St Mary's Church, Acton Burnell

St Mary's Church, Acton Burnell
St Mary's Church, Acton Burnell, from the west
St Mary's Church, Acton Burnell Location in Shropshire
Coordinates: 52°36′47″N 2°41′25″W / 52.6131°N 2.6903°W / 52.6131; -2.6903
OS grid reference	SJ 534 019
Location	Acton Burnell, Shropshire
Country	England
Denomination	Anglican
Website	St Mary, Acton Burnell
History
Founder(s)	Robert Burnell
Architecture
Status	Parish church
Functional status	Active
Heritage designation	Grade I
Designated	13 June 1958
Architect(s)	Fairfax B. Wade (restoration)
Architectural type	Church
Style	Gothic, Gothic Revival
Specifications
Materials	Sandstone, tiled roofs
Administration
Parish	Acton Burnell
Deanery	Condover
Archdeaconry	Ludlow
Diocese	Hereford
Province	Canterbury
Clergy
Rector	Revd Geoffrey David Garrett

St Mary's Church is in the village of Acton Burnell, Shropshire, England, and stands near the ruins of Acton Burnell Castle. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Condover, the archdeaconry of Ludlow, and the diocese of Hereford. Its benefice is united with those of St Andrew and St Mary, Condover, St Mark, Frodesley, and St Michael and All Angels, Pitchford. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building.

The church was built between about 1275 and 1280 for Robert Burnell, who became Lord Chancellor of England, and then Bishop of Bath and Wells. It was restored in 1887–89 by Fairfax B. Wade, during which a small tower was added.

St Mary's is constructed in sandstone with tiled roofs. It has a cruciform plan, consisting of a ten-bay nave with a north porch, a five-bay chancel, north and south chapels (acting as transepts), and a tower in the angle between the chancel and the north transept. The tower is in three stages with clasping buttresses. It has a pyramidal roof with a weathervane, and a gabled dormer window on the west side. There are two trefoil-headed louvred bell openings in the top stage, quatrefoil openings in the middle stage, and a lancet window and a doorway in the bottom stage. At the west end of the church are buttresses, and a doorway with a steep arch, above which are three stepped lancet windows. Along the eaves of the nave and transepts is a corbel table, some of the corbels being carved with heads. Above the outer doorway of the north porch is a niche. To the east of the porch, at a high level, is a circular window. On the south side of the church is a blocked doorway. The windows in the gable-ends of the transepts are stepped lancets. The chancel is at a lower level, and is more richly decorated. On its north and south sides are lancet windows in different groupings. There is a priest's door on the south side and a hagioscope on the north. The four-light east window is elaborate, with Purbeck marble shafts.