Church Of St Mary

The Church of St Mary is a late 13th-century church, incorporating remains from the 12th century, with a late 14th-century tower topped with a spire. It was restored in 1875. The church is constructed of sandstone rubble and has tile roofs. It comprises a west tower, a nave with north and south aisles, a north porch, and a lower chancel.

The three-stage tower has diagonal buttresses and a plain parapet. The west doorway is moulded and pointed, and the window above has three lights with Perpendicular tracery under a pointed head. The bell opening has two trefoiled ogee lights with a quatrefoil under a pointed head. The stone spire features moulded ribs. A lancet window is found in the west wall of the north aisle, and the eastern window in the north aisle is a two-light, trefoiled window dating to the late 13th century. The other two windows, one on each side of the porch, are 19th-century lancets. The gabled porch features inner and outer chamfered pointed doorways.

The south aisle wall has three bays; the eastern window is a 14th-century window of two cinquefoiled lights with quatrefoil under a pointed head. The other windows are 19th-century windows of two lights. A 12th-century doorway, consisting of a jamb and part of the head, is located between the first and second bays. The south wall of the chancel has windows of two trefoiled lights, with a chamfered pointed priest’s doorway set between them. The north wall of the chancel includes a single lancet window on the west side and a two-light, trefoiled window on the east side, under a pointed head. The east window is a 19th-century window of three trefoiled lights under a pointed head.

Inside, the south arcade has three pointed arches, chamfered in two orders and springing from round piers with moulded capitals and bases. The arches are late 13th-century, except for the western arch, which is late 14th-century. The north arcade has three bays, with plain round arches; the eastern one is narrower and likely a 19th-century insertion. To the west is a length of blank wall, possibly from an earlier tower. A second pier from the east is round, with a scalloped capital, and appears too wide for the existing arches; it suggests earlier structural work. The tower arch is pointed and chamfered in three orders, with moulded responds and capitals. The lower stage of the tower is vaulted with a stone rib and a central hole for bell ropes. The chancel arch is pointed and has a continuous double chamfer. The nave features a collar rafter roof with soulaces, ashlar pieces, and four chamfered tie-beams. The chancel roof has rafters with curved braces to the collars and a longitudinal plate below. A rough piscina is set into the east splay of the south-east window. A recess, featuring chamfered jambs and a trefoiled head, is found in the south wall. Various memorials are attached to the walls of the lower stage of the tower, including one to John Elmehurst (died 1662), flanked by seated female figures.