Church Of St Edwin

The Church of St Edwin is a parish church largely dating to the 13th century, with origins in around 1170 in its western end. It was extensively rebuilt and refenestrated in the 19th century, particularly in 1844, and further alterations occurred later in the 19th century. The church is constructed of coursed rubble, with some rebuilt sections in snecked sandstone, and has green slate roofs.

The church comprises a west tower with a spire, a nave with a north aisle and north porch, and a chancel with a north vestry. The four-stage tower has loops and two-light pointed bell openings, an embattled parapet with corner pinnacles on a corbel table, and a thin octagonal stone spire. The nave, north aisle, and chancel are largely rebuilt with low, long proportions, featuring mid-19th century openings except where noted. The 5-bay nave includes 4 lancets in the north aisle, alongside a gabled porch at the west end. The clerestory features four restored square windows with trefoiled heads under hoodmoulds.

The south wall displays a narrow original window at the west end and four lancets to the east. The east section of the south wall breaks forward, possibly indicating an earlier aisle. The chancel incorporates an original lancet on the north wall and lancets and a Priest’s door on the south. A chamfered plinth, sill band, and three-stepped lancets are features of the east end.

Inside the church, the tower doorway is shouldered, and a medieval ladder stair is present. A grave slab with interlace is used as a lintel in the third stage of the tower. The north arcade consists of five pointed, double-chamfered arches on squat circular piers, keeled responds with moulded octagonal capitals and bases. The pointed chancel arch has two chamfered and moulded orders and a nailhead hoodmould on keeled responds with foliage capitals. A round-arched, chamfered doorway leads to the vestry, which has a chamfered fireplace and aumbry. A 13th-century font is also present, alongside an aedicular wall monument to Sir Francis Bowes and family dating to 1684, some 17th-century choir stalls with poppyheads and a similar reading desk, and a 1973 south window by L.C. Evetts. Several 16th and 17th-century memorial floor slabs, including one with brass, are also present.