Church Of St Bridget

A parish church of 12th and 14th-century date, substantially rebuilt except for the tower in 1862 by T Nicholson. The building is constructed of square sandstone with sandstone and limestone dressings, and features crested tiled roofs with limestone gable crosses. The plan comprises a west tower, a three-bay nave with north and south aisles, a two-bay chancel with north chapel, and a south porch.

The west tower dates from the late 14th century. It has a moulded plinth and two stages divided by a string course, with a coped parapet featuring a slightly raised south-west corner above the newel and a gilded weathercock. Angle buttresses stand at the east corners, with diagonal buttresses at the west corners. Newel loops pierce the south side above a 19th-century 2-centred doorway. The restored west window contains three foiled lights under a 2-centred head. The top stage has central 2-light trefoiled openings with quatrefoiled tracery; the opening to the east side has a lower cill, while those to the north and south have square-headed openings beneath.

The north aisle contains three trefoiled 2-light windows with quatrefoil tracery and labels in the north wall, a similar window with head stops at the west end, and another of three lights at the east end. Lion-head rainwater heads serve the valley between the roofs of the north aisle and nave at the east and west ends. The north chapel has three windows each of one ogeed light in the north wall, and an east door with strap hinges.

The chancel has a 4-light east window under a 2-centred head with head stops, set between a pair of set-back buttresses with weatherings. Two further 2-light trefoiled windows with quatrefoil tracery and head stops stand on the south side, separated by a moulded 2-centred priest's doorway with an inner order supported by a pair of shafts. A ball-flower frieze runs beneath the eaves on the north and south sides.

The south aisle contains windows of similar character: one of three lights with head stops at the east end, three of two lights on the south side, and one at the west end. Lion-head rainwater heads serve the valley between the nave and aisle at the east and west ends.

The south porch is timber-framed, consisting of one bay with trefoiled open upper side panels and scissor braces. It has an ogeed front tie-beam and cusped bargeboard. The 19th-century south doorway is chamfered with a 2-centred head; the 14th-century door, slightly restored, features nails and studs with strap hinges. Two major panels have trefoiled heads and trefoiled ogees between their apices.

The interior features 19th-century open collar trusses to all roofs. The piers of the nave arcades carry different capitals supporting 2-centred double-chamfered arches. The chancel arch is 12th-century and has been reset; its jambs rise from 19th-century scalloped bases approximately five feet above the nave floor. The arch has two semi-circular orders—the outer decorated with a projecting chevron pattern at ninety degrees to the face, and the inner with an incised saltire pattern. The shafts have foliated capitals with abaci running into the label on the west side.

The chancel contains a reset 12th or 13th-century two-bay arcade to the north with double-chamfered 2-centred arches and foliated capitals on 19th-century columns and responds. A 14th-century piscina, reset in the east wall, has a trefoiled head and 19th-century octofoil drain. An early 20th-century organ is present. A 19th-century recess in the north wall contains a small restored late 13th-century reliquary with cinquefoil-headed panelling divided by shafts; the top features a shield and cross framed in a crocketted cinquefoiled tabernacle.

The east window dates from the mid-19th century and was commissioned for Henry and Mary Platt (died 1820 and 1854 respectively); it depicts the four evangelists. The south-east window commemorates Francisca Maria Tweed, "In Memoriam Coniugis Dulcissima", and a south-west window is in similar style.

The nave contains a font, possibly 15th-century and restored, with an octagonal base, octagonal panelled stem, and octagonal bowl with square panels. The pulpit is mid-19th century, octagonal with ogee-headed panels containing trefoiled openings beneath a crested top rail; the octagonal supporting stem has concave sides. A brass lectern was presented by Lydia Walsh of Wilton Castle in 1894.

The north aisle has stained glass in its east window depicting The Annunciation by Kempe, with the inscription "Ave Maria Gratia Plena". Another east window commemorates Elizabeth Biss (died 1868). The centre window, above a plaque for seven men of the parish who died in World War II, depicts St George and carries the caption: "TO THE GLORY OF GOD AND IN MEMORY OF CAPT I RAMSAY WORCESTER REGT KILLED IN ACTION AT NEUVE CHAPELLE FRANCE MARCH 12 1915".

A 17th-century oak chair with curved arms, turned front legs, and a back panel containing lozenge decoration and a central rosette under an undulating top is preserved in the north aisle.

The south aisle contains another oak chair, early 17th-century, with scrolled arms, turned front legs and arm supports, guilloche on the rail below the seat, and a back with volutes at the edges and a panel containing a segmental arch on Ionic pilasters, partly gilded. The east window has stained glass for "Whaley Armitage and Eleanor his wife, deceased 1855 and 1868", depicting scenes of Christ prior to The Crucifixion. Another east window commemorates Colonel James Sleeman of the Bengal Army (died 1889) with the inscription "Speak the Word only", referring to the healing of the Centurion's servant.

Several wall monuments and memorials are present. Near the last-mentioned window is a brass wall plaque for Lewis Paxton Walsh, decorated in the Crimean campaign and died at Wilton Castle in 1917. Below the next window to the west stands a wall monument reading: "IN LOVING MEMORY OF HERBERT CLIFFORD BERNARD COLONEL INDIAN ARMY SOMETIME IN COMMAND OF RATTRAY'S SIKHS WHO WAS KILLED AT THIEPVAL 1 JULY 1916 WHILE GALLANTLY LEADING HIS REGIMENT 10TH ROYAL IRISH RIFLES QUI SEPARABIT".

The tower contains several wall monuments dating from the late 18th to mid-19th centuries, including an unusual black and white marble example with crossed feathers and poultry legs for William Wiltshire (died 1803), and one for Revd Love Robertson, Vicar of Bridstow (died 1770). A brass plaque by Thomas Pratt & Sons, London, commemorates C W Whinfield: "THE HEATING OF THIS / CHURCH WAS CARRIED OUT ACCORDING TO HIS PLAN / FEB 1894". Whinfield, according to another memorial in the north aisle, was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Royal Engineers and lived from 1840 to 1893.