Church Of St Etheldreda

The Church of St Etheldreda is a building with medieval origins, largely rebuilt in 1698 using old stone and including 13th and 14th century traceried windows. Further additions were made in 1837 with a porch, vestry, and nave gallery, and the chancel was rebuilt between 1876 and 1877. The church consists of a west tower, a three-bay nave with a north vestry and a south porch, and a two-bay chancel. It is constructed of coursed limestone rubble with limestone ashlar dressings, with lead roofs on the nave and chancel and slate roofs on the porch and vestry.

The tower is two stages high, featuring stepped diagonal buttresses, a round-headed west window with raised imposts and a keystone, a moulded string course, and round-headed belfry openings with chamfered jambs and Y-tracery. Gargoyles are present on the north and south sides, surmounted by an embattled parapet with crocketed angle pinnacles. The nave has three pointed three-light windows with Perpendicular tracery, alongside a pointed three-light north window with reset intersecting tracery. The porch is distinguished by a pointed, chamfered outer arch and an inner, slightly pointed, chamfered arch with moulded imposts and a raised keystone. The vestry has a round-headed west window with wooden Y-tracery. The chancel is characterised by stepped buttresses with moulded bases, a moulded cill band, and windows similar to the nave, although the east window has 19th-century tracery, featuring a fine series of carved headstops, a coped gable and shaped kneelers.

Inside, the tower has a round-headed door with raised imposts. A nave gallery is located at the west end, with a painted Gothic-style panelled front supported by a pair of slender cast iron columns with foliate capitals. The chancel has a pointed double-chamfered arch on shafted responds with plain moulded capitals, a moulded cill band, carved headstops to the windows and carved roof corbels. The church contains a gravestone dating from 1666 commemorating J. Merriweather, the Rector, set into the chancel floor, as well as a 1782 marble wall tablet with a draped urn dedicated to John Flail and his wife Hannah. A moulded octagonal pulpit base and steps are also present. A 17th-century font, previously made from a medieval column and base, is located within the tower.