Church Of St Mary

A parish church of major importance, originating in 1170 with significant expansion in the mid 14th century. The building was comprehensively restored by George Gilbert Scott between 1858 and 1867, and again by J. L. Pearson in 1885–86. It is constructed in limestone ashlar and rubble with some red brick patching, beneath lead roofs of 1885 featuring stone coped gables with cross finials and stone corbel tables.

Exterior

The church comprises a nave with a west tower, north and south aisles, a south porch, clerestory, north and south transepts, and chancel.

The west tower dates to the late 15th century and rises in three stages, with a moulded plinth and string course, and four-stage angle buttresses. The second stage features ornate gablets. A north-east polygonal stair turret is set at this corner, pierced by three slit lights and crowned with a parapet. The west elevation displays a triangular-headed doorway with continuously moulded surround, hood mould, and double plank doors. Above rises a large pointed window containing four pointed lights with a castellated transom and lower semi-circular headed lights, the tracery arranged in panel form with castellations and a bowtell moulded surround. Bell openings on all four sides are pointed, each with a bowtell moulded surround, two semi-circular headed cusped lights with mouchettes, and hood moulds. The tower is finished with moulded eaves, battlements, and ornate corner pinnacles.

The north aisle is buttressed regularly with two-stage buttresses and retains a blocked pointed west opening above three corbels. The north side features a mid-14th-century doorway with a pointed head, continuously moulded surround, hood mould, and double plank doors. Immediately adjacent are two windows with pointed heads and hood moulds; to their right stand two semi-circular headed lights with early flowing tracery, and to the left, two ogee-headed lights with mouchettes.

The north transept projects eastward and was restored by Scott in 1858–67. It is flanked by two-stage angle buttresses, with a pointed north window containing three pointed cusped lights arranged with intersecting geometric tracery, a sill band, and hood mould. A similar window occupies the east side.

The clerestory, dating to around 1170 and heavily restored by Pearson in 1885, comprises four semi-circular roll-moulded openings each containing an inner lancet. A fifth opening was broken into by the transept roof.

The north side of the chancel dates to around 1175 and displays three tall lancets alternating with two-stage buttresses, beneath a roll-moulded sill band. Moulded eaves above are adorned with small sculptured motifs. The east end features three lancets alternating with four slender two-stage buttresses, with a quatrefoil above set in a roll-moulded surround. The south side of the chancel likewise has three lancets alternating with four two-stage buttresses, and is punctuated by a doorway to the left with a semi-circular roll-moulded head, hood mould, and double plank doors. A narrow two-light tall mullion window stands to the left of this doorway.

The east side of the south transept, restored by Scott in 1858–67, contains a pointed window with three trefoil-headed lights, 19th-century geometric tracery, hood mould, and head label stops. A monument to Thomas Lupton (died 1716) is attached to its left side, featuring pilasters, a segmental pediment, and cherubs. The south end of the transept displays a sill band and a pointed window with four cusped ogee-headed lights, 19th-century geometrical tracery, and a 14th-century hood mould with lion label stops. Above runs a cornice, originally surmounting a sundial now lost.

The south side of the south aisle contains two pointed 19th-century windows, each with two ogee-headed cusped lights, mouchettes, hood moulds, and head label stops.

The south porch is gabled and dates to the late 12th century. Its pointed chamfered head is supported on triple shafts with moulded capitals, and a small oculus pierces the gable above. The porch interior is finished with flanking stone benches surmounted on each side by a blind arcade of four pointed arches supported on free-standing shafts with crocket capitals. The south doorway displays a pointed roll-moulded head with a chamfered inner order and single shafts bearing stiff-leaf capitals. Five 19th-century Purbeck marble gravestones are set into the porch floor.

A pointed window to the left of the porch and another in the west end of the south aisle both contain two ogee-headed cusped lights with mouchettes, hood moulds, and fine 14th-century label stop busts.

The clerestory on the south side of the building, restored by Pearson with three roll-moulded windows to the left featuring paired shafts and crocket capitals, is supplemented on the right by two 15th-century trefoil-headed windows.

Interior

The interior of the tower is reached through a late-15th-century pointed arch with a double-chamfered head, hood mould, moulded filleted jambs with castellated capitals. The tower interior retains fragmentary springers and wall ribs of a lierne vault, now lost, and projecting gargoyles to the north-east and south-east.

The nave arcades, dating to the late 12th century, comprise five bays to both north and south, with the north-west bay blocked. The arcades feature round piers with detached shafts (some replacements), all bearing crocket or incipient stiff-leaf capitals. The arches are pointed with an outer roll-moulded order and an inner chamfered order.

The north aisle connects into the north transept through an askew pointed double-chamfered archway, while the west end of the north aisle contains a pointed blocked doorway. The south aisle leads into the south transept through a double-chamfered pointed arch.

An early 13th-century pointed chancel arch features a richly moulded head and rectangular responds set with three detached shafts bearing stiff-leaf capitals and hood moulds. Above rises a pointed opening.

The chancel is articulated to north and south with three pointed wall recesses, each with slender responds topped by beaded moulded capitals and hood moulds. The east window is furnished with nook shafts and moulded capitals beneath a hood mould. The altar is flanked by two single rectangular aumbrys. The south wall incorporates a small trefoil-headed piscina.

The church contains a drum font of around 1200, supported on semi-circular shafts with moulded capitals, the eight-sided drum articulated by eight attached shafts. An 11th-century inscribed coffin lid has been restored in the 20th century, as has a fragment of an octagonal cross-shaft base. A 19th-century ornate pulpit stands in the nave, accompanied by a 20th-century communion rail and reredos. A section of ornate 17th-century panelling is preserved to the north-west of the nave.

Monuments and Furnishings

The church contains numerous monuments and gravestones spanning several centuries. These include:

A monument in ashlar and marble with a segmental open pediment adorned with an urn, hand, draperies, tassels, and an ornate apron, commemorating John Morton (died 1720).

A gravestone to Willyam Whettaker (died 1640).

A grey-and-white marble monument to Peregrine Emmitt Emmitt (died 1836).

A pair of white and grey marble monuments to William and Elizabeth Emmitt (died 1832 and 1831 respectively).

An ashlar pedimented monument with scrolled architrave and cherub, to Elizabeth Watson (died 1765).

Gravestones to John Bennington (died 1625) and Joseph and Joseph Allcock (died 1746 and 1771 respectively).

Several early 19th-century black marble gravestones are arranged in the central aisle.