Church Of St. Faith

The Church of St. Faith is a parish church dating to 1715, with significant restoration and alterations carried out by James Fowler in 1869. The church is constructed of ashlar with lead roofs, and incorporates elements of Collyweston stone. It comprises a nave, a western tower with a spire, a chancel, and a south vestry. A moulded plinth, frieze, and cornice run along the exterior.

The west end features fluted angle pilasters rising to a triglyph frieze with guttae, a pierced parapet with semi-circular headed arches, and obelisks at the corners, displaying the date 1715. The tower has rusticated, fluted quoins and a 19th-century broach spire clad in slate. Single, two-light windows with annular mid shafts, foliate decoration, a key stone, impost blocks, and circular holes within the tympanum are set on each side of the tower. Double six-panelled doors, topped by a wooden fan, are set within a moulded, elliptical headed arch. A sexfoil window sits above the entrance, also within a moulded surround. The nave’s side walls contain four two-light windows of the 19th century, with annular shafts and cinquefoils within earlier 18th-century semi-circular headed moulded architraves, alongside key and impost blocks. The chancel is blank on its sides and features rusticated quoins. A three-light window of the 19th century is positioned in the east end, also within an earlier semi-circular headed surround. A Norman-style vestry was added to the south side, featuring a two-light window.

Inside, a western gallery occupies the base of the tower, and a semi-circular headed arch provides access to the first floor, featuring barley sugar balusters to the handrail. The nave roof incorporates chamfered and moulded principals supported on scrolled wooden corbels. The chancel arch is semi-circular, with moulded imposts and a jewelled keystone. A Norman-style round headed doorway in the south wall gives access to the vestry. The chancel roof is supported by stone corbels decorated with palmettes in Romanesque style.

Original fittings include handsome barley sugar twist communion rails, complete with a moulded handrail, and a shallow octagonal font with a moulded and fluted design and an octagonal stem to a tapering square base. A late 13th-century knight’s effigy, recut at a later date and depicted in chainmail with a decorated surcourt, rests in the sanctuary, with his feet resting on a dog. A marble wall plaque, dating to 1759 and by E. Bingham of Peterborough, is located on the south wall of the nave, commemorating the Curtis family and featuring a pediment, angels, books, a rectangular inscription panel, and an escutcheon.