St Mary's Church, Tarleton

St Mary's Church, Tarleton
St Mary's Church, Tarleton, from the southwest
St Mary's Church, Tarleton Location in West Lancashire
Coordinates: 53°40′29″N 2°49′26″W / 53.6748°N 2.8239°W / 53.6748; -2.8239
OS grid reference	SD 456 201
Location	Tarleton, Lancashire
Country	England
Denomination	Anglican
Website	Churches Conservation Trust
Architecture
Functional status	Redundant
Heritage designation	Grade II*
Designated	11 October 1968
Architectural type	Church
Style	Georgian
Specifications
Length	47 feet 9 inches (14.55 m)
Width	21 feet (6.40 m)
Other dimensions	Apse 12 feet (3.66 m) by 8 feet (2.44 m)
Materials	Brick with stone slate roofs; ashlar in upper part of tower

St Mary's Church is a redundant Anglican church on the A59 road as it passes to the south of the village of Tarleton, Lancashire, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building, and is under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. It is described by the Churches Conservation Trust as a "picturesque early Georgian chapel" with "a lovely unspoiled interior".

The church was built on the site of a former chantry chapel, dedicated to St Helen, founded in about 1525. In the 1530s a hermitage in the chapelyard was occupied by Hugh Dobson of the Order of St Anthony. The chapel was sold to Sir Thomas Hesketh who demolished it. In 1719, Henrietta Maria Legh of Bank Hall, donated the land on which the church was built. The building costs were met by other benefactors. Legh and her heirs held the right, with the rector of Croston's approval, to nominate the curate but patronage of the church was subsequently acquired by the rector.

Additions were made in 1824, consisting of a west porch, a south gallery, and an upper stage to the tower. The church closed in 1886 when Holy Trinity Church was built nearer to the centre of the village. It was used as a mortuary chapel. St Mary's was declared redundant on 1 November 1980, and was vested in the Trust on 10 February 1982.

St Mary's is constructed in handmade brick that was originally plastered, with stone slate roofs and with ashlar upper parts to the tower. Its plan consists of a small rectangular building in four bays, with a semi-octagonal apse, a bell-tower at the west end, and to the west of this a flat-topped porch. The church measures 47 feet 9 inches (14.55 m) by 21 feet (6.40 m), with the apse measuring 12 feet (3.66 m) by 8 feet (2.44 m). Along the north and south walls are large round-headed windows with glazing bars that are continued upwards into intersecting tracery. Above each window is a keystone, and between the windows are triangular pilasters which act as buttresses.