St Mary’s Church, Cowley

St Mary’s Church is a grade I listed medieval church which stands in the centre of the beautiful Cotswold village of Cowley, adjacent to its grand neighbour the 19th century Cowley manor and landscaped gardens.

The church consists of a nave and chancel with west end tower. The upper stage of the tower was rebuilt in the early part of the 20th century but minus the corner pinnacles.

The roof coverings of limestone tiles had been re-laid at the time of the Victorian restoration in 1872 and were in a parlous condition with nail failure and delamination of the stone tiles through age and frost damage.

In 2012, the Parish secured partial grant funding from English Heritage and with considerable local effort raised the remaining funds for complete renewal of the roof coverings. Stone tiles were sourced from a newly opened local quarry.

During the repair works some high-level stone repairs and pointing were carried out, and after a lapse of 100 years the pinnacles were reinstated again to grace the tower.