Church Of St Mary Magdalene

The Church of St Mary Magdalene is a parish church dating back to the 12th century, with significant additions and alterations made in the 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries, and further work in the 18th century and 1876. It is constructed of coursed rubble limestone with a slate roof, with ashlar detailing and a lead roof on the tower. The church comprises a western tower, a nave, a south aisle with a porch, a chancel, and a vestry.

The western tower, built of ashlar and re-erected in the 18th century upon an earlier base, has three stages and a plain parapet. Small lancet windows are present on the south side of the second stage and the west side of the first stage. Four double belfry lights feature blank foiled circles within their tympani. The north wall of the nave is constructed of coursed rubble, with two stepped buttresses and a large eastern buttress incorporating a small rectangular light for access to the rood loft stair. There are two late 14th-century square-headed three-light windows with reticulated tracery. The ashlar clerestory has a plain parapet and two 15th-century two-light windows with triangular heads and hood moulds. A vestry was added in 1876, abutting the chancel. The chancel itself is of coursed rubble with a slate roof. The east window is a 19th-century restoration incorporating original 14th-century decorative label stops. It includes a late 14th-century square-headed two-light altar window, a 15th-century priest’s door, and a 14th-century two-light window on the south side of the chancel. The south aisle has matching materials, with a late 14th-century two-light east and west window, a small 16th-century window with a heavy hood mould on the south face, and a 15th-century four-light window with a four-centred arch. Two scratch dials are located beside the porch. A 13th-century opening has a door with reset early ironwork hinges. The south clerestory, also in ashlar with a lead roof behind a battlemented parapet, has three 15th-century two-light windows with triangular heads of a low pitch.

Inside, an arcade spans two bays, characterized by quatrefoil piers with keeled shafts in the diagonals and double-chamfered arches. The tower arch has 14th-century responds, but the arch itself was reconstructed in the 18th century. The 12th-century chancel arch has semi-circular responds with nook shafts and scalloped capitals, and incorporates zigzag moulding. A piscina is found in the south aisle and a full stair leads to the rood loft on the north side. The nave roof is 19th-century, reusing 15th-century tie beams. Within the chancel are a 19th-century piscina and two statue brackets on the east wall. Fittings include restored 1876 seating and a pulpit, which incorporates some reused 15th-century elements. A 19th-century altar rail is also present. A carved oak reredos was erected in 1901, featuring figures by Zwink and Hems of Exeter, and is backed by panels from a 15th-century oak screen.

Notable monuments include a 14th-century recumbent knight in the chancel with his horse and groom at his feet; a 1684 marble tablet to Dame Elizabeth Brownlowe, featuring Corinthian columns, an urn on an open pediment, and garlands; a smaller tablet to her daughter Jane, who died in 1670, and an epitaph to a virgin; a tablet to John Hotchkin, Rector, who died in 1744, with Corinthian pilasters and a segmental pediment; and two small brass plates set into the chancel floor, one displaying a Coat of Arms and commemorating Peregrine Bradshaw (died 1673), and the other bearing a Latin inscription to Robert Bawde (died 1509). Fragments of 14th-century stained glass depicting the arms of the Threckingham family are found in the north aisle. A late 14th-century octagonal font features traceried designs to six panels.