The Collegiate Church of St Mary, Stafford
Introduction
The photograph on this page of The Collegiate Church of St Mary, Stafford by David Dixon as part of the Geograph project.
The Geograph project started in 2005 with the aim of publishing, organising and preserving representative images for every square kilometre of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.
There are currently over 7.5m images from over 14,400 individuals and you can help contribute to the project by visiting https://www.geograph.org.uk
The Collegiate Church of St Mary, Stafford
Image: © David Dixon Taken: 12 Apr 2011
Some stonework in the nave of St Mary's is said to be Norman in origin but the building as it stands today appears to be the result of a total rebuild in the early thirteenth century; the cruciform layout with aisled nave and chancel is typical of this period. Work may have begun in the reign of King John (ruled 1199 - 1216). Prior to the Reformation, St Mary's had a college of thirteen canons (including a dean) and was in effect a cathedral without a bishop. By the late eighteenth century, St Mary's had fallen into such a poor state of repair that it had to be closed. Although repairs enabled it to be re-opened, a major restoration had to be made in 1844. Further restorations took place in the 1870s and between 1947 and 1952. http://www.stmarysstafford.org.uk/ - St Mary's web site
Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0
Image Location
Latitude
52.806203
Longitude
-2.118185