The Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin Dean

The ancient church at Deane – in common with most old churches- was built on the best site in the neighbourhood. It stood prominently overlooking a well-wooded dene- from which Deane takes its name- with the distant view of Winter Hill across the wide valley of the Middlebrook. The Church as you see it today dates back to 1452 (over 550 years old). It replaced earlier buildings on this site and traces of those can be clearly seen. For example the North doorway on our left, and the tower behind us are older than the present building. If you look closely at the tower wall you can see the ‘pitch’ of the roof of an earlier building.

There are some very interesting old graves in the churchyard and also what is said to be the stone pedestal for an earlier – perhaps Anglo-Saxon – cross with modern inscription (1893) and stone cross monument to the martyr George Marsh. The inscription states the stone base was moved to Dean Church yard from nearby New York (now New York Rd.) by “the inhabitants of Dean”. According to Dawson the cross may have stood until C1520. There is no mark of the stone pedestal on the C1850 OS map at New York Rd.