Church Of St Mary Magdalene

Church of St Mary Magdalene

Parish church built over several centuries from the 12th to 19th century. The chancel was rebuilt in 1854, and the church was restored with enlarged aisles in 1867. It is constructed of coursed and squared rubble with dressed stone and ashlar dressings, under gabled and lean-to slate roofs.

The building comprises a west tower, nave, north and south aisles, organ chamber, vestry, chancel, and south porch. The tower and spire date from around 1395 and consist of two stages. The tower has a moulded and chamfered plinth, chamfered string course, and coved eaves with spouts and crenellated parapet. The west side has two diagonal buttresses with four setoffs, while the east side has two plain buttresses engaged with the aisles. The south side contains stair lights, and the west side has a moulded doorway with hood moulds topped by a lancet. The second stage has four double lancet openings with chamfered and rebated angular-headed reveals. Above rises a set-back octagonal spire with weathercock. The coped gables have crosses.

The nave clerestory of four bays has four ogee-headed double lancets on each side, dating to the 19th century, with square-headed reveals and hood moulds. The north aisle, spanning six bays with a continuous organ chamber, features six buttresses and six untraceried double ogee lancets with square-headed reveals and hood moulds. The south aisle of five bays has four buttresses and four similar lancets. The east end displays a restored 14th-century ogee double lancet with flowing tracery and hood mould.

The mid-19th-century vestry consists of two bays with a flat roof and coped parapet. Its north side has three buttresses and two ogee double lancets with hood moulds; the east side has a moulded doorway flanked by single ogee double lancets.

The chancel spans two bays. The east end features a triple lancet in Decorated style dated 1907 with hood mould and stops. The south side has an off-centre pointed doorway flanked by single 14th-century double lancets with hood moulds.

The gabled south porch, dating to the mid-19th century, has two diagonal buttresses and a simple moulded doorway with hood mould.

Interior features include wooden benches and a common rafter roof. The inner doorway is double chamfered and rebated with a restored hood mould. The tower arch, dating to the 14th century and chamfered and rebated, supports a traceried crested timber war memorial screen from around 1920.

The north arcade consists of four bays from the 12th century, restored, with three round piers featuring simple bases and waterleaf capitals. The east respond has a triple shaft with stiff leaf capital and masks. The arches are chamfered and rebated. The south arcade dates to the 13th century with round piers; those to the west have octagonal capitals and similar chamfered and rebated arches.

The nave has a principal rafter roof with arch braces and struts, installed in 1867. The north and south aisles have arch-braced lean-to roofs with moulded corbels. Three re-set corbels appear at the west end of the north aisle.

Stained glass windows are distributed throughout: the north side has examples from 1907, 1921, 1922, and 1928. The east end features a chamfered archway with a traceried screen dated 1907. The south aisle east end has a 19th-century stained glass window flanked by single figure brackets. The south side contains windows from 1891, 1902, 1916, and 1951, with a 14th-century cusped piscina to the east.

The chancel arch dates to the 13th century, chamfered and moulded with keeled responds and water-holding bases. The chancel's north side has an opening containing the organ in a corbelled case. The east end features oak dado dated 1909 with a traceried panelled reredos and a stained glass window of 1907. South-side windows contain patterned stained glass.

Fittings include a 12th-century pillar piscina, a 19th-century octagonal font, a traceried octagonal ashlar pulpit dated 1866, and a brass eagle lectern from 1900. Late-19th and mid-20th-century panelled stalls, desks, and benches are present, along with a mid-18th-century table.

Memorials include a Classical marble and slate tablet with obelisk and female figure commemorating William Unwin from 1774, five 19th and 20th-century brasses, marble and alabaster tablets from 1859 and 1918, two alabaster and mosaic war memorial panels from around 1920, and a plain war memorial tablet from around 1945.