St Mary
Windermere, Cumbria
St Mary's church came into being as a direct result of the coming of the railway to Windermere, just a short walk downhill from the Railway Station and in view of the Lake and magnificent fells.
This medieval building’s classic Lakeland stone exterior conceals a surprising and much admired interior including what one expert has called ‘the finest collection of medieval glass in the northwest of England’. A testimony to a heritage of centuries of faith and the home of a living Christian community. Connections with the slave trade, freed slaves and William Wilberforce.
At the medieval heart of Bowness, St Martin’s witnesses to over 800 years of Christian faith. Earliest written records show a church here in 1203. The shape of the churchyard, and the dedication to St Martin point back perhaps more than a millennium.
The patchwork nature of St Martin’s shows its centuries old place in the heart of the community. The font predates the present church building. The present building dates from 1483. The mainly 15th century east window (with a 13th century panel) came to St Martin’s from Cartmel Priory at that time. It has been described as the finest collection of medieval glass in the northwest of England, (and includes arms of ancestors of George Washington). The walls paintings date from the 16th and 17th centuries, with a fine scheme from 1870, the height of the Gothic Revival. There are fine Victorian and 20th century stained glass windows as well.
The Memorial Chapel commemorates local men killed in the First World War, with a further tablet for those who died in the Second World War.
The new millennium saw the painstaking conservation of the east window. Also a glass screen was installed under the tower (commemorating the Curwen family of Belle Isle). It is decorated with an ‘Angels and Music’ design by artist and glass engraver, Sally Scott, whose work also graces Leeds Parish Church, Walsingham, Ripon Cathedral and Westminster Abbey
The le Fleming family of Rayrigg Hall on the lakeshore were patrons of the parish and William Wilberforce enjoyed their hospitality. St Martin’s churchyard includes a listed grave of freed slave Rasselas Belfield, and by a historical irony it also includes the grave of John Bolton, builder of Storrs Hall and local benefactor, whose wealth was founded on the ‘triangular trade’.
The present worshipping community at St Martin’s to continues in the long tradition here of Christian discipleship. We seek to offer a warm welcome to visitors and an opportunity for all to discover for themselves the fullness of life in the love of God shown for us in Jesus Christ.
