Church Of St Mary

The Church of St Mary is a parish church with a core dating back to the 12th century, and incorporating additions from the mid-13th and early 14th centuries. It was restored in 1881 and the north porch was added in the early 20th century. The church is constructed of coursed sandstone rubble with ashlar dressings, covered by a tiled roof, and topped with a shingled spire. It comprises a nave, a south aisle, a north porch, a central tower, a south chapel (now used as a vestry), and a chancel.

The north front features a four-bay nave with buttressing and a raised verge. It has two windows with two trefoiled, ogee-headed lights and an irregular quatrefoil to the left of the gabled porch. The central tower rises in three stages, featuring a moulded string course and a band of chevron ornament below the base of the splay-footed spire. A semicircular-headed window with two semicircular-headed lights is on the third stage, partly obscured by a clock face; a similar, smaller window is situated slightly to the right of centre on the second stage. A large two-light traceried window is on the ground stage, with a doorway to the left. The chancel has a raised verge and two two-light Y-tracery windows.

Inside, the nave has a restored trussed rafter roof from the 15th or early 16th century. The west wall features a re-set 12th-century tympanum from a former doorway, depicting a seated figure of the Virgin and Child surrounded by elaborate decorative animal and scrolled motifs. The south arcade consists of four bays in two pairs, the eastern pair dating to the mid-13th and 14th centuries, and the western pair to the 12th century. The western tower arch is a two semicircular-headed order, while the eastern arch is of two orders. A font dating from c.1670 has an octagonal bowl, stem, and base, with blank arches to the stem and fleur-de-lis in panels of the bowl, and has been extensively restored. A 18th-century font with a circular bowl is supported on an elegant baluster-shaped stem. A large oak chest is located towards the west wall of the south aisle.

Monuments in the chancel include a wall tablet in the north wall commemorating Nicholas Lechmere, died 1711, and Martha his wife, died 1763, featuring a broken pediment with a coat of arms; and a wall tablet on the south wall commemorating Johanna Lechmere, died 1692, showcasing an open segmental pediment with putti, scrolls, and foliage ornamentation. The chancel contains many monuments commemorating members of the Lechmere family, formerly of Fownhope Court.