St Mary's Church, Yealand Conyers, is in the village of Yealand Conyers

Yealand Conyers

Yealand Conyers is a village and civil parish in the English county of Lancashire. It is in the City of Lancaster district.-Community:The community is included in the same district as Yealand Redmayne and is south of Beetham.-Geography:...

, Lancashire

Lancashire

Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...

, England. It is an active Roman Catholic church in the diocese of Lancaster, and is linked with the churches of St Mary of the Angels, Bolton-le-Sands

Bolton-le-Sands

Bolton-le-Sands is a large village and civil parish of the City of Lancaster in Lancashire, England. The parish had a population of 4,098 recorded in the 2001 census,...

, and Our Lady of Lourdes, Carnforth

Carnforth

- References :...

. The church has been designated by English Heritage

English Heritage

English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...

 as a Grade II listed building. It stands at the south end of the village.

History

The church was built in 1852 for Richard Gillow of nearby Leighton Hall

Leighton Hall, Lancashire

Leighton Hall is an historic house to the west of Yealand Conyers, Lancashire, England . It is a Grade II* listed building.It was the seat of the 1642-1673 Middleton Baronetcy of George Middleton. The estate came into the possession of George Towneley of Towneley Hall in Burnley, through his...

, and designed by the Lancaster

Lancaster, Lancashire

Lancaster is the county town of Lancashire, England. It is situated on the River Lune and has a population of 45,952. Lancaster is a constituent settlement of the wider City of Lancaster, local government district which has a population of 133,914 and encompasses several outlying towns, including...

 architect E. G. Paley

Edward Graham Paley

Edward Graham Paley, usually known as E. G. Paley, , was an English architect who practised in Lancaster, Lancashire, in the second half of the 19th century.-Education and career:...

. In 2009 the parish

Parish

A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...

 was formally linked with the Roman Catholic parishes of Carnforth and Bolton-le-Sands.

Exterior

St Mary's is constructed in limestone

Limestone

Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....

 and has a steep slate

Slate

Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. The result is a foliated rock in which the foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering...

-covered roof. Its plan consists of a five-bay

Bay (architecture)

A bay is a unit of form in architecture. This unit is defined as the zone between the outer edges of an engaged column, pilaster, or post; or within a window frame, doorframe, or vertical 'bas relief' wall form.-Defining elements:...

 nave

Nave

In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...

, a chancel

Chancel

In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar in the sanctuary at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building...

 at a lower level, and a north porch. At the west end is a projecting bay with a central buttress

Buttress

A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall...

. On each side of the buttress is a lancet window

Lancet window

A lancet window is a tall narrow window with a pointed arch at its top. It acquired the "lancet" name from its resemblance to a lance. Instances of this architectural motif are most often found in Gothic and ecclesiastical structures, where they are often placed singly or in pairs.The motif first...

. The bay is surmounted by a double gable

Gable

A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system being used and aesthetic concerns. Thus the type of roof enclosing the volume dictates the shape of the gable...

d bellcote. There are further lancet windows around the church, the east end having three stepped lancets. At the corners of the church are diagonal buttresses. Above the porch doorway is the carving of the Virgin Mary

Mary (mother of Jesus)

Mary , commonly referred to as "Saint Mary", "Mother Mary", the "Virgin Mary", the "Blessed Virgin Mary", or "Mary, Mother of God", was a Jewish woman of Nazareth in Galilee...

 in a sandstone

Sandstone

Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...

 niche

Niche (architecture)

A niche in classical architecture is an exedra or an apse that has been reduced in size, retaining the half-dome heading usual for an apse. Nero's Domus Aurea was the first semi-private dwelling that possessed rooms that were given richly varied floor plans, shaped with niches and exedras;...

.

Interior

The nave has a scissor-braced roof, and the roof of the chancel is arch-braced. The reredos

Reredos

thumb|300px|right|An altar and reredos from [[St. Josaphat's Roman Catholic Church|St. Josaphat Catholic Church]] in [[Detroit]], [[Michigan]]. This would be called a [[retable]] in many other languages and countries....

 is elaborately carved. The altar is supported by marble

Marble

Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite.Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone; however stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone.Marble is commonly used for...

 columns, and the altar rail is in alabaster

Alabaster

Alabaster is a name applied to varieties of two distinct minerals, when used as a material: gypsum and calcite . The former is the alabaster of the present day; generally, the latter is the alabaster of the ancients...

 with green marble columns. The church contains a familt pew for the Gillows at the northwest end, and elsewhere are box pew

Box pew

Box pew is a type of church pew that is encased in panelling and was prevalent in England and other Protestant countries from the 16th to early 19th century.-History in England:...

s carved with poppyheads

Poppyhead (carving)

Poppyhead is a form of carving of the end of a bench or a choir stall. The carving consists of leaves and flowers, which are usually in the form of a fleur-de-lys....

. Only the east window contains stained glass. Also in the church are brasses

Monumental brass

Monumental brass is a species of engraved sepulchral memorial which in the early part of the 13th century began to partially take the place of three-dimensional monuments and effigies carved in stone or wood...

 in memory of members of the Gillow family. The authors of the volume in the Buildings of England

Pevsner Architectural Guides

The Pevsner Architectural Guides are a series of guide books to the architecture of the British Isles. Begun in the 1940s by art historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, the 46 volumes of the Buildings of England series were published between 1951 and 1975. The series was then extended to Scotland and...

series comment that the church was intended to outdo the Anglican

Anglicanism

Anglicanism is a tradition within Christianity comprising churches with historical connections to the Church of England or similar beliefs, worship and church structures. The word Anglican originates in ecclesia anglicana, a medieval Latin phrase dating to at least 1246 that means the English...

church in the village "in size, prominence and quality".