The Church Of St. Mary The Virgin Shrewsbury

This post is about The Church Of St. Mary The Virgin in Shrewsbury but before I start let me give you a warning about planning a 'photography trip', the church is famous for it's stained glass windows however not researching the building I wasn't aware of this and therefore didn't take any photos of them, maybe next time, so remember, if you are about to make a photographic day out to first research what's about that way you won't miss out!




The Church Of St. Mary The Virgin is the largest church in Shrewsbury and has one of the tallest spires in the country, unfortunately it is now a closed church meaning that it is no longer a place of worship but is under the care of  the Churches Conservation Trust which was established to protect historic churches at risk. Dating back to the Saxon times it is Shrewsbury's only complete Medieval church and is a Grade I Listed building.


St. Mary's Church does indeed have a long history, it is believed that there has been a religious building on this site since the tenth century. The church in it's present form began to take shape back in C12 with the construction of a nave (central part of a church) and cruciform (a building in the shape of a cross or crucifix) to the east end, a large tower was constructed and around the 1170s transepts were added (the section across a building forming the cross or crucifix shape), isles were built first to the south with a porch and later to the north over the following centuries the church was extended and increased in height adding a large window to the east and a spire to the tower. The church's tower was built in four stages, three in red sandstone and the fourth in white sandstone giving it it's unusual look with an obvious change in colour.




Now lets talk about those, in my case elusive, stained glass windows, built between the 14th-19th century and brought in from across Europe they are said to collectively create a collection that is unrivalled elsewhere in the country, the main attraction is the East Window of the chancel, depicting the Jesse Tree it was actually constructed for a Franciscan (Christian) Church, it was then moved to St. Chad's Church until this was rebuilt in 1792 and has since been located at St. Mary's, the glass dates back to 1327-53 and largely survived a restoration in 1858, this stained window has certainly let in a lot of religious enlightenment in various places! The East Window isn't the only window in the church to have travelled over the years, the north window of the chancel and those in the south section of the central aisle have come from further afield, Germany and were originally built for the Altenberg Abbey between 1505-1532 and depict the life of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, purchased in 1845 before the abbey was restored following years of neglect, the south aisle also contains windows from the church of  St Aspern in Cologne, France.

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