Church Of St Mary

The Church of St Mary is a parish church largely dating from the 12th, 13th and 14th centuries. It is constructed of coursed stone and ashlar, with a plinth, moulded bands, and roofs that are part Collyweston slate and part parapetted. The church comprises a west tower with a spire, a nave, aisles, a chancel, a north chancel aisle and a south porch.

The west tower, dating from around 1300, has three stages and a spire. A west window features a cusped head, and a southwest corner buttress extension contains a staircase. Above the west window is a frieze of small human heads. Four bell openings have restored plate tracery, hood moulds, and label stops. The spire cornice displays ball flower and head decoration. A square pyramid roof is followed by a small section of square tower with a row of miniature battlemented turrets. Here, four two-light gabled lucarnes feature shafts and finials. The pyramid roof continues behind the turrets and lucarnes, with flat broaches on the corners, and another battlemented turret projecting from each broach. A mask sits atop each broach, marking the beginning of an octagonal, two-stage spire. Four similar lucarnes are present. The spire becomes pyramidical at its summit, topped with a gilded weathercock.

Inside the nave, triple-shafted responds lead to three tower arches. There are three-bay north and south arcades: the north arcade is Norman, with rounded arches and roll mouldings on circular piers; the south arcade, dating from around 1200, has rounded double-chamfered arches on circular piers. The nave has a low-pitch cambered tie beam roof, supported by restored stone corbels. A clerestory features three flat-topped, two-light cusp-headed windows. The north aisle has a restored ball flower and head frieze, a north door, and four restored curvilinear tracery windows. The north chancel chapel has a two-bay arcade on quatrefoil piers. The chancel features a Reticulated east window and a 19th-century double purlin roof with curved braces to collars from stone corbels or angels. The south aisle is fine Decorated, with an east window featuring curvilinear tracery and ball flower decoration, and two flat-topped south windows with Reticulated tracery and a ball flower and head frieze. The gabled south porch has a south doorway with sunk quadrant mouldings. Other features include a Norman font, a south aisle piscina, a clock by John Watts of Sleaford, dated 1688, and 19th-century stained glass, mostly by Wailes around 1860 (except for medieval fragments in the northeast window). A complete set of fine carved 19th-century oak pews, lectern and pulpit are present, along with an elaborately carved oak reredos by J. Richardson of Stamford around 1860. 18th-century wall monuments and a brass of around 1847 to the Snow family, designed by Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin, are also notable.