St Mary's Church, Patshull

St Mary’s Church stands beside a lake in parkland near Patshull Hall in Staffordshire. It is a Grade II* listed building under the Churches Conservation Trust. The present church replaced a medieval one in about 1743 and was designed by James Gibbs for Sir John Astley. The church’s sandstone walls and lead roofs show Gibbs’s style. In 1874 W. C. Banks added a north aisle, bell tower and dome. The tower rises in three stages with round-headed bell openings and a lead cupola. Inside, a gilded iron screen divides nave from chancel. Visitors find round arches on square piers and a marble font. Memorials include alabaster tombs to the Astley family and a medieval coffin lid on the south wall. The churchyard holds war graves of two First World War soldiers.