Building history

St Mary’s was awarded Listed Building status (Grade 2) in 1966. In some respects, it had been fortunate to survive. Whatever the quality of the design, the church had been poorly built: it suffered from defective materials and poor workmanship, to the extent that major restoration was needed barely 30 years after it opened. This restoration was completed by 1928, following advice from the architect WD Caroe: it resulted in the extension of the chapel, to allow for the better buttressing of the chancel arch, which had been showing signs of movement; but the defects were not entirely cured, and the second World War prevented further repairs, particularly to the roof, being addressed in a timely way. There was a major fundraising campaign in the early 1950s which paid for the replacement of the roof over the nave, under the leadership of the then Vicar, A S Jackson, who also secured the replacement of the notoriously damp and forbidding Vicarage with the present building. Further work to eradicate dry rot had to be undertaken in the early 1980s, and the most recent restoration took place in 2009/10. This involved spending nearly £250,000 on the replacement of the aisle roofs, the roofs over the side chapel and the vestries, extensive stonework renewals and repointing to the bell cotes and parapets, the renewal of rainwater goods, the conservation and cleaning of the windows and the redecoration of the church interior, under the direction of the Church’s current architect, Stephen Parry. This was largely paid for by a very generous grant from English Heritage, supplemented by fundraising by the congregation. A lot of Horbury people (as well as the township’s principal charity, the Common Lands Trust) contributed to the fundraising effort, which has meant that St Mary’s is now in as good a state structurally as at any time since 1893.

The final element of the restoration was the renewal of the stonework in the porch, which is seriously eroded: this work was completed in the Summer of 2010.