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| St. Mary and All Saints | South elevation in November sun, 2005 | |
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| The Nave in 2019 | Parish Chest, 2010 | |
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| The organ, 2019 | Effigy of Sir John Warburton of Arley, 2010 | |
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| 15th Century font, 2019 | Funeral Bier, 2010 | |
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| Mothers' Union Banner, 2019 | Village Centre | |
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| Inn sign | The Village Stocks, May 2001 | |
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| Houses near the church | Houses near the church |
Great Budworth is a picturesque village with a magnificent church. The estate cottages in the village in red brick are mainly from the 19th century, built by the Warburtons of Arley Hall.
According to the Domesday book there was a priest in Great Budworth in 1086 and it is known that in 1130, in the reign of Henry I, there was a church whose patronage was given to the Augustinians of Norton Priory, near Runcorn. At the dissolution of the monasteries, Henry VIII gave the tithes to Christ Church, Oxford and the Dean and Chapter remain the patrons of the living.
Nikolaus Pevsner, in his book on the buildings of Cheshire, describes St. Mary's as the most satisfactory building in Cheshire in the Perpendicular style (from about 1335-1530). Only the Lady Chapel and North aisle are in the earlier Decorated style that pertained from about 1290. Money was left for building work in 1498 and then in 1527 a bequest was made by Richard Starkey for a rood loft. This indicates that the building was essentially complete by this date.
The Warburton Chapel off the south aisle has an alabaster effigy of Sir John Warburton of Arley who died in 1575. It also contains some of the earliest known pews in Cheshire, dating from the 13th century, with misericord seats.
The Leicester family of Tabley House attended St. Mary and All Saints and the family vaults are in the Lady Chapel, which dates from the 14th century. Sir Peter Leicester, the author of Historical Antiquities, published in 1673, is buried here. There are also monuments to the Smith-Barry and Barrymore famlies, who lived at Marbury Hall. The font dates from the 15th century and survived the periods in the 16th and 17th centuries when such decorated pieces were destroyed. On the north side of the nave, where it adjoins the chancel, a doorway can be seen high in the masonry. This is where there was an entrance to the gallery on top of the rood screen. Most rood screens were removed or demolished in the time of Edward VI and Elizabeth I.
There is stained glass by Kempe in the in the east window of 1883, the south aisle east window of 1888 and the north aisle east window of 1901.
Among the other monuments is one for a son of Viscount Kilmorey. The family name of Viscount Kilmorey was Needham and this family lived for many years at Cranage Hall near Holmes Chapel. The hall was sold by Viscount Kilmorey in 1660 to William Swettenham of Swettenham. (The current Cranage Hall dates from 1829)
High on the north wall is a monument to Edward Venables Townsend of Wincham, which I was able to read only from a flash photograph taken of it. It part it reads:
Sacred to the memory of Edward Venables Townsend of Wincham Hall died April 6 1845 in the 71st year of his age and his widow, Cornelia Ann, who died 26 June 1849 aged 72.
Sources:
A Short Guide to the Church and The Parish Church of St. Mary and All Saints Great Budworth, A Cheshire Church Guide produced in 1987 by Cheshire County Council, ISBN 0 906759 36 6, available in the church.
The Buildings of England: Cheshire, by Nikolaus Pevsner and Edward Hubbard, first edition 1971, Yale University Press edition in 2003.
The King's England, Cheshire, edited by Arthur Mee, published by Hodder and Stoughton, 1938, fourth impression 1950.
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