Church Of Saint Clement

The Church of St Clement is a parish church with a Norman tower arch and arcades dating from the 13th and 14th centuries. The main body of the church was rebuilt between 1873 and 1877 by W Scott Champion, who incorporated reused medieval masonry and details. The church is constructed from limestone and ironstone ashlar with limestone ashlar dressings, and features a chalk facing on the interior. The roof is slate-covered.

The west tower is a two-stage structure with diagonal buttresses, a moulded plinth, and a pointed 2-light traceried west window. It has single-light windows with hood-moulds and a moulded string course raised above a clockface on the west side. Twin square-headed traceried belfry openings are topped by a parapet and a low, four-sided spire with an iron cross finial. The north aisle has a chamfered plinth, a restored square-headed 2-light north window with hood-mould and headstops, and pointed 3-light and 2-light traceried east and west windows. The south aisle features buttresses and pointed 3-light traceried windows, a pointed 2-light west window with hood-mould and headstops, and a pointed east door with the original hood-mould and headstops. The chancel has angle buttresses with traceried panels, gabled off-sets to the east, and pointed 3-light traceried windows. An open timber porch stands on a dwarf ashlar wall with traceried side panels and a decorative bargeboard, incorporating a pointed double-chamfered inner door.

Inside, a tall Norman round-headed tower arch has chamfered imposts. The north arcade, dating from the 14th to 15th centuries, consists of three bays with pointed double-chamfered arches on octagonal piers, with restored capitals and bases. The south arcade, also from the late 13th to early 14th centuries, has pointed double-chamfered arches on a 19th-century re-cut filleted quatrefoil pier and keeled responds with 19th-century capitals and bases. A 19th-century wooden chancel arch is also present. The east window contains a central stained-glass crucifixion panel by Kempe. A late 14th-century grave slab is located in the vestry, displaying a much-worn effigy of a lady, and a damaged 14th-century incised grave slab commemorating a civilian and his wife is found at the base of the tower. A notable wall tablet from 1670 in the tower commemorates the children of John, Lord Bellasyse, featuring a detailed inscription within a carved surround, scrolls, hatchments, and arms. Another marble wall tablet from 1854 is dedicated to Captain Augustus Webb, who was mortally wounded in charge of Light Cavalry at Balaclava. A disused medieval, likely Romanesque, font in the tower has a circular bowl with carved circular and semicircular motifs.