St Mary's Church, Pulford

St Mary’s Church stands in the quiet village of Pulford, Cheshire. The building is a Grade II* listed Anglican parish church, designed in the Decorated style. It replaced an earlier church between 1881 and 1884 under the direction of architect John Douglas. The Duke of Westminster helped pay for its construction. A fire in the 1990s damaged the spire, which was later rebuilt. The church has a large buttressed tower topped with a shingled spire and corner spirelets. Inside, the monochrome reredos was made by Shrigley and Hunt. Two stained glass windows come from Heaton, Butler and Bayne, and one from Kempe. A memorial board on the south wall remembers the Burgayney family, lost between 1670 and 1693. The board was rediscovered at an auction seventy years after being mislaid during the 1880s rebuilding. Eight bells hang in the tower, six cast in 1882 and two in 1903 by John Taylor and Company. Outside, the churchyard holds a sundial dated 1702. A war grave for a Royal Welsh Fusiliers soldier from the First World War lies to the west. To the south, the remains of Pulford Castle appear as earthworks. The nave has no aisles, and the chancel includes transepts and a north porch. Red sandstone bands lighten the exterior beneath red-tiled roofs.