St Mary’s Church stands on the south-west side of Ennerdale Bridge, just yards from the Coast to Coast path as it leaves Scarny Brow. It occupies a crescent above the River Ehen, with its churchyard sloping gently toward the water. The site began as a medieval chapel of ease, built by St Bees Abbey and recorded in 1534. A small section of dog-tooth carving above the porch and chancel arch is thought to be Norman, dating between 1066 and 1485. The present building, designed in the Romanesque style by Charles Eaglesfield of Maryport, was completed in 1858. Its rounded arches, stone walls, and bright red door give it a distinctive character, making it a worthwhile stop for any Coast to Coast walker.

In medieval England, a “chapel of ease” was built to serve parishioners who lived too far from the main parish church to attend services regularly. Often funded by local lords or monastic houses, these chapels were smaller, simpler buildings intended for worship and basic rites, though not all had burial rights. St Mary’s began as such a chapel, constructed by St Bees Abbey to serve the remote community of Ennerdale, whose parish church lay miles away at St Bees on the coast. The chapel spared residents the arduous journey over moor and fell, especially in winter when the tracks became impassable. This practical need was common in the scattered settlements of Cumbria, where geography often shaped the religious landscape as much as faith itself.

In 1799, William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge visited the old chapel that once stood here. Speaking with the priests about the graves in the churchyard, Wordsworth found inspiration for his 1800 poem The Brothers, which opens with a vivid description of this very setting.

"Thus spake the homely Priest of Ennerdale. It was a July evening, and he sate Upon the long stone seat beneath the eaves Of his old cottage ... Towards the field In which the Parish Chapel stood alone, Girt round with a bare ring of mossy wall ..."