The Interior . The latter half of the 19th century  was a period  of considerable  church building and refurbishment.  It is likely that church’s perfect acoustics played a key part in prompting the very musical Lady Cynthia Graham, wife of Sir Richard Graham of Netherby, to take an interest in transforming the interior. Lady Cynthia was probably influential too in securing the services of  Temple Moore  as the architect;  he had undertaken commissions for her father the Earl of Feversham in North Yorkshire. The Florentine ceiling and acanthus leaf decoration on the keystones of the window arches  may have dictated the Italianate Baroque scheme as Temple Moore was best known as a Gothic Revivalist. An important  feature of Gothic Revival Architecture was the re-introduction of Christian symbols many of which are derived from  those of more ancient pagan cultures. The  underlying  aim of  Temple Moore’s  design is, as in medieval times, to proclaim the Christian message of man’s salvation through Christ’s death and passion by symbols and images.  In its attention to detail the Scheme provides a first class example of the integration of different styles into a unified whole .

The Altar - The  Altarpiece blocks the central  window of the Church’s Venetian style north window. The painting is a copy of Raphael’s last painting   “The Transfiguration”  which  affirms the Divinity of Christ.  The IHS  Christogram  (a monogram of the first letters of Jesus name from the Greek)  above the painting  is a further affirmation of  the Christian message. The original  Painting now hangs in the Vatican..  The Orb with  Cross at the top of the frame serves a  dual purpose,  a symbolic one  in signifying God’s dominion over the world  and a  structural one  in fixing the frame  into the ceiling joists to give it stability .

The Organ - The Organ to the left of the altar was supplied by Messrs. Brown of Deal. The pipes above the right hand vestry are dummy ones to balance the design. The organ is powered by electric bellows and has been converted to an electronic mechanism      

The Screen with its Corinthian Columns and Broken Pediment, Choir Stalls and Altarpiece – were carved by  Messrs  Martin  of London ; installed by  Messrs Davidson of Carlisle and painted and gilded by a  Longtown firm .  The green of the Choir is lightened by the use  of  azure  on the organ  cases  and white on  the faces of the cherubs’  on the grille over the windows.  

The Screen Decoration - One large shield contains the monogramed letters AO – Alpha and Omega, the First  and the Last - a further symbol for Christ, and the other another IHS Christogram   

The  Cross with a circle on each arm forms a tetramorph (an arrangement of four shapes into a whole);  the symbols inside the circles are those  of the four gospel writers.   Clockwise from the bottom :-

The  Man  – St Matthew     The  Lion – St Mark     The Eagle – St Luke     The  Calf – St John

Each symbol represents the different aspect of Christ which that writer’s gospel portrays. The first biblical reference to men with  creatures’ faces  occurs in the  Old Testament in the Vision of Ezekiel.  But the idea of a whole creature composed of parts  of different creatures with  each part having a separate significance has its origins in  the  Sphinxes of Egypt and the ancient civilisations of Babylon and Assyria. A spear and a reed on a sponge form diagonals behind the Cross. The small shields show nails, a hammer, pliers, scourges (whips) and a reed with a sponge. These and other images from the Passion are repeated in the borders of the stained glass window panels. At the centre of the Cross  is  the Lamb with the flag, the Agnus Dei symbol , representing Christ’s triumph over death.  At  the top of the Screen, anchoring the screen to the ceiling joists sits a  small pelican with its beak towards its breast;  a pose known as “a pelican in its piety” and a medieval symbol for the Eucharist.  The pelican was thought to  pluck at its breast to draw blood to feed its young.  The symbol  has its origins in the ancient  Egyptian  hieroglyph  of a pelican which denoted  the duties of a father to his children.