St. Mary's Church stands at the top of Hallgate in the midst of the village of Cottingham. The life and worship of the parish owes much to the traditions of Catholic Anglicanism and consequently our community includes people with both open and traditionalist views on the Church of England and the Christian faith.
 

Whether there was a Church in Cottingham before the Norman Conquest we do not know, for the first reference to the parish occurs in the Chronicles of the Abbey of Meaux of 1160. Of the Church of that time there is no trace but the Nave of the present Church dates from about 1320 and is an early example of the Decorated style. Completion of the Church seems to have been delayed by the Black Death or by shortage of money, and by the time the Chancel and the upper part of the Tower was built, architectural fashions had changed, and it now stands as a fine example of Perpendicular work.

The most prominent person in the history of St. Mary's is probably the 14th century Rector Nicholas de Luda who was responsible for the construction of the Chancel in 1374. A brass monument to de Luda, a wealthy man who held canonries at Beverley and Salisbury and who was presented to the living by the Edward, the Black Prince, may still be seen in the North-East of the Sanctuary.

Today St Mary's stands as a monument to the faith of the apostles in Jesus Christ and continues the prayer of Nicholas de Luda, his predacessors and successors.