About St Mary's Church Wreay
St Mary’s Church at Wreay is an outstanding building built in 1842 under the personal direction of a local patron, Sarah Losh. Using local labour she created a highly original work – the product of her exuberant imagination. She based the design on the Romanesque churches that she saw in Northern Italy on her ‘grand tour’. She did not use conventional Christian symbolism but instead filled the church with images of nature from flowers to fossils, from bats to butterflies.
The Parochial Church Council together with the congregation and the Friends of St Mary’s are dedicated to maintaining this unique structure in the most sustainable way.
The challenge that we are now facing is the restoration of 18 arched top windows that step up the west gable. They are filled with stained glass set in alabaster frames - possibly a feature that is unique to St Mary’s. Time and weather has taken its toll and now is the moment to restore them.
The cost of this work is over £80,000. Applications have been made to a number of funding bodies but even if all these are successful and after a considerable contribution from the church itself we still require a further £25,000. Which is where you can help! Please help us to restore this unique building so that future generations can admire and be inspired by Sarah Losh’s unique creation.
www.stmaryswreay.org
raymondwhittaker53@gmail.com
St Mary's Church Wreay Registered charity number HMRC Registered
