st Duke of Westminster [11]
• Katherine Caroline (née Cavendish, 1857–1941), daughter of the 2nd Baron Chesham, widow of the 1st Duke of Westminster [12]
• Hugh Frederick Grosvenor (1927–1947), son of Robert Arthur "Robin" Grosvenor [13]
• Robert Arthur "Robin" Grosvenor (1895–1953), son of Lord Arthur Hugh Grosvenor (1860–1929) [14]
• Hugh Grosvenor, 2nd Duke of Westminster (1879–1953) [15]
• Lady Mary Cavendish Grosvenor (1883–1959), daughter of the 1st Duke of Westminster. She married firstly Henry Crichton, Viscount Crichton (1872–1914), and was the mother of 5th Earl Erne; and secondly, Colonel the Hon. Algernon Francis Stanley (1874–1962), a son of the 16th Earl of Derby [16]
• William Grosvenor, 3rd Duke of Westminster (1894–1963) [17]
• Lady Dorothy Alice Margaret Grosvenor (1890–1966), daughter of Lord Henry George Grosvenor (1861–1914) [18]
• Gerald Grosvenor, 4th Duke of Westminster (1907–1967) [19]
• Constance Edwina (née Cornwallis-West, 1876−1970), former wife of the 2nd Duke of Westminster [20]
• Doris May (née Wignall, 1902–1975), wife of Robert Arthur "Robin" Grosvenor [21]
• Robert Grosvenor, 5th Duke of Westminster (1910–1979) [22]
• Sally (née Perry, 1909–1990), wife of the 4th Duke of Westminster [23]
• Anne Winifred "Nancy" (née Sullivan, 1915–2003), widow of the 2nd Duke of Westminster [24]
• Gerald Grosvenor, 6th Duke of Westminster (1951–2016) [25]

Site of old Grosvenor family vault

Many ancestors of the Dukes of Westminster, including:

• Sir Richard Grosvenor, 1st Baronet
• Sir Thomas Grosvenor, 3rd Baronet
• Richard Grosvenor, 1st Earl Grosvenor
• Robert Grosvenor, 1st Marquess of Westminster
• Richard Grosvenor, 2nd Marquess of Westminster

A stone tablet in the enclosure (see here) bears the arms of the

• Alfred Ernest Ind, VC (1872–1916). He served as a Farrier Sergeant in the Boer War, later worked on the estate of the Duke of Westminster and died in 1916.^[14]
• Sir Philip Hay, KCVO (1918–1986), Private Secretary to the Duchess of Kent
• Dame Margaret Katherine Hay, DCVO (née Seymour, 1918–1975), Woman of the Bedchamber to Queen Elizabeth II, granddaughter of Hugh Grosvenor, 1st Duke of Westminster and wife of Sir Philip Hay
• Sir Henry Nelson Clowes, KCVO (1911–1993) and his wife Diana Katherine Kerr (1926–2010), daughter of Major Basil Kerr (1879–1957)
• Major Basil Kerr (1879–1957)

• 
  Gates to the Old Churchyard
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  Alfred Ernest Ind, VC (1872–1916)
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  Sir Henry Nelson Clowes (1911–1993)
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  Major Basil Kerr (1879–1957)
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  Sir Philip Hay and Dame Margaret Katherine Hay
• 
  Lord Edward George Hugh Grosvenor (1904–1909)

See also

• Grade I listed buildings in Cheshire West and Chester
• Grade I listed churches in Cheshire
• Listed buildings in Eccleston, Cheshire

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to St Mary's Church, Eccleston.

• Photographs by Craig Thornber