St Mary's Church, Newchurch in Pendle

A chapel of ease was on the site of the present church in 1250. A later chapel was dedicated by the Rt Revd John Bird, Bishop of Chester, on 1 October 1544. It is not known when the tower was built, but it was restored in 1653, and again in 1712. The rest of the building dates from around 1740. In 1815 it was decided to raise to walls of the church to accommodate a gallery. This was built between 1816 and 1817 at a cost of £352 (). In 1830 the church bell was purchased. Restorations took place in 1850 and 1902. ==Architecture==

Exterior The church is built in hammer-dressed stone, with ashlar to the porch and a slate roof. Organ The organ in the west gallery was made by Wordsworth and Company of Leeds, and was installed in 1890 at a cost of £550. It was refurbished in 1990 and then completely rebuilt in 2000 by Harrison & Harrison of Durham at a cost of over £75,000. ==External features==

In the churchyard are two Grade II listed features. The Parker tomb is a table tomb dated 1691. The Nutter headstone probably dates from 1694. It is possible that the members of the family inscribed on this headstone were relatives of Alice Nutter, one of the women accused in the Pendle witch trials. ==Present activities==

St Mary's continues to be an active parish church, holding regular services. In addition, it is one of the few remaining churches to hold an annual rushbearing service in August. ==See also==