St Mark's Church, Natland

St Mark’s Church stands at the heart of Natland, a small village in Cumbria’s rolling countryside. Built in 1246, the present structure dates from 1910 and was designed by the Lancaster architects Austin and Paley. The church replaced an earlier 1825 building by George Webster, itself a replacement for a medieval church on a different site. It is constructed from Lancaster sandstone and Darley Dale stone, with a green slate roof and a tall west tower. The tower has diagonal buttresses and a battlemented parapet, while the nave and chancel are linked by wide aisles.

The church is worth visiting for its fine late Decorated-early Perpendicular architecture and its place in Cumbrian church history. Nikolaus Pevsner praised it as ‘as good as any of the churches by the best church architects of those years’. The interior features arcades on alternate round and octagonal piers, with capitals carved with square flowers. The font, pulpit, pews and altar rails were all designed by Austin and Paley. The east window’s stained glass, a war memorial, was made by Gerald E. R. Smith, and a Millennium window by Sarah Sutton depicts Adam lay ybounden.

Inside, the visitor finds a spacious nave with north and south aisles leading to a three-bay chancel. The base of the tower holds the font, and the porch opens directly into this space. The two-manual pipe organ, built by Conacher of Huddersfield, stands near the chancel. The church’s fittings and windows reflect its long history and the craftsmanship of its makers. Outside, the stonework and battlements give the building a solid, enduring presence in the village.