St Mary's Church, Handbridge

St Mary's Church is in Overleigh Road in Handbridge, an area south of the River Dee, in the city of Chester, Cheshire, England. It is also known as the Church of St Mary-without-the-Walls. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building. It is an active Anglican parish church in the diocese of Chester, the archdeaconry of Chester and the deanery of Chester.HistoryThe church was built between 1885 and 1887 to a design by F. B. Wade for the 1st Duke of Westminster. A porch was added on the south face of the tower in 1914 which was designed by P. H. Lockwood.ArchitectureExteriorSt Mary's is constructed in ashlar Waverton stone with dressings of Runcorn sandstone. It has Westmorland green slate roofs. The plan consists of a five-bay nave with a clerestory, a three-bay chancel, a chapel at the southeast, an organ chamber and a vestry. There are two porches, on one the south and one on the north. At the west end is a three-stage tower with a recessed spire. It has clock faces to the north, west and south, paired louvred bell-openings on each face, a machicolated parapet, two pinnacles at each corner, lucarnes to each cardinal face of the spire and a weathervane.