Church Of St Mary The Virgin

The Church of St. Mary the Virgin is a parish church built in 1871 by R.J. Johnson of Newcastle, which incorporates a 13th-century north arcade from a medieval church. It is constructed of squared stone with ashlar dressings and features Lakeland slate roofs. The church has a four-bay aisled nave, a west tower, a south-west choir vestry, and a south porch, along with a three-bay chancel that includes an organ chamber. The design is in the Decorated Gothic style.

The tall four-stage tower is characterized by three-stepped angle buttresses and a south-west stair turret, along with string courses and an embattled parapet that has corner pinnacles. The west side of the tower features a three-light window and paired two-light belfry openings set in square-headed panels. The body of the church includes a plinth, sill string, eaves cornice, and moulded parapets. The south porch has double boarded doors with an external wooden grid beneath a pointed arch. The church also has a variety of window styles, including two-, three-, and four-light windows, as well as a lancet clerestorey, and the gables are coped with finial crosses.

Inside, the four-bay nave arcades have pointed double-chamfered arches supported by round piers with moulded capitals and bases. The responds of both arcades feature 13th-century waterleaf capitals. There are double-chamfered arches leading to the tower and chancel. The sanctuary has a wall arcade with moulded arches on marble shafts.

Notable interior features include good late 19th-century stained glass and an elaborate wall monument to Lady Ridley, who died in 1899, located on the south side of the chancel. There is also a monument to the 1st Viscount Ridley, who died in 1904 and served as Secretary of State to Queen Victoria from 1895 to 1900, situated at the east end of the north aisle. This monument includes a bronze effigy by Sir W. Reynolds Stephens on a cruciform marble tomb chest by D. Blow. The organ chamber window features medieval heraldic glass, which was presented to the church in 1772 by the 2nd Baronet Ridley. Additionally, there are carved openwork pulpit, lectern, altar rails, and stalls in a similar style. Under the tower, ten medieval cross-slab grave covers have been re-set in the floor, including two with unusual Celtic-style crosses, as well as a late medieval limestone slab with a marginal inscription. There is also a stone in the tower depicting a small dancing figure above a skull with cable-moulded edges, which may be of Pre-Christian origin.