Church Of St German

The Church of St. German is a parish church dating back to the 12th century, with significant alterations in the 15th century and a complete rebuilding in 1861 by James Fowler, who incorporated some earlier fragments into the new structure. The church is constructed of limestone ashlar with slate roofs, stone coped gables, and finials. It comprises a west tower, a nave, a chancel, and a north vestry. A plinth runs around the entire building.

The west tower features two-stage angle buttresses and a west doorway with a pointed head, moulded jambs, a hood mould, and plank doors. Above the doorway is a single lancet window. A broader lancet window is located on the south side. The tower's bell openings have pointed heads with two cusped ogee-headed lights, quatrefoils, and hood moulds. Elaborate gargoyles depicting pigs and humans protrude from the moulded eaves, topped by battlements with four corner pinnacles.

The north side of the nave has a two-stage buttress and a pointed window with two cusped, ogee-headed lights, a quatrefoil, a hood mould, and ornate label stops. A tall chimney is situated to the east. The projecting north vestry includes fragments of a 15th-century mullion window. The north window is pointed with two pointed cusped lights and an oculus, set within a hood mould and label stops. The north side of the chancel has a single cusped pointed light, also with a hood mould and label stops.

The east end has two-stage angle buttresses and a moulded string course leading to a pointed window with three pointed cusped lights, three cusped curved triangular mouchettes above, a hood mould, and label stops. The south side of the chancel has a similar moulded string course and a pointed window with two cusped lights, a mouchette, a hood mould, and label stops. A two-stage buttress stands to the west. The nave has two pointed windows, each with two cusped ogee-headed lights, a quatrefoil, a hood mould, and label stops, accompanied by a two-stage buttress.

The early 12th-century tower arch is round with a roll-moulded head, a voissoired outer order, large chamfered imposts, and rectangular jambs. The 19th-century chancel arch is richly moulded with three clustered shafts; the central shaft on each side has fillets, stiff leaf capitals, a filleted hood mould, and head label stops. The 19th-century north vestry doorway has a pointed head, a chamfered surround, a hood mould with label stops, and a plank door. The vestry fireplace has a pointed, richly moulded head and trefoiled oculi in the spandrels. The east window features detached nook shafts and a narrow blind arcade with pointed heads and nook shafts. The nave has a 19th-century tie beam roof, while the chancel has a wagon roof. The church also contains 19th-century pews, a pulpit, choir stalls, an altar rail, a chair, and an octagonal stone font with cusped panels bearing flower heads and coats of arms. Two marble monuments are present: one to John Otter, vicar, who died in 1854, and another to Mary Denton, who died in 1837. The spine beams are stop-chamfered with run-out stops.