History of Bosley Church

The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building. The church was originally dedicated to St. Thomas a Becket of Canterbury but later this was changed to St. Lawrence and then to St. Mary the Virgin. It was formerly a chapel of ease for Prestbury, and was granted the right to have a font and burial ground by Pope Boniface in a Papal Bull of 5 April 1402 as recorded at Lichfield. The parish registers go back to 1728 and the list of vicars to approximately 1596.

The original church, built in 1402 on the authority of a Bull issued by Pope Boniface IX while Henry IV was King of England, was a Chapel of Ease to the Parish Church of Prestbury. The Tower, built of local sandstone, the nave and chancel were timber and plaster and the roof thatched. It is now dedicated to St. Mary the Virgin and was originally dedicated to St. Thomas the Martyr and later to St. Lawrence.
 
The sketch of this building on the west wall shows the main entrance on the south side.  It was burnt down in 1770 leaving only the tower, rebuilt in brick in 1777 and enlarged by the addition of a chancel which added 110 extra sittings in 1834 when William Sutcliffe was the minister. There is a plaque on the south wall to this end.
 

A list of ministers on the east wall by the entrance goes back to 1596.  John Thorley, minister from 1728-65 lived in the church tower which was the customary residence of the minister.  The old school was built in 1736 in what is now the churchyard. Edward Dawson gave £12 towards the building and £12, the interest of which was to be paid to the poor for ever. (see the plaque on the south wall).

When William Sutcliffe became minister in 1833, the building was no longer there and ‘The Old School Cottages’ were built to house the school and caretaker.  The vicarage was built on land to the south of the church in 1853 and by 1858 a new school, big enough to take more pupils was built in land across the road.  The Old Cottages were demolished in 1937.

The railway and viaduct costing £100,000 over the Dane were constructed at this time and William Sutcliffe undertook the chaplaincy when about 2,000 navies were employed.  There is a wall monument in church to John William Nowell, who died in 1851, a railway contractor and was probably involved in the construction. He was married to local girl, Sarah Percival, of Kiln Hill. Their son has a plaque on the north wall.

George Edwin O’Brien, minister from 1891-1916, carved the front of the altar table and the two high backed armchairs in the chancel.  There are words carved on the south side of the choir stalls. After the fire The ancient font was used as a pig trough in a local farm, was rescued and replaced on a new pedestal in 1848 and the face and three escutcheons bearing EEIS added by the mason.

The organ was presented in 1879, the lectern in 1889 and the chancel screen in 1917. The ‘Jacobean’ carved oak pulpit probably dates from the rebuilding of the church after the fire, and the big old oak chest with the marks of the adze when the wood was cut, has three locks and was probably used for the keeping of registers, communion vessels and other valuables.
 
The sundial dated 1652 could have been the original cross used as the place for worship before there was a church, destroyed at the time of Cromwell, and the stump used as a sundial.  There is also a war grave from the WWI.  The oldest grave left with a visible inscription is dated 1671.
 
The tower contains a peal of six bells.  The oldest dated 1663, (Glory to God in the Highest) two of 1756 (Peace and Good Neighbourhood and Prosperity to the Church of England) and two 1934 (In memory of Emma Bullock and In memory of Hannah Maria Goodfellow) and another without inscription.