Church Of St Winifred

The Church of St. Winifred is a building of significant group value, dating from the 12th century with substantial additions and alterations in the 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries, and a 19th-century restoration. It is constructed primarily of rubble magnesian limestone, with red tile roofs. The church comprises a west tower, a three-bay nave with a south porch and a separately-roofed two-bay south chapel, and a narrower, lower two-bay chancel.

The west tower is of Perpendicular style, with three stages. It has a chamfered plinth and moulded band, with diagonal buttresses flanking a three-light west window with a hoodmould. Slit windows are present in the internal south-west stair turret. String courses run below and above the short second stage, and there are two-light, pointed-arched belfry openings with louvres and hoodmoulds. Gargoyles are situated on the string course below the embattled ashlar parapet, which is topped with eight crocketed pinnacles.

The south porch to the nave has a double-chamfered pointed arch beneath a coped gable. A simple pointed arch forms the doorway within. To the left of the porch is a restored two-light window with cusping and a hoodmould. The late 14th-century south chapel has a moulded plinth, quoins, and an offset diagonal east buttress. It features a square-headed south window of two ogee lights, and contains 19th-century pedimented wall monuments flanking a good three-light east window with reticulated tracery, with a chamfered eaves band featuring two grotesque masks. The north wall of the nave has a diagonal west buttress and a renewed quadrant-moulded doorway with a hoodmould, flanked by pointed two-light windows with cusping and hoodmoulds. Cusped twin lancets are located in the third bay.

The chancel, dating from the 12th and 13th centuries, has a blocked, chamfered, and round-arched priests' door on its left, adjacent to a pointed-arched, two-light window with a double-chamfered surround and cusping. A trefoil-headed lancet is to the north, and a renewed triple lancet to the east. 19th-century gable copings and crosses are present throughout the building.

Inside, a double-chamfered tower arch features an inner order resting on corbels carved with daggers; a round inner arch provides access to the south door. The south chapel contains an ogee-headed piscina with a half-octagonal bowl. A plain 12th-century chancel arch springs from a chamfered impost. Above and to the left of the priests' door is a partial round-headed window surround. A font of octagonal, chalice-shaped construction with foiled side panels is also present. Numerous good 18th-century wall monuments are in the nave, notably a large, broken-pedimented aedicule with fluted pilasters commemorating George Pashley (died 1663), with a date of 1708. The north chapel contains a cross slab to Nicholas Hall (died 1523) and Margaret (died 1500), and further slabs to Bridget Bosvile (died 1793) and Hugh Bosvile (died 1581).