St Mary's, the parish church of Windermere proper (as opposed to Bowness), is a substantial Victorian building put up in 1848 — within a year of the railway reaching the town — to serve the rapidly growing settlement around the new station. The architect was J. S. Crowther of Manchester, working in a confident Decorated Gothic Revival style, with a tower added in 1882.
The interior carries a fine William Morris-designed organ case and several windows by the Morris & Co. workshop, including a late Burne-Jones design. The church is a quiet alternative to St Martin's in Bowness for visitors interested in 19th-century church architecture and the railway-age development of the Lake District; the contrast between the medieval Bowness church and this assured Victorian building tells the story of Windermere's 19th-century transformation.