Parish Church Of St Mary The Virgin

The parish church of St Mary the Virgin primarily dates to the 11th century, with significant extensions in the late 12th century, improvements in the 15th century, and a substantial restoration and enlargement in 1877. It has a cruciform plan. The chancel is two bays long and crenellated, featuring mock Tudor three-light tracery, incorporating earlier lancet windows and a sedilia. The east window is a three-light Perpendicular style window with wood mouldings and carved head stags. A late 19th-century vestry is located on the north side. The squat, crenellated tower originally extended below the ridge line, and its upper section features two-light, louvred, 15th-century square-headed windows with foils. The crossing arches are wide, with voussoirs curving to match their shape. The masonry of the tower and north transept, along with Saxon crossing arches, is the sole remaining evidence of the church’s original Saxon cross plan in County Durham. A 1877 window was inserted into the north transept. The three-bay crenellated nave, featuring a 15th-century clerestory and aisles (added in 1877), contains six three-light windows divided by wall buttresses. The western end was also restored in 1877, including a five-light Perpendicular style window. Three finely inscribed 18th-century tomb slabs bearing the names Gregory, Taylor, and Hendry are located at the west end. Inside, the chancel retains remains of a Transitional/Early English east end shelf arrangement, visible on the south wall through the undercut chevron of the sedilia arch. A line on the north wall may indicate a former vault. A fragment of an Anglo-Saxon cross is found in the south-east pier. A notable 14th-century effigy, likely representing Roger Fulbrooke (died 1337), is positioned near the south-west pier; its sarcophagus originated from Grindon Abbey and is now located at Thorpe Thewles church. In the late 16th century, Sir William Blakiston’s arms were carved onto the effigy’s shield. The nave features a late 12th-century pointed arcade with round piers and octagonal caps; an ornate decorated foliate cap on an earlier 12th-century pier at the west end of the nave is particularly noteworthy. A lintel made from a tomb head is set above the central south clerestory window. The 1877 porch incorporates fragments of reused chevron and billet moulding, as well as the headless body of a female figure. Modern woodwork, including pews, a pulpit, and rails, was created by Mousey Thompson.