St Mary and All Saints' Church, Great Budworth

St Mary and All Saints’ Church stands in the heart of Great Budworth, a village in Cheshire. Built mainly in the 15th and 16th centuries, it mixes Perpendicular and Decorated styles in red sandstone. The church has a west tower, a six-bay nave with clerestory, north and south aisles, and a chancel flanked by chapels. Its crenellated parapet and pinnacles give it a fortified look. Two carved figures on the tower show Saint Christopher and the Blessed Virgin. The churchyard wall, partly medieval, encloses a peaceful space with later additions. The church is recognised as one of the finest parish churches in Cheshire. Experts including Clifton-Taylor and the Buildings of England series praise its architecture and setting. Rowland Egerton-Warburton funded a major restoration in the 1850s. Inside, the nave ceiling has 72 panels from the early 16th century. The Warburton Chapel holds five 13th-century oak stalls, the oldest in the county. The octagonal font dates from the 15th century, and the organ by Samuel Renn, installed in 1839, is of historic importance. Visitors find a rich interior with Jacobean chairs in the sanctuary and Kempe stained glass from 1883 to 1901. The north chapel contains a memorial to the historian Sir Peter Leicester and an 1839 organ restored in 2004. The Warburton Chapel holds an alabaster effigy of Sir John Warburton, who died in 1575. Outside, the churchyard includes a late 18th-century sundial, a 1920 oak lychgate war memorial, and Grade II-listed stocks from the early 18th century. Six war graves mark the resting places of servicemen from two world wars.