Church Of St Mary

The Church of St Mary is a parish church with a Romanesque west tower and the main body of the church dating from the early 13th century. It underwent extensive restoration in 1853 by P.C. Hardwick. The church is constructed of sandstone and limestone rubble masonry with a steeply-pitched green slate roof. It comprises a square west tower, aisled nave, chancel and a north chapel, appearing long and low in proportion.

The four-stage west tower is demarcated by horizontal bands, and a fragment of a 10th or 11th century grave slab is set into the base of the west wall. Romanesque masonry extends up to the corbel table, featuring two round-arched openings and a later battlemented parapet. Two substantial 14th-century diagonal buttresses support the tower. A pointed doorway, dating from 1853, is located in the south wall.

The west ends of the aisles have single lancet windows and buttresses were added to support the tower arch. 19th-century windows, primarily in Perpendicular style with some Geometrical elements, retain their original rear arches. Similar 19th-century windows are found in the chancel, and the east end features five stepped lancets with a quatrefoil above. The north aisle return wall has an original two-light window with Geometrical tracery. The nave clerestory has four small, irregularly spaced lancets, mirrored in the north aisle and clerestory.

The chancel has a double-chamfered plinth, and except for the north wall, was rebuilt in 1853 using original materials. It is divided into three bays by pilaster buttresses; the east end features clasping buttresses. The south wall incorporates a two-light low-side window with Y-tracery and a pointed hoodmould. The two-bay north chapel has two-light lancet windows with Y-tracery.

Internally, the tower arch is an early Romanesque double-chamfered design. Double-chamfered pointed nave arcades have hoodmoulds and carved stops. Keeled east and west responds feature, with three columns alternating between round and octagonal forms, the order being reversed between the north and south aisles. The bases and capitals follow the plan of the columns: octagonal columns have waterholding bases and nailhead decorated capitals, while two round columns boast leafy capitals. A mid-19th century arch-braced crown-post roof has embattled tie-beams. There are two steps up to a wide, double-chamfered chancel arch resting on semi-octagonal moulded corbels. The east end displays detached shafts of Frosterly marble positioned between the lancets, with flanking blank niches. The chancel roof is barrelled.

Furnishings include 48 mid-17th century pew ends, notable for their deep relief carving and poppyheads, crafted in the style of Bishop Cosin's craftsmen. The chancel screen includes some mid-17th century traceried panelling. The reredos, largely mid-17th century, features carved panels and a crocketed canopy. A 19th-century font stands on a probable medieval moulded base and stepped round plinth.

Monuments within the church include a well-preserved 14th-century recumbent female effigy in Frosterly marble and a late 13th-century recumbent effigy of a knight in armour, bearing a shield displaying three popinjays, possibly representing Marmaduke Fitz Galfrid of Horden.