St Mary's Church, Ulverston

It is not known when the first church was built on the site. The oldest part of the present building is the reset south door, from the 12th century, which accords with a popular (though seemingly unsubstantiated) foundation date of 1111. The tower of the present church was built between 1540 and 1560, replacing an earlier church which, it is said, was damaged when its steeple fell following a storm, damaging the rest if the building. The church was restored and enlarged in 1804. The successors in Paley's practice, Austin and Paley, extended the chancel, added fittings to the interior, and built a south porch in 1903–04. The same firm converted the south chancel aisle into a war memorial in…

The arcades are in seven bays and are carried on octagonal piers. The chancel is above the level of the nave. In the chancel is a double sedilia and a piscina. The choir stalls are in carved oak, and oak screens divide the chancel from the organ chamber and vestry to the north, and from the chapel to the south. A 20th century organ by the Lancashire builder Thomas Pendlebury was moved from a church elsewhere and was installed in St Mary's in 1972. The stained glass in the east window is by William Wailes, and windows elsewhere are by Heaton, Butler and Bayne. The church contains a number of monuments, the oldest, erected in 1588, is to William Sandys, who died in 1559. There is a ring of…