Church Of St Mary Magdalene

Church of St Mary Magdalene

This is a parish church of late 11th and 12th-century date, substantially restored in 1892 by J. D. Sedding. It is built of coursed ironstone rubble with ironstone ashlar dressings and slate roofs.

The building comprises a west tower, a nave with north and south aisles, a south porch, and a rectangular chancel.

The late 11th-century west tower sits on a stepped plinth. It has a round-headed west doorway with voussoirs and an outer roll moulding, a plain tympanum, and large impost blocks, with a rectangular 20th-century plank door. Above this is a small round-headed light, and similar lights appear on the north side (with fragments of stringcourse) and on the south side (two lights one above the other, with a stringcourse fragment below the upper light). A flat stringcourse runs across the tower face, above which are bell openings on all four sides. These bell openings consist of paired narrow round-headed lights divided by a single shaft with a cushion capital. An upper moulded stringcourse and 19th-century parapet complete the tower.

The north aisle has a plain west end with a coped gable. A narrow two-stage angle buttress sits to the north, with a low plinth. Three 19th-century windows of paired pointed lancets alternate with three two-stage buttresses. The clerestory is plain. At the east end of the north aisle are a plinth and a single 19th-century lancet.

The east end of the nave has a coped gable with a finial and a low plinth.

The chancel has a low plinth running round it with a single 19th-century lancet on the north side. The east window is 19th-century, comprising three lights with reticulated tracery, a hoodmould, and head label stops, above a coped gable and finial. A single 19th-century lancet appears on the south side of the chancel.

The south aisle has a single mid-12th-century lancet in its east end. A plinth runs beneath the south side. A two-stage angle buttress to the south is followed by two 19th-century windows, each of two pointed lights with quatrefoil and hoodmould, separated by a two-stage 19th-century buttress.

The 12th-century south porch has a pointed south doorway with a chamfered surround and a 19th-century coped gable with finial. The interior south doorway has a painted double-chamfered arch and jambs.

The west side of the south aisle contains an 11th-century corner buttress banded by six stringcourses.

Internally, the 11th-century interior tower arch has a round voussoired head and large impost blocks that continue into the nave's east wall to north and south.

The north and south arcades are of mid-12th-century date, each comprising three bays with semicircular arches. The north-west respond has cable necking, a scalloped capital, and a grooved abacus. The pier to the east features a block capital with squat scallops on the underside; the soffit of the arch above is decorated with a roll flanked by chevron. The second pier to the east has similar squat scallops with cable necking, and a soffit decorated by a fillet flanked by single rolls. The easternmost respond has cable necking and a scalloped capital, with the soffit above decorated by a roll flanked by single hollows. The slightly later south arcade has capitals decorated with taller, slenderer scallops. The bases have triple rolls. The westernmost bay's soffit is decorated with a roll flanked by chevron, the central bay's by three rolls, and the easternmost by a roll flanked by single hollows.

The chancel arch is of late 19th-century date with a double-chamfered pointed form. The roof of the nave and chancel ceiling are late 19th-century, the latter featuring ornate panelling. A late 19th-century pink marble altar is inscribed with a gold cross and grapes. An ornate late 19th-century screen displays grapes, thistles, and rosehips. Additional late 19th-century furnishings include a pulpit, pews, and an octagonal font supported on eight clustered columns.