St Mary's Church is a parish church of the Church of England in Rolleston on Dove, Staffordshire. Parts of the structure date to 1130, though it was extensively renovated in 1892. It is unusual in having the main entrance door on the north side, with the southern entrance reserved for members of the Mosley family, local landowners and key donors to the church. The church features stained glass windows dating to the medieval period and others by Victorian designer Charles Eamer Kempe. The tower houses eight bells, one dating to 1586. The church is grade I listed and there are associated grade II listings for churchyard railings, a memorial, the lychgate and a former church grammar school. The lychgate, by Lincolnshire architect Cecil Greenwood Hare, also functions as a war memorial.
Organisation
The church is the parish church of Rolleston on Dove, Staffordshire in the Diocese of Lichfield in the Church of England. It lies within the deanery of Tutbury and the archdeaconry of Stoke-upon-Trent. By 2018 the vicar also covered Holy Trinity Church in Anslow and St Mary's Church, Tutbury. The church holds holy communion on the first and third Sunday evenings of the month and choral evensong on the other Sunday evenings. An early morning holy communion is held on the first Sunday of the month and midweek communions every Thursday morning. A morning prayer is held on the third and fourth Sundays of the month.
History
A church is thought to have stood on the site since at least the early Norman period as a priest is recorded as residing at Rolleston in the 1086 Domesday book, though the present structure is later. The advowson was owned by the lord of the manor of Rolleston. In 1261 the lord of the manor, Robert de Ferrers, 6th Earl of Derby, gave the advowson to the priory at Tutbury but it was reclaimed in 1272 by Robert's successor, Edmund, Earl of Leicester. It passed to the Crown in 1399 as part of the Duchy of Lancaster. It remained in crown control until the early 17th century. Sir Edward Mosley, 1st Baronet acquired the advowson shortly after becoming lord of the manor in the 1620s. The Mosley family had close connections to the church and several members of the family, often younger sons, served as rector. They had their own private entrance on the south of the building, and held rights over seating and the erection of monuments in the south aisle. The Mosley family remain extant and retain the right of burial in the churchyard, which otherwise closed in 1974 when the local authority constructed a cemetery to the north-west of the village.
The advowson passed to Sir C.A. King-Hardman in 1929 and was transferred to the Martyrs Memorial and Church of England Trust (MMT) in 1939. The MMT is now part of the Church Pastoral Aid Society and retain the right to present clergy for appointment to the church.
The church held a glebe of of land in Rolleston and in Anslow and received tithes from both settlements. The income was around £36 in the 13th century, but rose to around £60 in the early 17th century, and to more than £700 by 1831. The tithes for Rolleston were commuted in 1837 and for Anslow in 1844. Most of the glebe was sold in 1881. The church, first listed by Historic England on 12 March 1964 is grade I listed.
Current structure
The current church dates to the 12th and 13th centuries. It underwent a major restoration in 1892 by the architect Sir Arthur Blomfield. The oldest surviving portion is the north entrance (unusual in a church, whose entrances are usually on the south), in Romanesque style and dating to 1130. The church is constructed of ashlar sandstone and consists of a nave, chancel and tower with spire. There are aisles on the north and south sides of the church.
The nave, much of which is 13th century, is almost entirely enclosed by the aisles. There are two bays exposed on the south of the church, the one to the left of the aisle holds the 12th-century round-arched entrance doorway and the one to the right a pointed window with three lights. The single bay exposed on the north side of the church contains a window described as of unusual 17th-century construction with three treofil-topped lights and a criss-cross panel over. The nave is supported by buttresses, two stages in height. There is a three-light pointed window to the eastern end of the chancel and a cinquefoil-headed window on the north wall. The nave and chancel are roofed in red tiles.