Church Of St. Mary Magdalene

The Church of St. Mary Magdalene is a parish church with Norman and later medieval origins, significantly altered in the 19th century. The most substantial work, including the addition of a north aisle in 1873-4, was undertaken by W. and J. Hay of Liverpool. The church comprises a 3-bay nave with a north aisle and a south porch, and a 2-bay chancel with a north vestry. It is constructed of sandstone rubble, with a partial boulder plinth, quoins, and ashlar dressings; some brickwork is visible at ground level at the east end, and the roof is covered in Welsh slate.

The gabled south porch has a slightly-chamfered round-headed arch leading to a boarded door. Inserted 2-light nave windows, set under relieving arches, replace earlier sash windows, the straight joints indicating their subsequent installation. The lower chancel features a low-side window with a hollow chamfer and round arch, two trefoil-headed 19th-century windows flanking the priest’s door within a 2-centred arch, and a 3-light east window with tracery. The west elevation includes a central buttress with offsets rising to a simple gable bellcote, and a single window in the aisle. The roof has raised eaves, with a visible offset marking the original eaves level on the south elevation. The church is topped with a cruciform angelus finial and an iron cross finial to the chancel. A catslide roof covers the aisle.

Inside, the walls are plastered and the dressings are ashlar. The roof structure is arch-braced, supported by roll-moulded stone corbels (some of medieval origin), with collared rafters and blocking panels above the principals. A single, slightly-trenched purlin is also present. The chancel arch, originally depressed round-headed, has been altered to elliptical form and rests on imposts and chamfered square shafts; the north shaft has broach stops. The arcade features roll-moulded 2-centred arches on round piers with moulded capitals and plinths. The south wall is battered. The rerearches are deeply splayed. A 19th-century octagonal font is set on a round shaft with a stiff-leaf capital. The pews are of boarded pine with shaped ends. The glass is mostly plain, with some coloured quarries; the low-side window incorporates 1873 medallion glass donated by a church warden. Memorials include a small brass in the south chancel wall dedicated to Bryan Lencester (died 1759), bearing the inscription 'Quam vixit erga cognatos pius et officiosus - Hocce aes testetur’ and the initials 'H.S.J.'. An eroded stone memorial is set into the chancel floor.